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Florida Supreme Court’s Commission on Access to Civil Justice members announce new mobile device app for family law help

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MEDIA ADVISORY

Who: Gregory W. Coleman, Chair of the Access Commission’s Executive Committee
What: Media Availability to discuss the work of the Florida Commission on Access to Civil Justice
When: 11:30 a.m., Friday, December 15
Where: Horizon Grand Ballroom, Hotel Duval, 415 N. Monroe Street, Tallahassee
Streaming: Media availability at 11:30 a.m. and Commission meeting at 1 p.m. aired on The Florida Channel on cable systems and streaming at thefloridachannel.org.

Gregory W. Coleman, Executive Committee Chair of the standing Commission on Access to Civil Justice and a West Palm Beach attorney, will lead a media availability to discuss the continuing work of the Commission ahead of its meeting that day in Tallahassee.

Coleman will announce a Commission initiative, a new mobile device app to help Floridians who represent themselves in court on family law matters such as divorce, child custody, name changes and orders of protection. Judges and other court personnel are set to address the Commission on family law issues as part of a panel discussion scheduled for the afternoon after the Commission is introduced to the features of the new app.

The Commission works to address the barriers of access to civil justice faced by hundreds of thousands of Floridians.

New officers named to Board overseeing Florida Bar admissions

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New officers were selected recently for the Florida Board of Bar Examiners, which implements the Florida Supreme Court’s constitutional authority to oversee and regulate admissions of new attorneys to The Florida Bar.
The changes involve members from the Panama City and the Miami areas. They are:

Elizabeth J. Walters, of Panama City Beach, Florida, was named Chair of the Florida Board of Bar Examiners. Ms. Walters was elected Vice Chair in 2016 by her fellow Board members at a meeting of the Board held in Tampa, Florida on October 15, 2016.  Her term of office with the Florida Board of Bar Examiners began November 1, 2013.  Ms. Walters will serve as Chair through October 31, 2018.

Ms. Walters was born in Panama City, Florida.  She attended the University of West Florida where she received her BA degree in Political Science and her MA degree in Political Science, and The Florida State University School of Law where she received her Juris Doctorate degree.  Ms. Walters is a partner at Burke Blue Hutchison Walters & Smith, P.A.  She was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1995 and the Alabama  Bar in 1996, and is a member of the Bay County Bar Association and the St. Andrews Bay American Inn of Court.

In addition to serving on the FBBE, Ms. Walters has undertaken numerous civic endeavors, including currently serving as the Chair of the Panama City Port Authority, Chair of Bay Medical Center/Sacred Heart Health System Board of Directors and Chair of Alignment Bay County.   She also serves as a Director of Summit Bank, N.A. and is a Trustee of the Florida State University Foundation.

Scott L. Baena, a founding partner at Bilzin Sumberg Baena, Price & Axelrod LLP in Miami, Florida, was elected Vice Chair of the Florida Board of Bar Examiners by his fellow Board members at a meeting of the Board held in Coral Gables, Florida on October 19, 2017.  Mr. Baena’s term of office with the Florida Board of Bar Examiners began November 1, 2014.  Mr. Baena will become Chair of the Board on November 1, 2018.

Mr. Baena attended George Washington University, where he received his BBA and Juris Doctor degrees.  He was admitted to The Florida Bar in December 1974, and is a member of the following associations:  Dade County Bar Association (Director), Legal Services of Greater Miami (Director), American Bankruptcy Institute, South Florida Bankruptcy Bar Association, American Law Institute, and the American Bar Association.  Mr. Baena was a member of The Florida Bar Board of Governors from 1987-1995; served as Chair of the Business Law Section of The Florida Bar 1986-87; and currently serves on the Senior Lawyers Committee of The Florida Bar.  Mr. Baena additionally served on the board of The Florida Bar Foundation from 1997-2000.

The Florida Board of Bar Examiners is an administrative agency of the Supreme Court charged with the responsibility of enforcing the Rules of the Supreme Court Relating to Admissions to The Bar.  This involves the supervision of character background investigations as well as the administration and grading of the Florida Bar Examination.
The Board’s website, located at www.floridabarexam.org, has the Board’s computerized Bar Application forms available to applicants free of charge.  The website also features the full text of the Rules of the Supreme Court Relating to Admissions to the Bar, Frequently Asked Questions and links to other agencies, including The Florida Bar and the Supreme Court.

Florida Supreme Court appoints Dade City attorney to Board overseeing Bar admissions

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Larry Stewart Hersch of Dade City, Florida, has been appointed to membership on the Florida Board of Bar Examiners by the Supreme Court of Florida to succeed Barbara J. Pittman of Tampa, Florida. His term of office will begin November 1, 2017, and extend through October 31, 2022.
Mr. Hersch has his own law practice in Dade City, Florida. Mr. Hersch attended Oglethorpe University where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree and Stetson University College of Law where he received his Juris Doctorate degree. He was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1975.  Mr. Hersch is the past president of the East Pasco Bar Association.
The Florida Board of Bar Examiners is an administrative agency of the Supreme Court charged with the responsibility of enforcing the Rules of the Supreme Court Relating to Admissions to The Bar. This involves the supervision of character background investigations as well as the administration and grading of the Florida Bar Examination.
The Board’s website, located at www.floridabarexam.org, has the Board’s computerized Bar Application forms available to applicants free of charge.  The website also features the full text of the Rules of the Supreme Court Relating to Admissions to the Bar, Frequently Asked Questions and links to other agencies, including The Florida Bar and the Supreme Court.

