Last month, The Florida Bar sent out 13,600 surveys to gauge opinion about how it disciplines attorneys.
The questionnaires, due back March 31, were sent to more than 6,090 people who have made complaints, and 6,046 attorneys who have had complaints filed against them.
Henry Coxe III, a Jacksonville criminal defense litigator who has served on the Bar’s Board of Governors since 1995 and is chair of the 23-member Special Commission on Lawyer Regulation, is pushing the extensive review. The commission will recommend changes to the Bar’s Board of Governors, which would in turn give suggestions to the Florida Supreme Court. The high court will have the final say over any changes to the disciplinary system.
Bar president Miles A. McGrane III thinks that when all is said and done, the commission will suggest tweaking the system, not a major overhaul.
“Other state bars come and visit us to see how it’s done,” he said. “They consider us being on the cutting edge. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t need to be looked at.”
The Bar says complaints in Florida have dipped in recent years because of its Attorney Consumer Assistance Program, a three-year-old hot line where Bar staff attorneys mediate minor disputes between lawyers and clients.
The Bar now also offers an option to discipline in some cases, said Tony Boggs, the Bar’s director for lawyer regulation. Instead of punishment, lawyers can take ethics or legal classes. He also said Florida’s system is one of the most open in the country. Citizens can review even unsubstantiated complaints against a lawyer up to a year after a case has been closed.