Florida Legal Research Blog

Florida's state library web services

2006-10-05T22:30:00.000-04:00

A new report entitled Public Libraries and the Internet 2006 has been issued by Florida State University's Information Use Management and Policy Institute. The findings indicate that public libraries have increased their response to public inquiries for government information with or without funding for the service. A number of interesting appendices to the report list state library initiatives to meet the needs of the public.

Appendix 6: State Library Supported Electronic Libraries (e.g. Florida Electronic Library)
Appendix 8B: Examples of State Library Union Catalogs (e.g. FloridaCat)
Appendix 8D: Examples of State Library Federated Search Sites (e.g. Florida uses MetaLib library portal from Ex Libris)
Appendix 8E: Examples of State Library Digital Collections (e.g. Florida Memory Project)
Appendix 8F: Examples of State Libraries with State Government Information Sites (e.g. Florida Government Information Locator Service and the Florida Government Electronic Rulemaking system)

Law blogs in Florida

2006-10-02T21:42:00.000-04:00

It's never too late to post a link to a Florida Bar News article on law blogging by Florida lawyers. The article is: "Lawyers in Blogland: law blogs are exploding and Florida lawyers are in on the action." Florida blogs mentioned in the article:

Florida rules web site

2006-09-30T21:18:00.000-04:00

It's easier to access Florida administrative law with the new Florida eRulmaking web site. Not only does this site provide the traditional links to the Florida Administrative Code (FAC) and to the Florida Administrative Weekly (FAW), the rules are searchable. Searches can be done either by phrase or by rule number. The search results contain status information for the rule and a reference to where the rule is published in the FAW. The results include references to the FAW starting with the Jan. 6, 2006 issue. Public commentary on the rules can be made through this page. All of the important Florida administrative links can be found here.

Online records for Palm Beach County courts

2006-09-24T11:34:00.000-04:00

Beginning October 17, 2006, Palm Beach County criminal and traffic court records will go online. The process is complicated, and has been in the works for over 10 years. The transfer of 3.5 million cases and 47 million docket entries will begin Sept. 30, 2006. Court business will be suspended with the exception of emergency matters such as previously scheduled trials, first appearances, mental health hearings, shelter and dependency hearings, arrest warrants, bond hearings, petitions for domestic violence, and payment of traffic tickets. The Palm Beach County court clerk's office is on the web at http://www.pbcountyclerk.com.

Florida is tops in digital counties

2006-09-14T21:16:00.000-04:00

The Center for Digital Government and the National Association of Counties has released its list of most digital counties in the nation. Florida has many top ranking counties in the 2006 Digital Counties Survey. Orange County, Florida, is the number one digital county for counties with a population over 500,000. Miami-Dade County comes in 10th in the same category. For counties with a population between 250,000 and 499,999, Seminole County, Florida is 6th and Marion County, Florida is 10th. The winners were announced in this news release.

Report on Florida's Oceans

2006-09-12T22:18:00.000-04:00

A Sept. 2006 issue paper, Florida's Coastal and Ocean Future, has been published by the National Resources Defense Council. The report is a result of the work of over 20 state and national organizations and others, making recommendations to government leaders for improving governance over Florida's coastal and ocean resources.

Contents include:
Chapter 1: Curb Unwise Coastal Development and Protect Valuable Coastal Habitats
Chapter 2: Reduce Coastal and Ocean Pollution
Chapter 3: Keep Offshore Drilling Away from Florida’s Coast
Chapter 4: Restore Marine Ecosystems, Ensure Robust Fisheries, and Protect Marine Species
Chapter 5: Reduce Global Warming Pollution
Chapter 6: Strengthen Ocean Governance

New chief justice for the Florida Supreme Court

2006-07-20T17:22:00.000-04:00

Florida's Supreme Court has recently sworn in its 52nd Chief Justice, R. Fred Lewis. He is a graduate of the University of Miami law school and was a member of the Miami Law Review, so noted in his biography and on discourse.net. The "gavel" ceremony took place on June 30, 2006. The Florida Chief Justice serves a two-year term. For a look at how other states appoint or elect their judges, see:

Judicial Selection Methods in the States (American Judicature Society)
Judicial Selection and Retention FAQs (National Center for State Courts)
Fact sheet on judicial retention in the states, .pdf, (American Bar Association)

New Florida law: freeze credit reports

2006-07-09T14:19:00.000-04:00

A new state law allows Floridians to freeze their credit reports, keeping them from prying eyes. Florida joins over twenty other states that have similar laws. A Sun-Sentinel article notes that pending Federal law may override the state laws in the near future. The Florida law is Chapter 2006-124 (House bill No. 37), and will be codified at section 501.005 in the Florida Statutes. The law takes effect on July 1, 2006.

