Civil trial.

• Author: Caggiano, Anthony J.
• Position: Board certification

Is there any greater feeling as a civil trial lawyer, than having successfully championed a client's cause to verdict? Is victory even more satisfying when you, as trial advocate, overcome great odds, pursue a just cause, and deftly confront challenges that would make Solomon blink? For 20 years, The Florida Bar, through the civil trial certification program, has created the means to improve the competency of civil trial lawyers and to identify for the public those lawyers who have special skills and proficiency. Every civil trial lawyer should aspire to best protect and serve the interests of his clients and his profession.

The civil trial certification program is one of the oldest of the certification programs. In the early years of the program, the majority of the lawyers seeking certification were long-standing, experienced trial lawyers. As the program entered its 10th year in 1993, the number of certified trial lawyers exceeded 1,000. At the same time, lawyers seeking certification were those that had more recently acquired the requisite level of experience required by the standards. Presently, there are 1,131 board certified trial lawyers. The Bar's total membership is slightly over 71,000. Clearly, the number of lawyers who specialize in civil trial practice is a smaller subset of this number, and the number eligible for certification in civil trial is even less. However, the number of certified civil trial lawyers is still a small percentage of those eligible, perhaps as low as 10 percent.

Why have so few trial lawyers attained certification as a civil trial specialist? In discussions with the general public about the certification program, the overwhelming sentiment expressed confirms that if an individual needed a lawyer and knew nothing else about a lawyer except that the lawyer achieved what more than 90 percent of colleagues had not, they would feel reasonably confident in their selection of counsel based on certification alone. Indeed, a significant number of applicants seeking certification report doing so for marketing and advertising purposes. Further, if most lawyers diligently pursue their law degrees and their legal careers, why have so few pursued civil trial certification? Again, a large segment of applicants report personal enhancement and enhanced professionalism and credibility among their peers as the primary reasons for seeking certification.

Certainly, there are good trial lawyers who are not board certified...