from staff
Palm Beach county attorney John G. “Jay” White, III has become president-elect designate of the Florida Bar after being elected without opposition.
White will be sworn in as president-elect at the Bar’s 2007 annual meeting in June in Orlando, when current president-elect Frank Angones of Miami is sworn in as president, succeeding Jacksonville trial attorney Hank Coxe of the Bedell Firm. White will be sworn in as president in June 2008.
“I am very excited to be president-elect designate of The Florida Bar,” said White. “I was taught to always try and give back more than you take and I hope, in some small way by serving in this capacity, I am able to give back to a wonderful profession that has been very good to me.”
White is a shareholder, director and partner in the West Palm Beach office of Richman, Greer, Weil, Brumbaugh, Mirabito & Christensen. He is an AV-rated attorney and listed in “The Best Lawyers in America.”
White practices in the areas of personal injury, wrongful death, professional malpractice and complex commercial litigation. He has been a member of The Florida Bar Board of Governors since 2000 and has served on the Executive Committee, Budget Committee, Judicial Nominating Screening Committee among others. He also has served as chairman of the Judicial Nominating Procedures Committee.
He is also a past president of the Palm Beach County Bar Association and said there are many challenges and issues facing the Bar, including, but not limited to, ensuring adequate funding of the court system and criminal conflict counsel, as well as continuing the Bar’s diversity efforts.
White was born and raised in Pensacola and received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida and earned his law degree from UF in 1983.
In addition to being a member of The Florida Bar, White holds memberships in the American Bar Association and the Palm Beach County Bar Association. He is admitted to the Supreme Court of Florida, the U.S. District Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.
The 52-member Board of Governors is the governing board of The Florida Bar. The deadline for Florida attorneys to send in nominating petitions for officers and for seats on the Board of Governors was Dec. 15.
Any member of The Florida Bar in good standing may be nominated as a candidate for president-elect by petition signed by not less than 1 percent of the members of The Florida Bar in good standing. The Bar’s official canvass of the petitions received showed White was regularly nominated for the office of president-elect.