See articles:

"Law could reduce threat of ID theft," Miami Herald, July 1, 2006

"Credit freeze offers Floridians even greater levels of protection," Palm Beach Post, July 1, 2006

"Beginning Saturday in Florida, you can place a freeze on your report," Sun-Sentinel, June 29, 2006

Paralegal regulation

2006-06-12T13:50:00.000-04:00

The Florida Bar has approved a recommendation to the Florida Supreme Court to create a new rule regulating paralegals in the state of Florida. The proposed rule, Chapter 20, would establish a Florida Registered Paralegal Program, a two-tiered system. A Florida Registered Paralegal would have certification, meeting certain educational requirements.

The Florida Bar will file the proposed rule with the Florida Supreme Court around August 15, 2006. The full hearing transcript of the Florida Bar Special Committee to Study Paralegal Regulation can be read here.

Earth Day in Florida

2006-04-20T14:09:00.000-04:00

In honor of Florida's natural beauty, here's a list of environmental web sites, journals, and blogs:

Admiralty, Boating, and Maritime Law Podcasts
Boating Safety Law and News
Earthtools
Energy Legal Blog
Environmental Law Prof Blog
Environmental Legal Blogs
Dictionary of Sustainable Management
GreenCounsel
LOCE Wind and Wave Energy Law Blog (ocean and offshore wind energy)
Tropical Science (journal)

Fraud alert web site

2006-02-27T21:51:00.000-05:00

Two Florida schools are behind the release of Fraud Update, a new web site that runs a continuous feed of references to federal and state government actions against fraud. It's an impressive collection of over 10,000 documents collected over the last 18 months. The Florida schools involved in the project are Florida State University's College of Criminology and Criminal Justice and St. Thomas University School of Law. Thanks to Boley Blogs for the pointer.

Legal blogs

2006-02-08T22:44:00.000-05:00

There are two new legal blogs to mention. First, the Florida Intellectual Property Law Blog, published by John Rizvi, of the Gold and Rizvi law firm. Posts are mostly focused on Florida IP legal developments.

The second is the Hurricane Law Blog, covering news and opinion from the recovery in the Gulf states. The information is compiled by the law office of McGlinchy Stafford of New Orleans.

The Florida bar and Fastcase

2006-01-21T21:56:00.000-05:00

The Florida Bar reports that Fastcase, a free legal research service for its bar members is proving to be a popular electronic resource. A Florida Bar News article (1/15/2006) noted that so far, 10 percent of the membership is using the service. Members are especially happy with the price (it's free), Fastcase user support, and the printable formatting of Fastcase results. Other state bar associations using Fastcase include Iowa and Louisiana.

Florida school voucher decision

2006-01-15T15:09:00.000-05:00

The Florida Supreme Court has announced its decision in Bush v. Holmes, the Florida school voucher case. The Florida school voucher program, known as the Opportunity Scholarship Program, has been declared unconstitutional. A litigation timeline is available on the Florida School Boards Association web site. Full details on the program are on the school choice page of the Florida Dept. of Education web site.

Electronic history of judges

2005-12-21T20:16:00.000-05:00

The Middle District of Florida, United States Bankruptcy Court is recording an oral history of its most senior judges. Thusfar, the Honorable George L. Proctor has made his video clip available.

New pro hac vice rule effective Jan. 1, 2006

2005-10-15T16:53:00.000-04:00

MJP News blog reported this on June 23, 2005:

"Under Florida's new pro hac vice rules which are effective January 1, 2006, specifically Rule 1-3.11(d) of the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar, a non-Florida lawyer who files more than three demands for arbitration or responses in separate arbitrations, excluding international arbitrations, in 365 days will be presumed to be engaged in the general practice of law. The general practice of law in Florida by non-admitted lawyers is prohibited."

