Lawyers, the legislature, and public service.

• Author: Coker, Howard C.
• Position: Editorial

If you really stop and think of the awesome power and responsibility vested in the Legislature, then you can begin to feel very guilty for being so cavalier about what goes on in the hallowed chambers of the Capitol. Many citizens (as well as lawyers) simply take the work of the Legislature for granted. They gloss over newspaper articles about pending bills and head straight for the business or sports pages after reading the local news.

But what happens in the Legislature affects all of us, lawyers as well as citizens in general. Legislators are continually re-creating government and most certainly re-writing our laws. Health care, environment, business, taxes, education, justice--the legislators are proposing and passing bills that eventually become laws that affect our rights and responsibilities and change or redesign the way the people's business of government is conducted. Sometimes legislators correct an inequity or create an advantage for citizens at large or special interest groups in particular. It's a give and take proposition. And we all have a stake in what happens. And if we--you and I--are not in the game, then we don't have much right to brag or complain when it is all over. We have earned no better lot than simply to accept the results with resignation.

That's why I say, "Thank goodness, lawyers are serving in the Legislature." We all--lawyers and the general population--need them there. The issues that legislators face affect the legal profession, the legal process, and the legal protection of us all.

That is why we all should be thankful to the lawyers serving in the Legislature. They are there to clarify the issues, to provide a perspective of protecting traditional rights, to explain the impact of laws on individuals and groups, and in general to be instructive and constructive in the public debate.

We all should be thankful that a handful of men and women lawyers have answered the call to public service and are working to restore the public's trust and confidence in our institutions--the Legislature as well as the legal system.

Contrary to popular belief, less than 20 percent of the Florida Legislature is made up of lawyers--and only half of the state's lawyer-legislators are in active practice. Currently, there are 38 lawyers serving in the Legislature--the lowest number ever. When term limits take effect in 2000, those numbers may be further reduced. We need more lawyers to step forward and be of service. But, in the...