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Staff ReportsMarch 22, 2017

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West Palm Beach attorney Michelle Suskauer has been chosen as president-elect designate of The Florida Bar, according to a Wednesday press release. Suskauer, 50, is a criminal defense attorney in a two-lawyer office in West Palm Beach. She’s married to Judge Scott Suskauer of the 15th Judicial Circuit in Palm Beach County. She prevailed over Lansing […]

Florence SnyderMarch 3, 2017

(PUBLISHER’S NOTE: Rosanne Dunkelberger is President of Dunkelberger Consulting, Editor-at-Large for Extensive Enterprises, and formerly editor of Tallahassee Magazine.) It’s a Milestone Birthday for Rosanne Dunkelberger, and her kids have asked millennials she’s mentored and friends who knew her before she was an award-winning magazine editor to tell them what we remember most about the […]

Jim RosicaFebruary 21, 2017

The board responsible for writing the state’s bar examination is looking for two more volunteer members. The Florida Board of Bar Examiners now is seeking “two public members” for three-year terms each, it announced in a Tuesday press release. “A public member volunteer should possess education or work-related experience such as educational testing, accounting, statistical analysis, medicine, psychology […]

Jim RosicaFebruary 20, 2017

The organization responsible for writing the state’s bar examination is looking for two good lawyers. The Florida Board of Bar Examiners has two openings for attorney-members, it said in a Monday news release. Applicants have to be “practicing lawyers with scholarly attainments” and must have been a member of The Florida Bar for at least five years. Sorry, […]

Jim RosicaFebruary 14, 2017

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The Florida Bar‘s governing board has decided to oppose legislation that would allow state lawmakers to override court decisions they don’t like. The Board of Governors adopted the stance at its Jan. 20 meeting, according to the Bar News on Tuesday. It also disapproved a companion measure aimed at federal judges who interpret state laws. State Rep. […]

Jim RosicaFebruary 13, 2017

A split appellate court panel has thrown out the molestation convictions of an Orlando-area man, saying he was the victim of “egregious prosecutorial misconduct.” In a 2-1 opinion, a three-judge panel of the 5th District Court of Appeal last week vacated Marco Antonio Rodriguez’s convictions and remanded the case back to the Orange County Circuit […]

Jim RosicaFebruary 6, 2017

The Florida Bar wants lawyer-spouses of military members stationed in Florida to be able to practice law here without having to take the state bar exam. The Bar, which regulates the state’s 100,000-plus licensed attorneys, filed its request with the Florida Supreme Court last week. The change would require court approval. Twenty-three other states, including […]

Jim RosicaJanuary 4, 2017

Christian D. Searcy doesn’t consider himself “the most political person” but suggests you don’t need a weatherman to see which way the wind is blowing on Florida’s judicial nominating panels. Searcy, president of the Searcy, Denney, Scarola, Barnhart & Shipley personal-injury law firm, reacted to Tuesday’s news about the state’s Judicial Nominating Commissions (JNCs). Gov. Rick Scott had […]

Jim RosicaJanuary 3, 2017

Gov. Rick Scott has rejected all suggestions from The Florida Bar to fill vacancies in several of the state’s Judicial Nominating Commissions (JNC), the panels that recommend lawyers for judgeships. The latest rejections now add up to at least 90 of the Bar’s recommendations for JNC openings that Scott has turned down since taking office in 2011, according […]

Jim RosicaSeptember 19, 2016

Florida law school students’ downward spiral continues, with only 68.2 percent passing the latest state bar exam. The state’s Board of Bar Examiners on Monday released the figures for the July 26-27 examination. The results are for first-time test takers only. This July’s overall pass rate was 0.7 percent lower than last year’s, of 68.9 percent. In 2014, it was 71.8 […]

Tag: The Florida Bar

Michelle Suskauer elected president-elect designate of The Florida Bar

A birthday card for the unofficial, undisputed queen of Tallahassee

Bar exam board now seeking public members

Bar exam board seeking two lawyer members

Florida Bar will oppose legislative ‘override’ proposals

Orange County molestation convictions overturned after prosecutorial misconduct

Lawyers married to military could bypass bar exam in Florida

Is Rick Scott co-opting Florida’s judicial nominating process?

Rick Scott rejects Bar’s nominees for state’s judicial panels

Florida bar exam passage rate drops to lowest point in 5 years

Florida politics had 11 questions before federal qualifying week. Here are the answers.