Staff Reports
Chief Justice Jorge Labarga on Friday announced the first members of a panel to advise the Florida Supreme Court‘s commission on helping the state’s poor and working poor get legal help.
The Council of Business Partners will advise the Commission on Access to Civil Justice, created by Labarga in 2014.
“Employers, too, have a stake in this,” Labarga said in a statement. “Employees who have challenges accessing justice have higher absenteeism and reduced productivity.
“It is in all our interests to address access to justice,” he added.
Those appointed include:
— Tere Blanca, president and CEO of Blanca Commercial Real Estate in Miami, who will serve as liaison between the Council of Business Partners and the Commission on Access to Civil Justice.
— David Faulkenberry, president of FBMC Benefits Management, Inc., Tallahassee.
— Cathy Roth, senior vice president of legal affairs and general counsel, Universal Parks & Resorts, Orlando.
— Byron Russell, chair and CEO, Cheney Brothers, Inc., West Palm Beach.
— Lynne Wines, Harvard University, Advanced Leadership fellow, Fort Lauderdale.
The commission has been seeking solutions to the perennial problem of providing civil legal help to those who can’t afford it. That includes things like child custody and landlord-tenant cases.
