Florida Bar President Visits Clearwater

Florida Bar President Visits Clearwater

Politics dominated the message Florida Bar President Kelly Overstreet Johnson delivered on Jan. 13 to members of the Clearwater Bar Association during a luncheon at the Harborview Center.

Johnson, a partner in the Tallahassee office of Broad & Cassel, described how the baris board of governors struggled at a recent meeting on whether to issue a declaration in support of gay adoption rights. Because of the issueis divisiveness, she says the board voted 31-9 against a public declaration.

In the upcoming legislative session Johnson wants the bar focused on the issue of judicial independence. She is particularly concerned about what she considers the political polarization of the judicial nominating committee process.

At the behest of Gov. Jeb Bush, Johnson says, the Republican-controlled Legislature created a committee selection process that discourages public participation. Too many lawyers, she claims, say they donit even apply for a committee seat or even a judicial nomination for fear their political party affiliation automatically precludes them from a fair chance at a job.

To solve the problem, Johnson says, it may take a constitutional initiative to change the law. A bar committee is discussing alternative recommendations.

iWeire getting kicked around nonstop, and we need to do something about it,i she says of the bar and its members.

o David R. Corder