Committees of The Florida Bar.

• Position: Annual Reports

Admiralty Law

The Admiralty Law Committee is a small committee that focuses on substantive and procedural law unique to maritime matters. The committee has 62 members and has met twice this year, during the annual and midyear meetings of The Florida Bar.

This year the committee provided three hours of intermediate-to-advanced CLE credit to its attending members. These presentations, in addition to the committee's regular business, have been very well received by the members, resulting in attendance of 47 percent of the committee during the June 2003 meeting and 60 percent of the committee at the January 2004 meeting. A similar meeting is planned for June 23, 2004, at the next annual meeting of The Florida Bar.

These CLE presentations were the result of various committee members making presentations during the meetings, and providing comprehensive written materials to fulfill the requirements of advanced CLE credit to the many members of the committee who are board certified in admiralty and maritime law by The Florida Bar. The committee is indebted to those who have agreed to make these presentations, and hopes that others will volunteer or agree to be drafted to do so in the future.

Various members of the committee have and others are continuing to update the Maritime Law and Practice Manual, which this committee has sponsored for many years. This activity is ongoing, and a new edition of that manual is planned for publication in 2004.

CHRISTIAN D. KEEDY, Chair

Advertising

The Standing Committee on Advertising is responsible for advising members of The Florida Bar on permissible advertising and marketing practices. The committee, which meets monthly, reviews appeals of opinions issued by staff counsel, offers guidance to staff in evaluating lawyer advertisements, makes recommendations regarding rule changes, and provides guidance to Bar members concerning both the substantive and procedural requirements of the advertising rules.

The committee advises Bar members on the substance of the advertising rules through a variety of different methods. An in-depth analysis of the filing requirements, substantive regulations, and committee interpretations is provided by the committee's Handbook on Lawyer Advertising and Solicitation (6th Ed., June 2003). The handbook is designed to provide both a quick and easy reference to filing and substantive guidelines through various checklists and examples, as well as more in-depth discussions of particular types of advertising regulations and recurring situations. The handbook is reviewed and updated by Bar staff with the input of the committee to provide an excellent up-to-date guide to Florida's lawyer advertising regulations. It also includes the latest changes to the advertising rules, set forth in the Supreme Court's Rules Regulating The Florida Bar--Amendments, 820 So. 2d 210 (Fla. 2002), and Amendments to Rules Regulating The Florida Bar--Advertising Rules, 762 So. 2d 392 (Fla. 1999).

The committee, through its staff, continues to publish a quarterly "Advertising Update" column in The Florida Bar News. The column summarizes highlights of the committee's decisions at its monthly meetings and the Board of Governors' decisions regarding advertising issues. The committee's goal is to provide Bar members with as much information as possible to assist them in complying with the attorney advertising rules.

The committee has been active in assisting other bar committees this year. Members of the advertising committee worked with the Professional Ethics Committee as participants in subcommittees dealing with issues affecting both legal ethics and lawyer advertising. Committee members are also participating in the Advertising Task Force 2004, which will conduct a comprehensive review of our current advertising rules. The committee has recommended several changes to clarify the attorney advertising rules and to address restrictions on television and radio advertisements that were approved by the Board of Governors and filed with the Florida Supreme Court this year. The committee has also served in an advisory capacity to the new statewide grievance committee on lawyer advertising, assisting the members of the new grievance committee in understanding the advertising rules and the advertising review process.

By far the most time-consuming task of the committee this year, as in past years, has been reviewing advertisements filed by members of The Florida Bar to determine whether they comply with the advertising rules. The committee reviews decisions of its staff regarding lawyer advertisements if the staff's interpretation of a particular rule or advertisement is appealed by an advertising attorney. Advertisers may appeal decisions of the committee to the Board of Governors. The committee also provides guidance to its staff and advertisers upon request, in order to foster compliance with the rules and permit advertisers to accomplish their legitimate advertising goals. The committee works hard to apply the advertising rules fairly to all types of advertisements and to balance the rights of advertisers with the needs and concerns of the public. As in previous years, the committee has taken an active role in ensuring that lawyer advertising in Florida is filed with The Florida Bar and properly reviewed. An ongoing compliance program, headed by staff of the committee, reviews Yellow Pages and newspaper advertisements throughout the state to determine whether nonexempt advertisements have been filed and reviewed. Lawyers who have not filed their advertisements (and whose advertisements are not exempt from filing under the advertising rules) are sent a letter asking them to file their ads and to pay a $250 late filing fee approved by the Florida Supreme Court in 1999.

The committee is made up of nonlawyers as well as lawyers. We believe that this has contributed substantially to our work and our broad perspective on advertising and marketing. I would like to thank each of our committee members for their tremendous contribution to the work of the committee.

Finally, the committee thanks our Board of Governors liaison, John G. (Jay) White III, who has been an active participant in our work this year, EUP Division Director Mary Ellen Bateman, and our hardworking staff headed by ethics counsel Elizabeth Tarbert. Without the participation and hard work of these individuals, the business of this committee could not be accomplished.

SHANE MUNOZ, Chair

Antitrust and Trade Regulation Certification

The Antitrust and Trade Regulation Certification Committee is about to become very busy. In December 2003, the Board of Governors unanimously approved amendments to the antitrust and trade regulation certification standards codified in Rule 622. The amendments were proposed by the certification committee to clarify for the benefit of potential applicants the committee's expectations with respect to the applicant's knowledge, skills, and experience in antitrust and trade regulation and offer a one-time two-year window during which experienced applicants who otherwise qualify for certification may apply for certification without taking the examination. These changes should ensure a significant increase in certification applications during the two-year period.

Specifically, Rule 6-22.1 now describes the skills and abilities applicants are expected to possess. Additionally, certain definitions set forth in Rule 6-22.2 were modified to permit the committee some flexibility in assessing what qualifies as a "contested matter" or an "adjudicated decision" by allowing the committee, in effect, to take into account the totality of an application based upon the committee's collective experience in the practice of antitrust and trade regulation law and in the evaluation of other applications in this area of practice. Further, the minimum standards set forth in Rule 6-22.3(a) were modified to acknowledge the supervisory role of many experienced senior antitrust practitioners and to provide for additional opportunities to preserve certification for such applicants.

Most importantly, for many experienced antitrust practitioners for whom certification did not exist in prior years, Rule 6-22.3(a)(3)(e) now provides for an exemption from the examination portion of the certification process for applicants who have "been substantially involved in antitrust and trade regulation law for a minimum of 20 years" and "who apply within two years of the effective date of the approval of this exemption and meet all other requirements for certification."

In addition to formulating this year's certification examination for qualified applicants, the plans for the coming year include gearing up for the influx of applications the committee expects to receive from the many experienced antitrust and trade regulation practitioners in Florida taking advantage of our two-year window of opportunity. A main focus of our effort will be getting the word out to experienced Florida Bar members who may be interested in applying for certification during this time. Plans are underway to notify individual qualified antitrust practitioners of our certification program, wherever possible, through Florida Bar and American Bar Association e-mail notices, and to post notices in the Florida Bar News. We are confident our effort will ensure that many of Florida's most seasoned and respected lawyers skilled in antitrust and trade regulation will take advantage of this significant opportunity.

PATRICIA A. CONNERS, Chair

Appellate Court Rules

The Appellate Court Rules Committee has had an extremely productive year, thanks to the extraordinary service of its officers, co-vice chairs, subcommittee chairs, and Florida Bar liaison. The committee submitted its two-year cycle report and proposed rule amendments to the Supreme Court on January 30, 2004. Seventeen amendments were proposed and published in the March 1, 2004 Bar News. The Board of Governors...