LOCAL PROFESSIONALISM PANELS OFFER LAWYERS A PATH BACK

'The informal, peer-to-peer mentoring approach offered by Local Professionalism Panels can materially improve professionalism among Florida lawyers'

Most lawyers who grouse about declining professionalism probably don’t know there’s an effective tool to address it, says a veteran Florida Bar leader.

“It can change people’s lives without having to go through the formal discipline process,” said 46-year Clearwater civil trial attorney Joshua Magidson. “It works, I’ve seen it happen.”

As Vice Chair of the Standing Committee on Professionalism, Magidson is on a mission to raise the profile of Florida’s 20 Local Professionalism Panels, or “LPPs.”

The panels of experienced lawyers — five years or more — and judges, appointed by the chief judge, are charged with confidentially resolving complaints of a lawyer’s perceived unprofessional behavior — separate and apart from the Bar’s grievance process.

Magidson stresses the latter.

“It’s not finger pointing, or accusing, or forcing people to defend themselves,” he says. “It’s pointing out that your behavior is being noted and I’m giving you a heads up at this point in your career.”

Magidson likes to recite a favorite passage from a 2023 Supreme Court order, In Re: Code for Resolving Professionalism Referrals and Amendments to Rule Regulating The Florida Bar, that he believes best describes the process.

“The informal, peer-to-peer mentoring approach offered by Local Professionalism Panels can materially improve professionalism among Florida lawyers,” Magidson quotes.  “That’s it, right there.”

The order describes the structure of the panels, establishes confidentiality, grants panel members immunity from civil liability, requires annual reports on case activity — without naming the respondents — and mandates periodic meetings of panel chairs to recommend ways to improve the process.

The latest batch of reports describe familiar challenges in circuits large and small — instances of lawyers ignoring opponent emails or phone calls, blowing court deadlines, missing hearings, or being rude to other lawyers, judges, or court personnel.

An 11th Circuit report also offers a textbook example of how sponsors, and Magidson, envision the LPP process working.

In a September 2024 referral, a criminal defense attorney was facing a contempt order from the Fifth District Court of Appeal “for failure to timely file a brief after multiple extensions.”

The respondent resolved the complaint by successfully undergoing six months of counseling with a mentor regarding case and calendar management, “and personal counseling to deal with a family issue in lieu of Florida Bar referral,” the report notes.

Many times, all it takes is getting a lawyer’s attention to put him or her back on the proper path, Magidson says.

“They apologize right away, or they write a note of apology to the judge, they didn’t know there was an issue,” he says.

One of the biggest challenges for the LPPs is visibility, Magidson says. Panels are required to describe their promotional efforts and some are more successful than others.

Magidson spreads the word every chance he gets.

“It works, it’s confidential, and it helps all lawyers, both lawyers that have a problem with lawyers behaving unprofessionally — and changing the behavior of the lawyer.”

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