Florida Administrative Code research

2005-09-09T16:26:00.000-04:00

This question comes up frequently enough: how to find older sections of the Florida Administrative Code (FAC)? Start by checking the history notes at the end of the text of the Florida Administrative Code. The FAC is on the web, but it is not "to be regarded as the official copy." The Florida Administrative Weekly (the Federal Register-like publication for the state level), is available on the web from 1999 to the present. For a handy guide to researching Florida administrative law see FSU's powerpoint: Florida Administrative Rules and Hearings.

Florida county law libraries an endangered species?

2005-08-03T21:58:00.000-04:00

Once again, funding for Florida's county law libraries is in jeopardy. Today's Miami Herald carried an editorial urging the Miami-Dade County Commission to revise the 2006 budget to include $650,000 cut from the Miami-Dade County Law Library.

Florida legal blog covers the S.D.

2005-08-03T20:21:00.000-04:00

The Southern District of Florida is a freshly minted legal blog, ready to share its views on federal practice issues down here. The author(s) invite discussion and news on verdicts, rulings, and hot topics in South Florida.

Commission considers online disciplinary records

2005-07-22T21:16:00.000-04:00

The Florida Bar News reports (7/15/2005) that the Special Commission on Lawyer Regulation is considering the recommendation that all bar disciplinary records be placed online. Other states (e.g. Delaware, Iowa) make similar data available online, but so far Florida does not. At this time, Florida bar disciplinary information is made available by phone request. For more information on Florida legal ethics see The Florida Bar Lawyer Regulation web page and SunEthics.

Florida bar offers free legal research to members

2005-07-18T20:31:00.000-04:00

The Florida Bar will now offer a free legal research collection for its members from Fastcase. A Florida Bar News Online Edition story from July 15, 2005, "Free legal research available" describes the service. The free content will include access to:

Florida Supreme Court cases back to 1950

All Florida District Courts of Appeal (DCA) opinions

the Florida Administrative Code

the Florida Statutes

the Florida Constitution

all U.S. Supreme Court decisions

opinions from the 5th and 11th Federal Circuit Courts of Appeal

Shark attack file

2005-07-04T16:54:00.000-04:00

The Florida Museum of Natural History's Ichthyology web page holds a collection of worldwide shark attack information. Trends, maps, graphs, reports, and the latest worldwide shark attack summary are posted here. Thanks to the ResourceShelf for this site.

Florida uniform law enacted

2005-06-23T20:02:00.000-04:00

The Florida Probate Litigation Blog by Miami attorney Juan Antunez makes note of the new Florida Uniform Disclaimer of Property Interests Act. The Senate bill SB1368 is Chapter 2005-108 and goes into effect on July 1, 2005.

Stormy weather resources

2005-06-22T19:10:00.000-04:00

Hurricane season, stormy weather, and all the rest makes us more aware of the need to know. The Palm Beach Post now has a Hurricane blog with advice on supplies and a hurricane gadget guide. NOAA has started a new web site called Storm Tracker, which will follow the progress of tropical storms and hurricanes.

New book: Practice guide on Florida civil procedure

2005-06-09T21:34:00.000-04:00

LexisNexis has released a new title for Florida practitioners: Practice Guide for Florida Civil Procedure. It's a five-volume looseleaf edition, also issued in an online version. There's also a four volume "briefcase" edition in softbound covers. Could this title become as popular as Trawick's? The LexisNexis press release is here.

Credit reports for Floridians

2005-06-04T18:54:00.000-04:00

Beginning June 1, 2005, Floridians can request their free credit reports from AnnualCreditReport.com. Florida, along with ten other southern states, is in phase three of the nationwide program. The credit disclosure reports are from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, the consumer credit reporting companies. AnnualCreditReport.com will supply this information annually by request via the web site, by phone, or by mail.

Track Congress by state

2005-05-27T16:45:00.000-04:00

Have you ever wanted an easy way to track your Congressional member's legislative record? Take a look at a new site called Plogress.com. Click on the state of Florida, and up comes the list of Florida's Senators and House of Representative members of Congress. Click on the individual's name. The results will show which federal bills that member is sponsoring or co-sponsoring.

Court Clerk web sites

2005-04-23T16:20:00.000-04:00

For an easy way to access Florida's county court clerk web pages, try the Clerk Web Sites compilation. All 67 counties are conveniently linked from one location. The site is maintained by the Florida Association of Court Clerks and Comptrollers.

