by David Ball
Staff Writer
Jacksonville attorney Jake Schickel is very popular at the bimonthly meetings of the Florida Bar Board of Governors.
Is it because he brings unique legal insight and perspective to the policy debates that have serious consequences on the way Florida attorneys practice Law? Maybe, but the fact that he brings his own brand of homemade snacks, known as “Schicklets,” to the meetings doesn’t hurt.
“The Schicklets are the best. That’s why we let him come,” joked one Board of Governors member at the recent meeting in Amelia Island, his hands rummaging in a Ziploc bag of caramel-covered Chex cereal.
“It started about a year ago when we had a meeting here in town and I brought some coffee cake and other things for people to eat that was different than the regular hotel food,” said Schickel.
“I make cheesecakes, too,” he added. “But if we’re having a meeting in Miami, I can’t take a cheesecake with me.”
Schicklets aside, Schickel and his fellow Jacksonville Board of Governors representative, attorney Grier Wells, are known much more for the experience they bring to the board.
“They are excellent board members, excellent representatives of the Jacksonville legal community,” said Florida Bar President Frank Angones. “Jacksonville has always had excellent representatives.”
Wells, a commercial, construction and employment litigator with Gray Robinson, has served since 2000, and Schickel, a partner at personal injury firm Coker Schickel Sorenson Daniel, P.A., has served since 2005.
They have joined a long list of notable Jacksonville attorneys to serve on the Board of Governors, a 52-member body with exclusive authority to formulate and adopt matters of policy concerning the activities of the Bar.
Board members serve two-year terms, and the board includes two non-lawyer members, two members representing the Bar’s Young Lawyers Division and four out-of-state attorneys.
The remaining seats are split among the 20 judicial circuits based on size. The 11th Circuit (Miami) has eight representatives, while the 16th Circuit (Key West) has one. Members are nominated and selected by lawyers within each circuit.
“It’s not like the presidential campaigns we are seeing now,” said Schickel, who won the election in 2005 over Arthur Hernandez and again unopposed in 2007.
“I wrote several letters to people in the circuit, made a lot of telephone calls and went and visited a lot of people,” he added. “But I didn’t stand on the street corner outside of the court house with signs.”
Wells and Schickel bring their experience in the Fourth Circuit to the board and the board’s committees, where much of the real work is done.
“I love it,” said Wells, who currently serves on the Board’s Disciplinary Review, Program Evaluation, Strategic Planning, and Executive committees.
As far as attorney discipline goes, Wells, who’s served on that committee since 2001, said the local Bar stays remarkably out of trouble compared to other areas of the state.
“Ninety percent of the cases that go before the Disciplinary Review Committees are confined to Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County,” he said. “Unfortunately, that’s just where it is. In the last year or, so, though, we have had several cases here.”
Schickel has also served on the Disciplinary Review Committee, and he said it is one of the more fascinating, and frustrating, experiences.
“We are dealing with lawyers who’ve gotten in trouble, and I think it’s very important,” said Schickel, who at the recent board meeting heard a disciplining of an attorney charged with multiple DUIs and resisting arrest.
“There’s been some major debates about that, but the basic concept is that we’re lawyers, and we’re governed by the rule of law,” he said. “Depending on what it is, I think outside activities certainly impact the profession.”
Schickel currently serves on the Budget Committee and has also served on the Communications and Certification Appeals committees. He said although the issues are sensitive and are being argued by a group of attorneys, the discourse is always professional.
“We have had very very serious debates and very heated debates at different times,” he said. “But this is really a very collegial group. We may argue and disagree, but as soon as it’s over everybody pulls together for the greater good and moves forward.”