John F. Harkness, Jr.: The Heart of The Florida Bar.

• Author: Pudlow, Jan
• Position: Interview - Cover story

Thirty-five-year-old John F. Harkness, Jr., had never set foot in The Florida Bar headquarters--that grand Colonial Williamsburg-style brick and columned fortress on the hill--until he hand-delivered his application for executive director in 1980.

From his office in the subbasement of the Florida Supreme Court, where he served as state courts administrator, Harkness made a second climb up the Bar's front steps and through the portico for his interview, never imagining he would not only get the job at the place he knew very little about, but serve more than half his life at the helm.

Now, there's a brick sign facing southwest at 651 East Jefferson Street in Tallahassee bearing his name: The Florida Bar John F. Harkness, Jr. Complex. It's a fitting and lasting tribute to the 72-year-old leader who witnessed the Bar grow from 27,713 members, supported by a staff of 122 and a budget of $7.1 million, to today's approximately 105,000 members, a staff of 356, and a budget of $43.2 million.

In a personal message delivered to the staff in January announcing his retirement, Harkness wrote: "The reputation and successes that The Florida Bar has earned over all these years are directly related to our staff. I know it, the Board of Governors knows it, and I wanted you to know it. When I started here in 1980, we had a small staff with limited programs and resources. Today, we are thought of as one of the preeminent bars in the country--and we could not have done it without dedicated staff such as you."

Most of the staff of The Florida Bar address him with the formal Mr. Harkness, regarding him as somewhat enigmatic, sometimes austere, sometimes cordial, but always the respected authority figure in the front corner office who kept the giant Bar machine running smoothly for decades.

Friends, close associates, and former Bar presidents call him Jack, describing him as a well-connected, sage advisor, with a dry sense of humor and a finger on the pulse of politics and legal trends. He is likened to a chameleon blending into the background, while letting Bar presidents shine in the spotlight. But make no mistake, they agree: The seemingly shy, humble Harkness adeptly guided presidents in making tough calls.

"Jack has a very unique ability to know what the right thing to do is and yet not tell you what to do," said Greg Coleman, the 2014 Bar president, who's known Harkness since Coleman served in the Young Lawyers Division and considers him a friend.

"When you are Bar president, it's kind of a lonely job. People don't realize the amount of daily work. Jack knows. I'd say, 'We have this issue. What should we do?' He wouldn't say, 'Do X, Y, Z.' He would start asking you a series of methodically placed questions that he already knew the answers to. By asking you these questions, you would know the answer without him telling you. This is his trade secret."

Coleman says this is true of every Florida Bar president: They could not have made it through their year as successfully without Harkness.

Shortly before Miles McGrane was sworn in as Bar president in 2003, he was having a conversation with former (1990) Bar President James Fox Miller, who asked him what he was thinking.

"I responded that I was a little nervous and that my fear was I would make mistakes as president. Jack overheard this and said, 'Don't worry. I won't let you.' I think he kept his word," McGrane said.

Dubbing Harkness "Captain Jack," Immediate Past President Bill Schifino said Harkness is a good listener who taught him to be a better listener.

"He may carry a small stick, but when Jack speaks, people listen," Schifino said. "I think some people misconstrue his humbleness and quietness. But Jack is truly a leader. There's an old expression: Just do the right thing, and if you have that as a mantra, then most decisions are relatively easy. He lives by that. That's his code."

Mayanne Downs, Bar president in 2010, played a "What If I Told You?" game with the audience, while paying a tribute to Harkness, at the Bar Convention's Judicial Luncheon.

"What if I told you a very shy and introverted person, a person with no ego, could grow and prosper and become beloved by an exceptional group of successful and ego-driven extroverts -- trial lawyers?" Downs asked.

"What if I told you there is no one, not a single person, who is more beloved and respected by the singularly picky and high-minded past presidents of The Florida Bar, a group whose motto is 'Enough about me; what do you think about me?'

"The answer to these questions, of course, is Jack Harkness."

'I'm There to Help'

One of his slogans for his job, Harkness said, is "Master of none, servant of all."

"My job was to make everybody happy all of the time. Sometimes, we never got to that 100 percent, but you try. Most of it is done by listening to people. Too many people want to immediately say 'no' to a new idea," Harkness said. "My way of dealing with people has always been to say: 'That's an interesting idea.' In the back of my head, we did that five years ago and it did not work out. But I'm not going to tell you that right now. I'll give you two weeks, and I'll tell you 'no,' and I'll tell you why, and you'll have a better understanding of it."

When Harkness talks about working with 37 different Bar presidents--all with wildly different personalities ranging from micromanagers to prima donnas--he viewed his job as the caddy on the golf course.

"I played this course a number of times. I know how it's laid out. I know good weather and bad weather on the course. I know where they change sand traps. I know where they move the hole. I am carrying your clubs," Harkness said.

"I will suggest to you what club to use. You don't have to use it. You can use whatever you want to. But I will tell you, the way I see it, this is what is going to happen if you use that. Some of them have taken my advice. Some of them use a putter all the time. Other ones are: Whack! Five feet from the hole and they use a driver. Some end up in the sand trap more than others. I know where the gators are. I'm there to help."

Ramon Abadin, Bar president in 2015 who was gifted with a "Captain Chaos" T-shirt by his friends in the Bar's executive office, admits he used a driver when some wished he'd used a sand wedge to soften his difficult message about dramatic changes in the legal profession that included a rocky debate about reciprocity that sparked threats of impeaching him.

"Jack, more than anybody else in his leadership role in...