Continuing its practice of public involvement, The Florida Bar seeks a new nonlawyer to serve on its governing board.

Since 1987, two public members have served on the Bar’s 52-member governing board, after the Supreme Court of Florida approved the organization’s request to have nonlawyer representation on the board. Only 12 other state bar associations have public members on their governing boards.

The board member will replace Sharon Middleton of Ponte Vedra Beach, whose second two-year term expires June 2020.

A screening committee of The Florida Bar Board of Governors has been appointed to review the applications for the public member position, conduct final interviews, and make recommendations to the Bar’s governing board during its March meeting. The board will then recommend three persons to the Supreme Court of Florida and the court will appoint one of the three nominees to the board.

The Board of Governors oversees the Bar’s lawyer discipline program, continuing legal education programs, legislative activities, and the overall administration of The Florida Bar. Board members, who are all volunteers, average 200-300 hours per year on Bar business depending on committee assignments. Although attorney members of the Bar’s governing board pay their own expenses related to their attendance at six board meetings and other events held each year, nonlawyer board members are reimbursed for “reasonable travel and related expenses for attending official bar functions.”

The new board member would serve a two-year term commencing June 19, 2020. Public members are not allowed by rule to serve more than two consecutive terms. Most of the Bar’s board is apportioned according to Florida’s 20 judicial circuits, with attorney members elected by lawyers in their locality. There are four additional out-of-state representatives. The other public member currently serving on The Florida Bar’s Board of Governors is Joseph “Jody” Hudgins of Naples.

Persons interested in serving as a public member may complete and submit the application online at the Bar’s website www.floridabar.org, or should call The Florida Bar headquarters at 850-561-5759, to obtain the application. applications must be received by Joshua E. Doyle, Executive Director, The Florida Bar, 651 East Jefferson Street, Tallahassee 32399-2300, no later than January 24, 2020.

The Board of Governors is seeking applicants for the following vacancy to be filled during its March 20, 2020, meeting:
 
Supreme Court’s Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee: One lawyer to fill a four-year term commencing July 1, 2020, and ending June 30, 2024. This is a 12-member committee that renders 20 to 25 written advisory opinions a year to inquiring judges and judicial candidates regarding application of the Code of Judicial Conduct to specific instances of contemplated judicial and non-judicial conduct. The committee meets once a year at The Florida Bar’s Annual Convention and attendance is strongly encouraged. The majority of the committee’s work, however, is undertaken via e-mail and phone conferencing. The committee is also responsible for judicial campaign conduct forums scheduled in election years.
 
Persons interested in applying for these vacancies may download the Application for Special Appointment or should call Bar headquarters at (850) 561-5757, to obtain the application form. Completed applications must be received by the Executive Director, The Florida Bar, 651 East Jefferson Street, Tallahassee, Florida, 32399-2300 or submitted via e-mail to specialapptapp@floridabar.org no later than the close of business on Friday, February 7, 2020. Resumes will not be accepted in lieu of the required application. The Board of Governors will review all applications and may request telephone or personal interviews.
 

The Miami office of Akerman LLP is seeking an Associate with 1 to 3 years of experience in probate and trust administration and related litigation and estate planning experience. Guardianship administration experience is considered a plus. LL.M. in Estate Planning or Taxation is preferred. Must possess an outstanding academic record (with a JD from an ABA accredited law school), along with excellent writing and analytical skills and be a member of The Florida Bar. Akerman LLP is a top 100 U.S. law firm recognized by Financial Times as among the most forward thinking firms in the industry. Its more than 700 lawyers and business professionals collaborate with the world’s most successful enterprises and entrepreneurs to navigate change, seize opportunities, and help drive innovation and growth. Akerman is known for its results in middle market M&A and complex disputes, and for helping clients achieve their most important business objectives in the financial services, real estate and other dynamic sectors across the United States and Latin America.

The United Nations Regional Course in International Law for Latin America and the Caribbean is organized by the Codification Division of the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs in cooperation with the Government of Chile and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

The Regional Course will be held at the facilities of ECLAC in Santiago, from 20 April to 15 May 2020. The Regional Course will be conducted in English. The course will accommodate up to 25 participants, including a limited number of spaces for self-funded participants.
 

For more information, visit the website: http://legal.un.org/poa/rcil/laac/index.html

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida seeks an immigrants’-rights attorney to combat pressing civil rights and liberties issues affecting communities across the state.

The position is based in Miami and reports to the legal director.

The ACLU of Florida, the state’s premier civil rights advocacy organization, is a not-for-profit, nonpartisan organization that employs litigation, public policy advocacy, and public education and communications to protect and promote a broad range of constitutional issues and individual rights and freedoms, including the freedom of speech, racial justice, right to privacy, religious liberty, criminal justice reform, reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, and immigrants’ rights.

