LOCAL PROFESSIONALISM PANELS FACE JUNE 15 REPORTING DEADLINE

The Henry Latimer Center for Professionalism is reminding Local Professionalism Panels statewide that their biannual activity reports are due June 15 — a requirement the Supreme Court adopted to bolster consistency and transparency in the informal peer-to-peer professionalism system.

The Local Professionalism Panel Report Form may be downloaded here.

Each of Florida’s 20 judicial circuits has an LPP composed of judges and local attorneys who are appointed to review complaints about a lawyer’s perceived unprofessional behavior. The confidential “peer-to-peer mentoring process” often involves a panel member attempting to resolve the complaint informally by phone, or more formally by email or regular mail.

Professionalism refers to the expectation that a lawyer will do more than simply comply with ground-floor ethical standards, according to the Henry Latimer Center for Professionalism. The Supreme Court identifies four elements that make up the standards of professionalism — the Oath of Admission to The Florida Bar, The Florida Bar Creed of Professionalism, the Professionalism Expectations, and the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar.

Justices established the LPP reporting requirements in a July 2023 order.

“This new code will clarify and enhance the important role of local professionalism panels, entities that are independent of The Florida Bar and established in each circuit for the purpose of informally resolving referrals of claimed unprofessional conduct by lawyers practicing in that circuit,” the order states.

Justices stressed that the LPP’s “peer-to-peer mentoring process,” is distinct from formal discipline.

“Importantly, the code we adopt today clarifies the distinction between the informal local professionalism panel process and the formal grievance process for investigating and adjudicating possible violations of the Florida Rules of Professional Conduct,” the order states.

LPP are required to file a report with their chief judge, the Supreme Court, and The Florida Bar that identifies its case activity for the previous six months. A subsequent report will be due in December. The reports must include the date of the referral, the circuit in which the issue arose, a short summary detailing the substance of the referral, the relationship of the respondent to the person submitting the referral, whether the respondent voluntarily participated in the process, the resolution, if any, of the referral, and whether there were previous referrals against the respondent.

Because the process is confidential, the reports “must not include identifying information for the respondent or the party who submitted the referral,” the order states.