by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Alan Bookman has been an attorney in Florida for 33 years but he swears the past 12 months have been the most satisfying in every respect.
“It was the best professional year of my life,” said Bookman, who will relinquish his role as Florida Bar Association president June 23 when local criminal defense attorney Hank Coxe takes over. “It has been an absolute privilege and honor to represent the almost 78,000 lawyers in Florida.”
Bookman was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1973 and today is a commercial real estate attorney in Pensacola where he is with the law firm of Emmanuel, Sheppard & Condon. He was elected to the FBA’s Board of Governors in 1996 and took over as Bar president late last June, succeeding Kelly Overstreet Johnson, a business law attorney with the Tallahassee firm of Broad and Cassel.
In addition to maintaining a full-time law practice, Bookman has really gotten to know the state of Florida. He’s done the tour, visiting Bar associations from Pensacola to Jacksonville to Key West and said he loved every stop.
“My biggest pleasure was visiting all the volunteer Bars and meeting fellow lawyers,” said Bookman, estimating that he met with 50-75 different Bar associations over the course of the year. “I did a lot of traveling this past year.”
Bookman said one of the things that most impressed him about the various volunteer Bars was that while they may not be real active on a statewide basis, he appreciated their involvement in their communities.
At each stop, Bookman spoke about ethics, the practice of law and raising a family. While Palatka and Miami may be a universe apart culturally, Bookman said the reality is the law is the law regardless where it’s practiced.
“Some of them have more competition than others. It depends on where they are,” he said, explaining that while each message might have been similar, each was also tailored to fit the region and specific Bar association. “I talked about what the Florida Bar Association was doing in the legislature. The message was fairly standard, but it shifted throughout the year depending on what was going on at the time.”
Bookman, a Board Certified real estate attorney, also said the Bar presidency was a valuable teaching tool. During his tenure, Bookman often found himself balancing serving the Bar and dealing with government officials and members of the legislature.
“We would have issues where we would agree and we’d have issues where we’d disagree,” said Bookman, who may have found the role as mediator quite natural since he is certified by the Florida Supreme Court as a Civil Trail Mediator. “It was interesting to work to find compromise at that level.”
In between road trips and speeches, Bookman — a graduate of Tulane University for both his undergraduate and law degrees — did find time to work. He said one of the keys to making his year so successful was having the support of his entire firm.
“My law firm was phenomenal,” he said. “They really picked up the pieces but I did work full-time. I worked nights and weekends and on holidays. I worked from my hotel room when I was on the road. I have an obligation to my firm and my clients and they were gracious enough to allow me to do this.”
The year was also made easier by having Coxe serve as his president-elect. The two are long-time friends and their solid relationship made Bookman’s year easier and will also assure the transition to Coxe taking over is smooth.
“We have been good friends for years and we have been like brothers the past year-and-a-half,” said Bookman. “We e-mailed each other constantly and spoke on the phone four or five times a week. We have a wonderful relationship and that translated into us being able to do a better job for the Bar.”
Any advice for Coxe?
“Just sit back and enjoy because he is going to get pulled 16 different ways.”
Bookman said there aren’t any specific duties for past presidents but Coxe has already asked him to serve on a committee.
One of the neat things, he said, about being a past-president is that it allows you to join the National Conference of Bar Presidents.
“You meet some phenomenal people and see what’s going on in other states. The Florida Bar is truly a leader in the country,” said Bookman, explaining that he is often sought out to advise other states on Florida programs.
Anything in particular planned for Coxe as kind of a welcome-to-the-job present or gag?
“No. I’ll take care of Coxe one-on-one.”