The ACLU of Florida is an affiliate of the national ACLU, the leading defender of civil liberties guaranteed by our nation’s Bill of Rights. The national ACLU implements its vital civil liberties mission in all 50 states in large part through affiliate entities such as the ACLU of Florida. With offices in Jacksonville, Miami (headquarters), Pensacola, and Tampa, the Florida affiliate has a $5.5M operating budget and over 30 staff positions, placing it among the larger affiliates in the nation.

Attorneys at the ACLU of Florida play a critical leadership role in advancing the ACLU’s mission to uphold constitutional rights by developing and managing impact litigation and engaging in integrated advocacy. Attorneys work collaboratively with the national
office’s various legal projects as well as with the ACLU of Florida’s communications, policy and advocacy, field, and development departments. Attorneys also play an important role in community outreach and education.

For more information, visit their website: Immigrants' Rights Attorney
 

This is responsible and professional work, providing legal advice to judges, magistrates, and court personnel. Primarily, trial court law clerks conduct legal research and prepare legal memoranda. They advise county and circuit court judges how to rule on a variety of issues arising from various pre-trial, trial, and post-trial motions, such as motions to dismiss, motions for summary judgment, motions to strike, motions for new trial, post-conviction relief motions (3.800, 3.850, 3.851, and 3.853), prisoner petitions, motions to suppress evidence, various discovery motions, etc. They also advise circuit court judges acting in their appellate capacity on appellate issues raised in briefs.

Trial Court Staff Attorneys work in a vast array of substantive legal areas, including civil procedure, insurance, foreclosures, Florida Bar matters, contracts, administrative law, legislation, criminal law and procedure, product liability, complex business matters, ethics, etc.

The work performed by Trial Court Staff Attorneys involves considerable interpretation and judgment in the analysis of legal issues in the areas of criminal law, probate, civil law, appellate, family law, juvenile, or any matters arising under the jurisdiction of the county or circuit court.

Working contacts are established with judges and other trial court personnel. Work is performed under the general supervision of a supervising staff attorney, and is reviewed in progress, as required, and upon completion.

This recruitment is for one Trial Court Staff Attorney vacancy. A successful applicant may be placed in the UCC/Family/Dependency/Juvenile Division of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit’s Office of the General Counsel.
 

For more information, visit: Eleventh Circuit Careers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

January 6, 2020

MIAMI – The Eleventh Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission has been asked to provide Governor DeSantis with nominees for the vacancies in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit created by the elevation of Judges Christina DiRaimondo, Robert Watson, and Ramiro Areces. The Commission requests that interested candidates submit an application for consideration. Applicants must meet the qualifications for circuit court judges described in Article V, Section 8 of the Florida Constitution. Applicants must submit three copies (3) of their application by 5:00 pm on Monday, January 20, 2020 as follows:

(1):   The original unredacted paper application shall be delivered to:

Walter J. Harvey 
School Board Attorney 
The School Board of Miami-Dade County, Florida 
1450 N.E 2nd Avenue, Suite 430 
Miami, Florida 33132

(0): The original unredacted application shall be emailed in .pdf format to: Walter.Harvey@dadeschools.net. 

(0): A redacted .pdf of the application shall be emailed to eleventhjnc@dadeschools.net. Personal information not subject to public disclosure—such as the social security number—shall be redacted as permitted by Section 119.071 of the Florida Statutes.

Untimely applications will not be considered. The filename for .pdf applications should be as follows “20.01.20 FIRSTNAME LASTNAME Circuit Application (redacted /unredacted).”

Applicants are invited to provide the Chair with a one page sheet listing the date, location and time of hearings or trials that they would want the Commissioners to observe. The one page disclosure sheet is not mandatory and can be provided to the Chair at any time before the interview day. No information other than the date, location and time should be provided on the one page sheet.

Applications may be downloaded from the Florida Bar’s website at www.flabar.org and the Office of the Governor at www.flgov.com. Applicants should include a recent photograph.

NOTE TO APPLICANTS: To assist the Judicial Nominating Commission in its review of applications, all questions must be fully and completely answered. Applications must include current contact information, including e-mail addresses, for judges, co-counsel, opposing counsel, and references to facilitate the background investigation that will be conducted by the members of the Commission. Please print to .pdf in lieu of scanning where possible.
 
The Eleventh Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission will confer at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 22, 2020 to schedule interviews. A room will be made available to members of the public (The School Board of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Board Attorney’s Office, 1450 N.E. 2nd Avenue, Suite 430, Miami, Florida 33132) who wish to attend.