by Anthony DeMatteo
Staff Writer
Hank Coxe told a room filled with Florida Coastal School of Law students not to expect perfection when they first face a jury.
Coxe, the president of the Florida Bar Association, spoke at the school Monday, telling the crowd that his first trial as a prosecutor resulted in a 6 minute acquittal, after which he realized he might have missed something in questioning jurors for fitness.
“The forewoman of the jury ran out of the courtroom and down the hallway,” said Coxe. “I said to the bailiff, ‘Where’s she going?’ And he said, ‘Her husband’s on trial for first-degree murder down in Courtroom 4.’ So I knew there was one question I forgot to ask.”
Coxe said his organization, to which lawyers must belong to practice in the state, is expected to grow steadily over the next decade.
He said the Florida Bar’s membership exceeds 80,000, with about 57,000 lawyers practicing in Florida. The state has 10 law schools, and Coxe said the dean of a Michigan law school recently left him a message that his institution might relocate to Florida.
“The Florida Bar is now increasing at the rate of a little over 2,000 lawyers a year,” said Coxe. “Ten years from now, we anticipate that we will have in excess of 100,000 lawyers who are members of the Florida Bar, and at the current rate, it could be as many as 15 to 20 law schools.”
The first criminal lawyer to head the Florida Bar, Coxe is the former director of felony programs for the State Attorney’s office. He was elected as Bar president after 10 years as a member of the Bar’s Board of Governors.
During his speech, Coxe named five freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, freedom of the press and free public schools, and asked if anyone knew their origin.
No one raised their hand.
“They come from the 1918 Soviet Constitution,” said Coxe. “The 1918 Soviet Constitution was a vehicle Joseph Stalin used to bring terror to the Russians and the rest of the world for the ensuing 20 years.”
He said the rule of law is at the heart of his profession and protecting America’s freedom, comparing two controversial comments by public figures to illustrate the point.
“When columnist, and I’ll use the term loosely, Ann Coulter, called Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina a faggot – permissible in the United States? Absolutely. (It was in) poor taste, reprehensible, but never the less, the rule of law says the First Amendment means what it says.”
Coxe said a similar right was exercised a few years ago when a member of the band, Dixie Chicks, told a London crowd she was embarrassed to be from Texas because it is the state George W. Bush calls home.
“When she said that, the world went in an uproar, especially this country, saying ‘That’s outrageous, they should strip her of her citizenship,’” said Coxe. “And one person in the United States stood up. He said what made this country great is the First Amendment and the right to speak out. One of the greatest disappointments to the profession is that it wasn’t a lawyer. It was a person named Bruce Springsteen.”
Coxe praised lawyers throughout the country for standing up against former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Charles Stimson’s Jan. 11 statements that corporations should consider stopping doing business with large law firms defending prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.
Stimson resigned last month, citing controversy surrounding the matter.
“Pro bono representation of anyone, and access to the courts, is the highest calling of this profession,” said Coxe. “In the history of the United States, no right that has ever been lost or given up in this country has been recaptured by the people.”
Coxe also called an effort by the Florida Legislature to switch rule-making authority from the judicial to the legislative branch of state government “the single greatest threat to our institution of justice.”
Third-year law student, Aqua Fresca, said she benefited from attending the speech, which was followed by a question-and-answer session.
“I took a few notes, and got a lot out of it,” she said.
Coxe encouraged students to become involved with people and organizations in the community early in their law careers.
Steve Smith, who is set to graduate at the end of the year and plans to practice law in Jacksonville, said the school hosting speakers such as Coxe is part of what prepares him for the profession.
“He has such a wealth of knowledge and can point you in the right direction.”