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Bar Brawling
Unfortunately, Stewart and other minority lawyers complain, its leadership remains very nearly so. Lately they've been asking for new seats on the Florida Bar Board of Governors to be set aside for representatives of minority-oriented groups - for example, the state's National Bar Association chapter, the Florida Association for Women Lawyers and the Cuban-American Bar Association.
And they are not alone in their efforts to revamp the powerful board of governors, which sets policy for the state's 54,000 lawyers on matters of professional regulation and legal rules. In a nearly unprecedented season of change, it sometimes seems the bar is being pulled in every direction:
In addition to minority lawyers, the large and growing ranks of out-of-state lawyers have stepped up efforts for a fourth seat on the 51-member board.
There is talk of adding seats on the board for the so-called sections, the committees of the bar where specialists in various fields pursue diverse and occasionally conflicting agendas.
And some bar leaders, in a new twist, are discussing the possibility of cutting membership on the board of governors, which occasionally seems unwieldy at its current size.
That in turn has raised serious concerns among some South Florida leaders, who fear that cuts in the board represent a threat to their politically liberal influence in the Tallahassee-based bar. Their influence grew along with the board's size, which is based in part on the population of lawyers in the various court circuits. But lately the influence of South Florida lawyers has been waning in the face of rising activism among more conservative members from Central and North Florida.
"The northern lawyers have shown a sheer determination to wrest control away" from South Florida lawyers, says board member Scott Baena of Miami. "They have become the predominant force in the bar."
Current Florida Bar President John W. Frost II, of Bartow, dismisses concerns about a regional power play. "I don't believe that's true at all," Frost says. Still, change is definitely in the wind. A special committee appointed by Frost's predecessor, John DeVault III of Jacksonville, is considering the proposals for altering the board - including its ethnic and gender characteristics and size. Despite all the revolutionary talk, many current bar leaders downplay concerns about the board of governors and the bar's future.
"I think (the board) has worked well," says former bar President Rutledge R. Liles of Jacksonville, who's chairing the special committee. "If something's not broken I don't see the need to fix it, but that's why we're having this committee." For minorities at least, the case for change is difficult to dismiss:
Women make up 25% of the Florida Bar, yet hold 6 of the board's 51 seats.
In addition, the board currently has only one black attorney (along with one black lay member).
Unfortunately, that second statistic is not out of keeping with the low number of African-American lawyers in Florida. While no single reliable record exists, it's estimated that only about 1,200 African-American lawyers practice in Florida. That's about 2% of the state's 54,000 attorneys.
But some bar leaders - including some whites - say the lack of black faces on the board of governors is only a symptom of the difficulties the bar has in attracting black lawyers into all levels of leadership. That in itself is reason to act, they argue.
"African-American lawyers in particular believe they're shut out of the (bar) process," says board member Bruce Blackwell, who is white. "And whether they are or not, we should do something about it. I think it's an issue that's not going to go away as long as people feel they're unable to participate fully."
So far, however, plans to set aside special board seats for minority lawyers have run into problems. Initial proposals were defeated at a September meeting of the special committee. Several board members said that minority lawyers already have found a place at the table.
"I don't yet have a grasp on what is being advanced because they are being elected already," says Liles, the special committee chairman.
However, committee members agreed to appoint a subcommittee to take a closer look at the thorny issue.
It's another sign of the bar's increased caution regarding disfavored and disadvantaged groups - especially minorities.
On the one hand, many lawyers recognize the special problems minority lawyers still face in the profession. However, many lawyers around the state have joined in a kind of backlash against the bar's past liberal efforts on behalf of minorities. In recent years, Florida lawyers have rebelled against a law requiring minority appointments to the Judicial Nominating Commissions. They've protested new bar rules that expose them to disciplinary sanctions for exhibiting bias in their practice. They've griped about the stipends the bar's foundation has handed out to help black students pass the bar exam at higher rates. Passing rates for black candidates have lagged behind other groups.
In addition to pressure from inside, the bar is under attack from outside by a group of dissident lawyers who are unhappy with what they view as social tinkering by the bar in areas such as legal aid and gay rights. They've formed their own organization, known as the Attorneys Bar, and regularly call for the official bar's dismemberment.
In part, observers blame the backlash on an economy for lawyers that never recovered from the recession of the early 1990s.
"It was at a point when lawyers became subject to supply and demand," says Baena of Miami. "The value of their services was being depreciated. There was a proliferation of law schools. Opportunities were going down. It was part of the rebellion." "I've been noticing that (the bar) has been gradually going back to where it was before," says Evett Simmons, a black former board member from Port St. Lucie who was defeated by white opposition in her 1995 bid for re-election. "Meaning what's comfortable."
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