New Florida Statutes §732.806, which is effective October 1, 2013, makes an improper gift to a lawyer in a will or other estate instrument void

By Admin | Published October 1, 2013 | Posted in Florida Lawyer Ethics and Professionalism, joe corsmeier, Joseph Corsmeier, Lawyer ethics, Lawyer testamentary gifts from clients, Statute lawyer gifts from clients in will | Tagged Tags: Attorney Ethics, Bar ethics rules, corsmeier, Florida Bar, joseph corsmeier | Leave a comment

Hello and welcome to this Ethics Alert blog which will discuss new Florida Statutes §732.806, which is effective today, October 1, 2013. The new statute provision makes an improper gift to a lawyer in an estate planning instrument void as a matter of Florida law. The statutory provision is here: https://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0700-0799/0732/Sections/0732.806.html The new Florida statute Read More

Florida Supreme Court disbars lawyer who, inter alia, practiced law while under an emergency suspension and failed to supervise trust account bookkeeper

Hello and welcome to this Ethics Alert blog which will discuss the recent Florida Supreme Court opinion disbarring a lawyer who failed to adequately supervise a bookkeeper who stole from his trust account, continued to practice after being emergency suspended, and failed to appoint a receiver for his separate debt management companies. The case is Read More

Florida Bar Staff Opinion states that Florida lawyers are prohibited from listing areas of practice on Linkedin.com “Skills and Expertise” page unless certified in those areas

Hello and welcome to this Ethics Alert blog which will discuss the September 11, 2013 Florida Bar Advertising Staff Opinion which states that Florida lawyers cannot list areas of practice on Linkedin.com “Skills and Expertise” page unless they are Board Certified (or the equivalent). The staff opinion is here: https://it-lex.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Florida-Bar-Opinion-re-LinkedIn-Redacted.pdf As you most likely already Read More

The Florida Bar’s Rules Committee will propose additional changes to Bar Rules related to resolution of extraordinary liens in contingency matters

Hello and welcome to this Ethics Alert blog which will discuss the recent activity of The Florida Bar and the Board of Governors (BOG) related to the requirement that lawyers be required to resolve outstanding liens as part of the representation in contingency matters. I previously blogged about the BOG’s approval of proposed revision to Read More

The Florida Bar’s Board of Governors approves Bar Standing Committee on Advertising’s opinion that solo lawyers may refer to themselves in the plural as ‘we’ and “us” in advertising

Hello and welcome to this Ethics Alert update blog which will discuss the recent decision of the Florida Bar’s Board of Governors to uphold the Standing Committee on Advertising’s opinion that solo lawyers may use plural nouns and refer to themselves as “we”, “us” and “our” in advertisements. As I reported in an earlier Ethics Read More

The Florida Bar’s Revised Staff Opinion 31937 states that lawyers may join business networking organizations such as BNI with certain caveats

By Admin | Published August 9, 2013 | Posted in Florida Lawyer Ethics and Professionalism, Florida Lawyer Professionalism, Florida Lawyer Staff Opinion re networking organizations, joe corsmeier, Joseph Corsmeier, Lawyer ethics, Lawyer Ethics and Professionalism | Tagged Tags: Attorney Ethics, Bar ethics rules, corsmeier, Florida Bar, joseph corsmeier | 2 Comments

Hello and welcome to this Ethics Alert which will update my previous Alert which discussed the decision of The Florida Bar’s Standing Committee on Advertising (SCA) to overturn a Bar Advertising staff opinion and opine that lawyers may join an organization which promotes networking between professionals such as Business Networking International (BNI) as long as Read More

The Florida Bar’s Board of Governors approves Advisory Opinion 12-3 on cloud computing and protecting client confidentiality at its June 2013 meeting

Hello and welcome to this Ethics Alert blog with an update on The Florida Bar’s Ethics Advisory Opinion 12-3 on cloud computing and protecting client confidences when storing client records in the digital “cloud” using third party vendors. The Florida Bar’s Board of Governors approved the opinion (with a minor revision to the final paragraph) Read More

The Florida Bar’s Board of Governors to consider proposed revisions to lawyer referral Rule 4-7.22 at its July 26, 2013 meeting

Hello and welcome to this Ethics Alert which will discuss the Florida Bar’s Board of Governors scheduled consideration of, inter alia, proposed revisions to Rule 4-7.22, The Florida Bar’s lawyer referral rule, at its July 26, 2013 meeting at Amelia Island. The BOG’s Review Committee on Professional Ethics has been looking at the recommendations of Read More

The Florida Bar’s Statewide Committee on Advertising has deferred consideration of informal opinion on Linkedin “Skills and Expertise” page until 10/29/13