Schiavo case web resources

2005-03-23T12:17:00.000-05:00

The University of Miami Ethics Program maintains a web page of Schiavo cases resources. The collection includes a selected bibliography, web links, conference presentations and a timeline of key events in the case. The Timeline of Key Events is most useful as it has links to all the documents related to the case, and is updated frequently.

Capital Collateral Regional Counsels

2005-03-18T10:06:00.000-05:00

Looking for the phone numbers of the Capital Collateral Regional Counsels? They're listed in the 2003-2004 Criminal Justice Directory with the public defenders. There are three regional offices. The Captial Collateral Regional Counsels program provides legal representation "to defendants under sentence of death who have exhausted their direct appeals and who seek to challenge the sentence on other grounds;" (Source: FGAR profile) . For a critique of the program see this law.com article: "A Fight Over Limits on Pay, Hours" (NLJ 4-3-2003).

Florida Bar Certified Attorneys listed

2005-03-09T14:13:00.000-05:00

The Florida Bar web site now lists attorneys certified by specialization. Each area of certification is described and the list of attorneys by city is linked. The search tool for locating any member of the Florida Bar does not allow for searching the group of certified lawyers. A Florida bar member's record does not indicate whether or not they are certified in one of the nineteen areas of specialization.

Florida Keys historical photos

2005-03-04T14:33:00.000-05:00

Research Buzz picked up this one from the Miami Herald: there's a web site called Milemarkers that contains over 900 historical images from the Keys. But wait, there's more than photos and postcards on the site. There is a Keys Names gazeteer, a glossary, and a virtual road-trip down the Keys. The photos are searchable too. The gazeteer and other portions of the site were created by Jim Clupper of the Monroe County Public Library. Milemarkers: Linking Keys History is part of the larger PALMM digital initiative.

Statewide official records search

2005-02-16T16:40:00.000-05:00

MyFloridaCounty.com now provides a single portal for searching official state records by county. Not all counties are available as of this writing, but plans are to have them up and running in phases. Currently 58 counties are in the list. The most populated counties like Broward and Miami-Dade are not yet ready. This service does not include Criminal Court records. There are additional search tips provided on the site for searching these records, way at the bottom of the page.

Constitutional initiatives and amendments

2005-02-14T12:39:00.000-05:00

For a quick list of initiatives, amendments and revisions to the Florida Constitution, visit the page compiled by the Election Division of the Dept. of State. Researchers can view historical lists back to 1978. More information about the initiative petition process is located here.

Search Florida chartered financial institutions

2005-02-10T15:27:00.000-05:00

The Florida Dept. of Financial Services, Office of Financial Regulations has a search tool for locating state chartered financial institutions. There are three types of searches for this information. Search by Institution, by Branch, and by Licensing application. Searches are for both active and inactive institutions.

Florida Electronic Library

2005-02-06T15:01:00.000-05:00

The newly introduced Florida Electronic Library is an information portal for the citizens of Florida. From here, link to two more new Florida web resources. The first is Florida on Florida a digital collection of Florida's history, culture and environment. The database contains maps, photos, postcards, books and manuscripts. And the second is the Florida Group Catalog which utilizes OCLC's FirstSearch database. It searches only Florida libraries.

RSS feeds for Florida agencies

2005-02-05T15:30:00.000-05:00

The first two Florida agencies to use RSS feeds are the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and the Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement (FDLE). The FWC's RSS page describes how to set up RSS news feeds and lists six FWC news feed. They are: FWC News, FWC Hunting, FWC Fishing, FWC Law, FWC Wildlife, and FWC Headlines.

The FDLE news feeds are FDLE news headlines and press releases. Their RSS information page offers the ability to either read the RSS feed through an RSS reader or to put their news feed on a web site.

