Today, Eugene K. Pettis, the current Florida Bar president, joins us as the keynote speaker at The Jacksonville Bar Association’s annual Diversity Luncheon.
Mr. Pettis is the co-founder of the law firm of Haliczer, Pettis and Schwamm, which maintains offices in Orlando and Fort Lauderdale. He attended the University of Florida, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in political science and his juris doctorate.
Mr. Pettis has earned numerous awards and accolades, including perennial selection by his peers for inclusion in “The Best Lawyers in America” in the area of medical malpractice, personal injury and employment litigation, Florida Super Lawyers, the South Florida Legal Guide “Top Lawyers” list and Florida Trend’s “Legal Elite.”
In fact, in 2013 Mr. Pettis was recognized by Best Lawyers in America as the lawyer of the year in employment law in his area. He is AV rated, a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). In January, he was recognized by his ABOTA chapter as trial lawyer of the year for Fort Lauderdale.
In June of 2013, Mr. Pettis was sworn in as president of The Florida Bar, becoming the first African-American to serve in this position. As such, it is particularly appropriate that he joins us today as The Jacksonville Bar Association proudly recognizes members of our legal community who have championed diversity with three new awards.
The categories include the Individual Diversity Champion, the Legal Employer Diversity Champion and the Trailblazers Award. These awards will recognize outstanding efforts by individuals and legal employers that promote diversity in the legal profession in the Jacksonville community.
As outlined in the qualifications for nominees, the awards seek to promote diversity through recognition of those persons and employers that exemplify The Florida Bar’s Diversity Principles listed below:
• Foster an inclusive environment in which lawyers, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, or age are motivated to succeed professionally and contribute to the goals of their profession;
• Increase knowledge and awareness of diversity and cultural competency;
• Increase participation, retention and representation in local and specialty voluntary bars; and or
• Improve diversity in legal education, employment, the judiciary and the Jacksonville Bar Association.
• Develop programs and projects with demonstrated impact that: address issues of access and bias in the legal profession based on gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability or age; influence individuals historically under-represented in the legal profession to pursue legal careers; and increase advancement opportunities for lawyers who have been historically under-represented in a particular job setting or practice area of the legal profession.
The description of and qualification for the three categories of awards are as follows:
Individual Diversity Champion
• The lawyer must be admitted to practice in Florida and a member in good standing of The Florida Bar.
• The lawyer can be on active or inactive status and from any setting, including academia, the judiciary, the corporate sector, private law firm, nonprofit entity, government agency, etc.
• The lawyer must demonstrate a sustained, long-term commitment to encouraging increasing and/or retaining diversity in the legal profession. The lawyer’s activities related to diversity will be considered whether performed within the scope of employment or as a volunteer.
Legal Employee Diversity Champion
• All types of legal employers are eligible including private firms, government/public agencies, corporate law departments, law schools, non-profits, and public interest law firms.
• The legal employer must have at least one office located in Northeast Florida.
• The legal employer must demonstrate a sustained long-term commitment to encouraging, increasing, and/or retaining diversity in the legal profession, with a specific focus on recruitment, retention and advancement of diverse attorneys.
Trailblazers
• The Trailblazers Award recognizes the outstanding achievements, commitment and leadership of individuals and/or legal employers who have paved the way for the advancement of others.
The paths and achievements of our awardees are often very different. However, they all have had careers and otherwise made contributions that demonstrate vision, courage and tenacity, and which have resulted in substantial and lasting contributions to the diversity of the legal profession as well as the broader legal community.
For their extraordinary accomplishments and for serving as role models and inspiration for other minority and diverse lawyers, we honor these Trailblazers.
The luncheon will be at the Hyatt Downtown and will commence promptly at noon. It will be a wonderful program and I hope to see each of you there.
In the words of Dan Bean, it’s a great day to be a Jacksonville lawyer!