What’s New VBA, 20 VTBJ, Fall 2020-#33
| Author | Teri Corsones, VBA Executive Director |
| Position | Vol. 46 3 Pg. 33 |
Annual Report 2019-2020
Teri Corsones, VBA Executive Director
The VBA Annual Reports cover VBA activities during the September 1 – August 31 time frame. Who would have imagined the challenges we faced together during the second six-months of this reporting period? Thanks to so many members and staff who selfessly dedicated their time and talents to meet those challenges, we are proud to include in this report the different ways your VBA was able to help legal professionals in weathering the pandemic storm.
Immediately after Governor Scott’s declaration of a state-wide emergency on March 13, we established the “Lawyers’ COVID-19 Resource Page” on the VBA website to provide a continually updated go-to resource for our members. The Resource Page has links to Governor Scott’s Executive Orders, the Agency of Commerce & Community Development (ACCD) Guidance materials, Judiciary Emergency Orders, Emergency Rules and Legislation, and numerous employer, tech, wellness and general COVID-19 resources.
The VBA COVID-19 Committee sprang into action to meet weekly to ensure that the interests of lawyers, law office staff and law students were well-represented during the development of the ACCD professional office re-opening phases, during the Judiciary’s development of its Ramp Up Report and Jury Restart Plan, and during the Legislature’s passage of emergency legislation impacting remote wills, deeds, powers of attorney and advance directives, as well as enhanced life estate deeds. The Committee also worked to develop numerous CO-VID-19 related volunteer opportunities for lawyers as well as opportunities for bar examinees faced with the challenge of a delayed and remote bar exam.
We also organized weekly Section/Division Chairs and County Bar Presidents Conference Calls, whose participants provided invaluable input for the ACCD guidance, the Judiciary’s emergency orders, the Legislature’s emergency legislation and critical information for the weekly phone conferences that VBA President Beth Novotny and I had the privilege of holding over the last six months with Chief Justice Reiber, Chief Superior Judge Brian Grearson, CAO Pat Gabel and other members of the Judiciary leadership team.
Also unique to this reporting period was the formation of an E-File Fees Study Committee that was created following the initial roll out of the Odyssey e-fling system in April 2020. The Legislature adopt-ed a number of the recommendations in the Committee’s Report in H.951, including requiring the Judiciary to meet with court users to review their experience with the system, and to examine alternatives to the per-use e-fling fee charge. The Judiciary is required to report on the results of the meetings by October 30; in the meantime, the Legislative Committee on Judicial Rules has urged the Judiciary to postpone expansion of the system until the current e-fling issues are addressed.
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