Civil Trial Certification.

• Author: Feiler, Michael B.
• Position: Annual Reports of Committees of the Florida Bar: 2018-2019

Civil trial law is the practice of law dealing with the litigation of civil controversies in all areas of substantive law before Florida circuit courts or other equivalent courts of the states and federal district courts. In addition to the pretrial and trial process, civil trial law includes evaluating, handling, and resolving civil controversies prior to the initiation of suit.

Civil trial law is one of Florida's first certification areas, having been approved by the Florida Supreme Court in 1983. Currently, less than 1 percent of Florida lawyers are board certified civil trial lawyers. More than 100 board certified civil trial lawyers have been continuously certified since 1983.

The Civil Trial Certification Committee is charged with the responsibility of reviewing and recommending changes to the standards for certification in civil trial law; evaluating applications for certification and recertification; and preparing and grading the annual examination, which is a requirement for all applicants. In the 2018-19 year, we continued the work begun by past Chair Charles Ingram, thoroughly reviewing our protocols and making necessary changes. We've increased our emphasis on peer review and continue to develop ways to recognize trial participation for qualification purposes.

In 2018-2019, the committee successfully reviewed 209 applications for...