A few final thoughts.

• Author: Bookman, Alan B.
• Position: Florida - President's page

As the saying goes, "I can't believe I ate the whole thing." This past year has flown by, more so than any other in my life.

Typically the last President's Page summarizes goals stated, goals reached, and goals yet to be achieved, as well as words of appreciation. This will be no different.

We came through the 2006 legislative session in excellent shape. We had success with DNA legislation, new judgeships, judicial salaries, and the reinstitution of funding for the Civil Legal Assistance Act. Kudos goes to the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section for authoring a new Florida Trust Code, which was adopted by the legislature virtually without change.

In previous pages we discussed the citizen surveys conducted by the ABA, the Florida and the state of Washington bars, the results of which revealed a stunning lack of knowledge about government, its three branches, and the concept of checks and balances. As a result, a broad-based coalition around the state was created and supported by the Bar to push for increased civics education in Florida middle schools to better teach students about our unique system of government.

We visited newspapers throughout the state asking them to write editorial pages addressing this issue. Since then, nearly every major state newspaper has written an editorial offering strong support for improving citizen education about how our government works, including the court system, and to include civics education in the middle school curriculum. Getting that education early in a student's career is important so they understand our system of government, and the necessity of an independent judiciary in giving citizens a fair and impartial hearing of their grievances.

As a result of these and other efforts, legislation was enacted to require a semester of civics in middle schools, which is an immense accomplishment.

The Special Commission to Study Paralegal Regulation proposed a new Chapter to our Rules Regulating The Florida Bar. The commission's recommendation was sufficient to cause proposed legislation in this area to be withdrawn. The commission was composed of paralegals, attorneys, practicing legal educators, and law office administrators, and they did an excellent job working through their differences, recognizing the issues involved, and coming to a consensus.

We have, through the efforts of many Bar members, continued to make gains in diversity during the year. We have visited as many specialty, minority...