The stakes are high: calling lawyers to get involved.

• Author: Frost, II, John W.
• Position: Florida - President's Page

"Hey, Jude ... the minute you let her under your skin, then you begin to make it better."

-- John Lennon and Paul McCartney

Lawyers, by training and often by personality, can be capable of clarifying debate in their communities and their states. They often can provide an analytical look at issues from more than one perspective, and can encourage the focusing of attention on facts that support various positions in a public controversy. At their best, lawyers hold conflicts up to a new or a clearer light. They should be able to bring a cool balance of fact and issue analysis to the heat of even the bitterest debate. To the extent that lawyers are, indeed, constructive in public debate, we must be willing to step into the turbulent waters of political and judicial change in our state and try to make, a constructive difference. In other words, lawyers need to get involved.

There are two specific arenas in state government right now that give lawyers a unique opportunity. We have an important chance now to offer our professional best, not just as lawyers, but as concerned citizens willing to donate our expertise and our analytical bent. The legislature is in session until May 2, and issues being debated are often issues affecting lawyers and/or the judicial system as a whole. Various proposals,. would limit access to recovery for injury or change the very regulation of lawyers, a regulation that has historically protected government's crucial separation of powers. The legislative process is an arena calling out for lawyers to get involved. I'll talk more about that later in the column.

The second area of opportunity for involvement is the constitution revision process. President-elect Ed Blumberg has offered the help of The Florida Bar and of pertinent sections and committees to the Constitution Revision Commission, scheduled to start work this summer. I join him in encouraging lawyers to volunteer as resources and researchers for the varied and complex issues likely to face this commission. Why not get involved in this process? Notify President-elect Blumberg if you have expertise and an interest in an area likely to be considered in the constitutional analysis and review. In a time when few discussions of public and governmental life leave out the roles of courts and lawyers, we in the legal profession must step forward as strong voices defending open access to the courts and the clear separation of powers in our democracy. The revision...