Trial lawyers.

• Author: Grimm, Courtney K.
• Position: Annual Reports of Sections and Divisions of The Florida Bar

The Trial Lawyers Section (TLS) had another productive and successful year, proudly serving its members. The section continued its efforts to provide educational opportunities for its members and to promote the art of advocacy, as well as its efforts to preserve access to courts and judicial independence. A few of this year's section highlights are:

* Publications--The Florida Handbook on Civil Discovery Practice, a joint project of the TLS with the Circuit and County Judges Conferences, was revised, and the 2016 (15th) edition published and furnished to all Florida circuit and county judges through the efforts of committee Chair John Williams. The Discovery Handbook, a reference for judges and lawyers to quickly access legal authority on recurring discovery problems, is available on the TLS website at www.flatls.org. Additionally, the section began emailing monthly updates to its members to keep them timely apprised of section activities and continued its quarterly publication by electronic means as The Edge. Both of these efforts were spearheaded by Chairs Kim Ashby and Wil Murphy.

* Chester H. Bedell Mock Trial Competition--For over 30 years, the TLS has annually conducted the prestigious Chester H. Bedell Mock Trial Competition for teams from Florida's accredited law schools. The 2016 competition, chaired by Wiley Hicks, was hosted in Ponte Vedra Beach from January 20 -22. Eighteen teams from 10 Florida law schools competed. There were two preliminary rounds, quarter final, semi-final, and final rounds. Each round was presided over by a sitting judge and scored by five lawyer jurors. Through the efforts of committee member Thomas Edwards, judges and lawyers from the Fourth and Seventh judicial circuits graciously volunteered their time to make the competition a success. We were honored to have U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Corrigan of the Middle District of Florida preside as the finals judge. This year, the finalists were a team from FSU and a team from FIU. For the first time ever, FIU emerged as the Chester H. Bedell Mock Trial champions. Additionally, FIU's Elroy John was the recipient of the best advocate award.

* Teachers Law School--The TLS, under the lead of Chair Wes Smith, hosted its fourth installment of the Teachers Law School in conjunction with the Chester H. Bedell Mock Trial Competition. This year's school featured over 70 middle and high-school civics teachers from Duval, Clay, St. Johns, Putnam, Sarasota, and Palm...