by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
When Hank Coxe was sworn in as Florida Bar president in late June, he took the lead role in an organization that has grown to over 80,000 members. But, the Bar wasn’t always that big or strong. In fact, the Bar’s membership growth is nearly parallel to how the state of Florida has grown since the mid 1960s.
“When Mark Hulsey (1968-69) was president of the Bar, there were about 11,000 members,” said Coxe, the guest speaker at Thursday’s Jacksonville Bar Association meeting at the Omni. “When John DeVault (1995-96) was president, there were about 50,000 members of the Florida Bar. Today, the Florida Bar exceeds 80,000 members.”
According to Coxe — the ninth attorney from Jacksonville to serve as Florida Bar president — 2,410 aspiring attorneys took the Bar exam last week and 1,811 passed. The Bar also currently has 23 sections that include everything from appellate law to criminal law to a Young Lawyers Division.
The growth of the Bar isn’t limited to just members.
“There are now 10 law schools in Florida and the Bar has an operating budget of $35 million,” said Coxe, a trail lawyer with the law firm of Bedell Dittmar DeVault Pillans & Coxe. “We are the third-largest Bar in the nation and the second or third toughest. The toughest Bar in the nation is New Jersey. There, if you get disbarred, it’s for life.”
While Coxe is obviously proud of the organization he leads, he’s equally proud of the individual attorneys within the Florida Bar. He says the number of disciplined attorneys is incredibly small percentage-wise compared to other states.
“Things are very good in Florida,” said Coxe, who related three quick examples of attorneys from other parts of the state getting in trouble with the Bar. “Of 80,000 lawyers, only 330 were actually disciplined. That’s 1 in every 222 lawyers.”
Coxe also touched on judicial independence and the need for the state’s judiciary to continue to oversee and govern itself. He also stressed the continued effort across the state to ensure fairness and impartiality throughout the entire legal community.