Serving the Bar at the 2018 Annual Convention

Our team recently traveled to Orlando for the 68th Annual Florida Bar Convention–the main event of the year for the Florida Bar.

The 68th Annual Florida Bar Convention was held in Orlando, Florida

Nearly every section, committee, and organization within the Florida Bar meets during this convention to discuss the past year and to plan for the future. Thousands of attorneys attend. As always, the convention included a number of Appellate Practice Section and Business Law Section events.

APS Committee Meetings

Jared is this year as the Chair of the Outreach Committee.

Outreach Committee members circled around a table at a meeting.

Jared, center, looks quizically at photographer, Dineen, during the Outreach Committee meeting at the 2018 Florida Bar Convention.

Traditionally, Outreach’s mandate is to foster relationships between the Appellate Practice Section and other organizations and Florida Bar members for the benefit of all. In the past year, jared’s committee has also been working to improve diversity in the Appellate Practice Section, and looking to increase the Section’s exposure to other groups and young lawyers in particular.

Dineen is returning as the Website and Communications Committee Co-Chair. Last year she spearheaded the section’s social media initiative, creating and moderating the section’s Facebook and Twitter feeds. You can follow the section on Facebook and Twitter as @FlaBarAppellate.

APS Executive Council Meeting

Jared also served as a member of the Appellate Practice Section’s Executive Council. This is the group charged with determining the future of the Section. The Executive Council meets three times a year to discuss the events-to-date and the plans for the future. Each committee chair also reports on their activities and progress. And, at the June convention, the council installs the new officers for the upcoming year.

Outgoing chair Kristin Norse gifted beautiful personalized hand-carved wooden boxes to each of the officers and committee chairs. There were notably different tones for the quotes on these two boxes, the first to Jared, the latter to Dineen:

A wooden box engraved with the saying, "Do or do not, there is no try."

A Star Wars themed gift from the Appellate Practice Section for Jared.

A box inscribed with the phrase, "When there are nine."

A quote from Ruth Bader Ginsburg adorns this gifted box from the Appellate Practice Section to Dineen.

Appellate Practice Section’s 25th Anniversary Dinner

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the creation of the Appellate Practice Section. The Section celebrated with a dinner and reception at a nearby restaurant, Deep Blu. DPW Legal was a sponsor of the event.

Justice Lawson addressed the Appellate Practice Section at its 25th Anniversary celebration.

Judge Edwin A. Scales, III, admirably performed duties as master of ceremonies, taking a few humorous shots at some section members. Longtime member and an originator of the Section, Tony Musto, told stories of how the Section came to be. He was followed with remarks by former APS Chair Ceci Berman and outgoing APS Chair Kristin Norse. Florida Supreme Court Justice Alan Lawson closed the dinner with thoughtful remarks on the purpose and responsibility of the law in our society.

APS Annual Dessert Reception

The Appellate Practice Section’s signature event is its dessert reception–a tradition put in place by the originators of the Section all those years ago. This year’s theme was “An Evening in Paris,” and the event was marked with made-to-order crepes, signature cocktails, and other French treats.

Sign reserving DPW Legal's place at the APS 25th Anniversary Dinner

DPW Legal’s reserved table at the APS 25th Anniversary Dinner.

At the reception, the Section presented its James C. Adkins award to Florida Supreme Court Justice Peggy Quince, who will be retiring from the bench early next year. The Section presented the first-ever John R. Hamilton Pro Bono Award to the aforementioned Tony Musto. Also recognized were Florida Supreme Court Justices Barbara Pariente and Fred Lewis, who will be retiring with Justice Quince.

Business Law Section Executive Council

In addition to the appellate activities, Dineen fit in her duties as a member of the Executive Council of the Business Law Section. This year, she was appointed to co-chair the section’s new Health and Wellness Task Force. As with the rest of the bar, the Business Law Section is putting efforts toward ensuring that its members focus on their own health, so they can serve their families and their clients better. If you have ideas of wellness programs you would like to see as a Business Law Section member, please do reach out to Dineen!

Sound like fun? Want to get involved?

Perhaps you’re an appellate lawyer looking for a way to get involved with the Florida Bar or bar service in general. Or maybe you’re a trial lawyer who occasionally handles your own appeals, and there would be mutual benefit from sharing your experiences with appellate lawyers and having a network of appellate lawyers to go to with questions of your own. Both the Appellate Practice Section and the Business Law Section offer numerous opportunities for bar service, personal marketing, and lasting friendships. If any of these things sound interesting to you, we’d be glad to talk to you, so feel free to call us at 813-778-5161.