Attorney General Bondi’s Statement on Florida Supreme Court Ruling in Ayala v. Scott

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Attorney General Pam Bondi today released the following statement regarding the Florida Supreme Court’s ruling in Aramis Donell Ayala v. Rick Scott:
“Today’s Florida Supreme Court decision is a tremendous victory for victims and their loved ones. As my Solicitor General argued, the Governor has every right to reassign these cases to prosecutors who will uphold the laws of our great state. This year, we have seen the brutal murders of law enforcement officers in State Attorney Aramis Ayala’s circuit, and her unconscionable decision to never seek the death penalty will not be tolerated. The governor and I will continue to do all we can to protect our citizens.”

Florida Supreme Court appoints three to Board overseeing Bar admissions

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The Florida Supreme Court has appointed three new members to the Florida Board of Bar Examiners, which implements the court’s constitutional authority to oversee and regulate admissions of new attorneys to The Florida Bar.
The new members come from the Panama City and the Tampa-St. Petersburg areas. They are:

  • Major General William F. Hodgkins (United States Air Force – Retired), of Lynn Haven, Florida, has been appointed to membership on the Florida Board of Bar Examiners by the Supreme Court of Florida to succeed retiring Member Janet M. Sermon of Tallahassee, Florida.  His term of office will extend through October 31, 2020.

General Hodgkins was born in Lansing, Michigan.  He is a graduate of Auburn University, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Education and a M.Ed. in Educational Administration.  He also attended Carnegie Mellon University’s Program for Executives, and an International Securities Studies Program at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. General Hodgkins retired from the U.S. Air Force in 2006 after 32 years of service.  Among his assignments, he was a former Wing Commander at Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, FL.  After his retirement from the Air Force, he worked for The Boeing Company’s Defense, Space and Security business as a Senior Executive responsible for Boeing’s business development offices in Colorado, California, Texas, Nebraska, New Mexico and Louisiana.  General Hodgkins retired from Boeing and relocated to Florida in 2012.

  • Jennifer Martinez Mooney of Land O’Lakes, Florida, has been appointed to membership on the Florida Board of Bar Examiners by the Supreme Court of Florida to succeed Scott N. Richardson of West Palm Beach, Florida.  Her term of office will begin November 1, 2017, and extend through October 31, 2022.

Ms. Mooney works in the Legal Department of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, in Tampa, Florida.  She was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1998 and was the Chairperson of the Florida Bar’s Unlicensed Practice of Law Committee from April 2011 to February 2016.  Ms. Mooney is an alumnus of the University of South Florida and Stetson University College of Law.

  • Elaine Terenzi, of Tampa, Florida, has been appointed to membership on the Florida Board of Bar Examiners by the Supreme Court of Florida to succeed retiring Member David Carl Lyles, of Jacksonville, Florida.  Her term of office will extend through October 31, 2020.

Ms. Terenzi was born in Brooklyn, New York.  She earned a Master of Business Administration from the New York Institute of Technology, and a Master of Arts and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from The New York School for Social Research and John Jay College of Criminal Justice, respectively. Ms. Terenzi served as Chief U.S. Probation Officer for the U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida from 1996 to 2012, and is currently president of Independent Business Group, LLC, and a volunteer Guardian ad Litem.
The Florida Board of Bar Examiners is an administrative agency of the Supreme Court charged with the responsibility of enforcing the Rules of the Supreme Court Relating to Admissions to The Bar.  This involves the supervision of character background investigations as well as the administration and grading of the Florida Bar Examination.
The Board’s website, located at www.floridabarexam.org, has the Board’s computerized Bar Application forms available to applicants free of charge.  The website also features the full text of the Rules of the Supreme Court Relating to Admissions to the Bar, Frequently Asked Questions and links to other agencies, including The Florida Bar and the Supreme Court.

Media Advisory From The Florida Supreme Court

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Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Jorge Labarga, Judge Bertila Soto
Hold Media Availability Friday, Before Access to Civil Justice Commission Meeting

Who: Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Jorge Labarga and Eleventh Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Bertila Soto

What: Media Availability to discuss the work of the Florida Commission on Access to Civil Justice, a workshop with the Commission’s Council of Business Partners, and an overview of a Florida Bar Foundation effort, Everyone Counts Day, to survey on a single day self-represented litigants in Eleventh Circuit civil courts.

When: 10 a.m., Friday, June 2

Where: Pan Am Ballroom, Miami Sheraton Hotel, 3900 NW 21st Street, Miami

Streaming: Media availability at 10 a.m. and Commission meeting at 1 p.m. aired on The Florida Channel on cable systems and streaming at thefloridachannel.org.

Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Jorge Labarga will lead a media availability to discuss the continuing work of the standing Commission on Access to Civil Justice ahead of its meeting that day in Miami. He will be joined by Eleventh Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Bertila Soto.

The commission works to address the barriers of access to civil justice faced by hundreds of thousands of Floridians. There is no legal representation guaranteed low- or moderate-income people and many face the prospect of civil cases related to veterans’ benefits, foreclosures, child custody, debt collection, and other vital matters without a lawyer.

While the people of Florida have access to do-it-yourself forms and guides, pro bono representation, and limited formalized legal aid services, the need for innovative approaches to the problem is great. The Access to Civil Justice Commission has initiated pilot programs and undertaken other programs to help determine the best way forward to expand basic access to the civil justice system.

A one-day survey of Eleventh Circuit civil court proceedings conducted by The Florida Bar Foundation showed 63 percent of litigants observed in seven Miami-Dade County courthouses were not represented by an attorney.