The first joint meeting of all four area American Inns of Court took place at Florida Coastal School of Law to further each of their missions to foster excellence in professionalism, ethics, civility and legal skills.
American Inns of Court are designed to improve the skills, professionalism and ethics of the bench and bar.
An American Inn of Court is an organization of judges, lawyers, and in some cases, law professors and law students. Each Inn meets about once a month to socialize and to hold programs and discussions on matters of ethics, skills and professionalism.
The area Inns include the Chester Bedell Inn of Court, E. Robert Williams Inn of Court, Florida Family Law Inn of Court and the newest addition, The Nassau County Inn of Court. The Chester Bedell Inn of Court was the first in Florida in 1985.
One of the founders of the Chester Bedell Inn of Court talked about how the program began after U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger and other American lawyers and judges spent two weeks in England in 1977 as part of the Anglo-American Exchange.
“There were three main lessons that he learned,” said U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Susan Black.
“One, lawyers cannot be equally competent in all tasks. Two, training in advocacy must begin in law schools. Three, ethics, manners and civility also must be included and practiced in the courtroom,” she said.
Upon his return, Burger authorized a pilot program that could function in the U.S. justice system. Burger, former Solicitor General Rex Lee and Senior U.S. District Judge A. Sherman Christensen founded the first American Inn of Court in 1980.
The Inn was affiliated with the J. Reuben Clark School of Law at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. The number of American Inns increased slowly at first, but the growth of the movement began to accelerate in 1985 with the establishment of the American Inns of Court Foundation.
“It was quite a leap of faith on their part. There was no national organization. No one had ever heard of an American Inns of Court, but these judges and lawyers intuitively knew that the organization was needed,” said Black, “that it was worthwhile and would fill a need in the profession.”
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