Judge George W. Greer of the Sixth Judicial Circuit received this year’s president’s award of merit from the Florida Bar. Outgoing president Kelly Overstreet Johnson said Greer was chosen for the award due to his steadfast ruling in the Terri Schiavo case. Amid the tumultuous controversy surrounding the case, Greer faced hate mail and death threats during the case and had to be protected with a 24-hour security force. Even through all of that “he applied the law as he saw it,” said Johnson. Greer (left) is with friend Miami Circuit Court Judge Stanford Blake.
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Guest speaker and humor columnist Dave Barry said he really liked the Florida Bar’s choice of “Guardians of Democracy” for this year’s convention theme but he had another suggestion. “I think an equally fitting theme would have been ‘Wingtips on Parade,’” he said.
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Another memorable quip from Barry’s presentation: “I love Miami. I moved there in 1986 from the United States.”
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Jacksonville will be well represented today when the Florida Bar recognizes its 50-year veterans. Robert Beckham, A.B. Blackburn Jr., Richard Feldman, Joel Goldman, Peter Guarisco, Fred Ringel, Edward Siegel, and Gerald Sohn all call Jacksonville home. They will be honored at a lunchtime ceremony run by the Bar’s Young Lawyers Division.
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Speaking of the Young Lawyers Division, its members are taking advantage of the Florida Bar Convention to rally for a hurricane preparedness program launched after the wave of storms that hit Florida last fall. The program would be run through voluntary bar associations throughout Florida.