Florida Bar Fights Hike In Dues For Legal Aid For The Poor

June 13, 2014

The Florida Bar came out forcefully Thursday against a proposal to increase attorneys’ Bar dues to help pay for legal services for the poor.

As we reported last month, former state Supreme Court Justice Raoul Cantero and attorneys for the poor were leading an effort to increase Bar dues by up to $100 a year to help fund legal-aid groups. But the Bar said in a press release Thursday that its Board of Governors had voted unanimously to oppose the proposal, which is expected to be filed next week with the Supreme Court.

Bar President Eugene Pettis told the The News Service of florida last month and reiterated in the press release that funding legal-aid services will take a broader strategy than increasing attorneys’ dues.

“It is laudable to see a problem and want to help, but this is a societal issue and a much larger problem than the legal profession can solve alone,” Pettis said in the press release. “It is time we bring the community together to address this problem by employing alternate forms of access, delivery and funding.

” The Board of Governors has “conceptually” approved a $6 million bridge loan to The Florida Bar Foundation, which administers legal-aid efforts, according to the press release. The board is expected to give final approval to that loan July 25. But supporters of increasing Bar dues say the proposal would help fund legal services for low-income people who face problems such as getting health benefits or preventing home foreclosures.

“This could be a major, wonderful thing that the legal profession does for the people of Florida,” Randall Berg, executive director of the Florida Justice Institute, told the News Service last month. “We give lip services to legal services for the poor, but when we’re asked to step forward and help in any meaningful way we oppose it.”

by The News Service of Florida

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News