By:     Douglas M. McIntosh
         Chair, Broward County Bar Association
         Professional Responsibility Committee

 

 

The Broward County Bar Association, Professional Responsibility Committee has worked for two years to develop a "Professionalism Referral" system, for assistance to lawyers who may be behaving in an unprofessional manner. Led by the tireless efforts of subcommittee members Ronald Gossett and County Court Judge Sharon Zeller, a formal "Peer Review Council, Professionalism Referral" program has been developed, with input and full support of the judges of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, and the officers and directors of the Broward County Bar Association. The project will be officially launched May 1, 2002, and details of it will be posted at the Executive Offices of the Broward County Bar Association, the Court Administrator's Office, each judge's chambers, and at the Broward County Bar Association website www.browardbar.org. In addition, any BCBA member desiring a copy of the program rules and procedures may call 954-764-8040 to have a copy mailed to them.

The Professionalism Referral process will be voluntary, and will involve a "Peer Review Council" (PRC), comprised of twenty-four members of the Broward County Bar Association with at least ten years of practice experience. Six members are appointed by the Chair of the Professional Responsibility Committee (Douglas M. McIntosh); six by the chair of the PRC (Ronald Gossett); six by the President of the Broward County Bar Association (Peter Brandt); and six by Chief Judge Dale Ross. The PRC will address lawyer referrals by a quorum of at least five members. If a referred attorney's questioned activity is deemed to warrant formal review by the "PRC Board", a panel of three members of the PRC Board (the "PRC Panel"), will review the matter. Composition of the PRC Board and PRC Panel include lawyers and judges, as defined in the rules and standards adopted by the Broward County Bar Association.

A "referred lawyer" shall have the opportunity to respond to the alleged violation of the "Broward County Bar Association's Standards of Professional Courtesy", adopted in 1994 by the Broward County Bar Association, and by Administrative Order I-94-0-1. All proceedings are confidential, and remain the property of the Broward County Bar Association. At the conclusion of the initial proceedings, by issuance of a PRC Panel Report to the PRC Board, if a violation is found to have occurred, the referred attorney will be invited to a meeting with the PRC Board on a confidential basis. The PRC Board can identify and discuss the violation and conduct giving rise to the referral; can discuss the conduct with the referred attorneys; and can recommend ways in which the referred attorney should alter his/her conduct to aspire to a more professional demeanor in the practice of law. The PRC cannot impose sanctions or penalties; cannot embarrass, harass, or belittle the referred attorney; and cannot prepare any writing containing its findings. At the conclusion of the Peer Review Referral process, all documents will be destroyed with the exception of anonymous evaluation sheets that will be solicited from all participants.

This Peer Review project is meant to curtail unprofessional, discourteous, or other inappropriate behavior that runs contrary to the previously adopted "Standards of Professional Courtesy" in this county. The PRC, and the subcommittee that worked hundreds of hours to create this project, believes that peer review is imperative to the process of assuring professionalism, integrity, and courtesy, in the honorable practice of law. All Florida Bar members who practice in Broward County should review the procedures and rules in earnest, and participate in this project to secure for all attorneys, and those that follow us, a civil, courteous and fully professional bar.