Trial Lawyers.

• Author: Mclaughlin, Mindy
• Position: Annual Reports of Sections and Divisions of the Florida Bar: 2018-2019

The Trial Lawyers Section has had an extremely active and productive year thus far. We have concluded our highly successful Trial Lawyers Summit which is comprised of three signature events. It took place in Tampa from January 23-25. The Chester Bedell Memorial Mock Trial Competition included trial teams from law schools across the state. Local lawyers and our executive council members served as juries and bailiffs while judges and justices at the state, appellate, and federal levels presided over the various rounds and the finals, held in the ceremonial courtroom. Simultaneously, we held our Teachers Law Symposium which hosted 156 middle school and high school civics and government teachers from 22 counties around the state. They were treated to a star-studded, two-day program covering such important topics as the role of lawyer in our society, the independence of the judiciary, the mechanics of civil and criminal law and ground-breaking decisions that have formed our case law, among many other important topics. This section also hosted during this summit the Chester Bedell Foundation Luncheon in which achievement awards were given to recognized heroes in the legislative and CRC process, followed by a compelling keynote speaker, attended by all the symposium teachers, participating law students and coaches, and the judges and jurors from the morning and afternoon...