Your board of governors.

• Jurisdiction: United States
• Author: Angones, Francisco R.
• Date: 01 October 2007

The Florida Bar--both its operations and its Board of Governors--has evolved over the years in pursuit of the Bar's goals of better serving its members and the public.

First, a quick review. The board has 51 voting members, including two public, nonlawyer members, the president of the Young Lawyers Division, and the Bar's president-elect. The Bar president presides over the meetings, but votes only in the event of a tie. Under Bar rules, the YLD president-elect sits as a nonvoting member of the board.

It is my general impression that the board has changed over the past 10 years, just as the Bar generally has changed, to include a broader spectrum of lawyers.

It wasn't very many years ago that the board was comprised almost entirely of white males, with very few white female members. But the 2007-08 board, not counting the ex-officio members, will include 10 women, five African-Americans (that includes three African-American women), and three Hispanics. With active recruitment of minorities in recent years for Bar leadership positions, including serving on and heading Bar committees, we are hopeful for further enrichment to the Board of Governors in our efforts to...