The Jacksonville Bar Association continued its Sidebar lunch program Wednesday at the Duval County Courthouse with Circuit Civil Division judges.
The program began in 2008 in an effort to bring judges and lawyers together in an informal setting to discuss courtroom procedure and etiquette. Attendees not only share a meal, but also articipate in panel and question-and-answer discussions.
Circuit Judges Thomas Beverly, Hugh Carithers, Karen Cole, Gregg McCaulie and Jack Schemer participated in the panel discussion. They were joined by about 20 members of The JBA.
E-filing of court documents was discussed.
“If a document needs a separate date stamp, it needs to be e-filed separately,” said Schemer.
Judges discussed issues with scheduling enough time for
meetings.
“There’s a notion that if you request a 30-minute meeting your chances are better of getting on the calendar than if you requested an hour, even though you really needed an hour,” said McCaulie.
Scheduling a meeting with evasive opposing counsel was another issue discussed.
“If you have problems scheduling meetings with opposing counsel, try three times and if you can’t get it set up, just schedule the meeting,” said Schemer.
Cole addressed ex-parte meetings.
“If you are a local attorney, I want you to appear physically at the meeting. I want to get away from these meetings by phone,” said Cole.
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