Digital states survey released

2005-01-28T17:48:00.000-05:00

Florida is among the top twenty five digital states, ranking as number 20. The 2004 Digital States Survey was released on Jan. 27, 2005 from the Center for Digital Government. A copy of the news announcement is here. The top twenty five states are:
1st Place: Michigan
2nd Place: Washington
3rd Place: Virginia
4th Place: Indiana
5th Place: Arizona
6th Place: South Dakota
7th Place: Tennessee
8th Place: Utah
9th Place: Arkansas
10th Place: Colorado (tied)
10th Place: North Carolina (tied)
11th Place: Massachusetts
12th Place: Illinois (tied)
12th Place: Kentucky (tied)
13th Place: Maine
14th Place: Montana
15th Place: Maryland
16th Place: Mississippi
17th Place: Minnesota
18th Place: Wyoming
19th Place: Kansas
20th Place: Florida
21st Place: North Dakota
22nd Place: Nebraska
23rd Place: Nevada
24th Place: Pennsylvania
25th Place: Wisconsin

RSS feeds at the Florida Bar

2005-01-25T11:45:00.000-05:00

The Florida Bar web site has added RSS feeds to deliver daily news and announcements. Scroll down to the bottom of the home page and click on the "What is RSS?" link. This link describes what RSS feeds are and what is available. Two types of feeds can be received. One is for the Florida Bar News stories and the other is for Florida Bar announcements concerning events, conferences, and new resources.

Florida Legal Gateway

2004-12-17T17:18:00.000-05:00

Just stumbled upon a web site called Legal Gateway. There are Legal Gateways for all fifty states. Here's the one for Florida. It compiles the basic state government sites for legal research, has "Florida Guidebooks" (encyclopedic entries on legal topics) and an attorney finder. The one thing that is missing is background on who does the site. But a clue can be found by searching the attorney finder. Search Traurig. There's an icon that says "Leading American Attorney." Click on that and it opens to a directory called Guide to Leading American Attorneys. Leading Attorney Network. Finally, an address is listed. They are out of St. Paul, Minn. and they create directories for Illinois, Florida, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Why make it so difficult?

Florida's government web sites

2004-11-30T10:35:00.000-05:00

A journey through the Florida government web sites will begin today. The search will focus on new developments, hidden resources, and research tools. Every state is different. This is the best way to discover how the system works.

First up, The Florida Monitor, or the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA). This is the "monitoring arm" of Florida's government, similar to the federal GAO.

Research resources on the site include:
The Florida Weekly Monitor, a free electronic newsletter, but an e-mail subscription is required to use the "database;"
OPPAGA Reports posted in full text on the site, can be viewed by topic, agency, numeric order, recently published, or reports in progress; and
FGAR, The Florida Government Accountability Report, described as "an internet encyclopedia of Florida state government." It's searchable, and resulting pages provide a brief description of each agency's purpose, funding, laws, and current issues facing the agency, with links to pertinent web sites or documents. It's like an online government manual.

New Florida state court web sites

2004-11-22T15:27:00.000-05:00

On November 19, 2004, the Florida Supreme Court unveiled its new web site at http://www.floridasupremecourt.org. Now we will all have to work on changing our links to their web page, right down to the decision level. There is also a new web page for the Florida State Court System.

The major improvement to the Florida Supreme Court web site is better navigation. Links to the main resources are right on top: Public Information, Docket Search, Court Decisions and Rules, and Oral Arguments all from the home page. Court decisions and other court documents are, however, still split up, e.g. High Profile Cases vs. Briefs in Other Cases.

Radon database

2004-11-21T19:20:00.000-05:00

The Sun-Sentinel reported on radon in S. Florida on Sunday, Nov. 21, 2004. The story goes into great detail on describing the problem: what it is, where it can be found, who can help. The article points to a good web page on radon from the Florida Department of Health. It includes links to radon law and rules, a list of certified radon businesses, radon information, and a database of Florida radon data by ZIP codes.

Florida legislative history on Westlaw

2004-10-26T20:30:00.000-04:00

Westlaw has created a number of state legislative history guides, including one for the state of Florida. The guides summarize the availability of each state's legislative history documents on Westlaw. Dates of coverage vary for each database.

The state of Florida has the following legislative history databases on Westlaw:

FL-LH (searches journals, analyses and messages)
FL-LH-REP (bill analyses)
FL-LH-JNLS (legislative journals)
FL-LH-MSG (messages from the governor)
FL-BILLTXT (all versions of available bills)
FL-BILLTRK (summaries and status of billls)
FL-BILLS (combined search of BILLTXT and BILLTRK files)
FL-BILLS-OLD (summaries and status of bills and text of bills from earlier legislative sessions)
FL-BILLTXT-OLD (bills from earlier legislative sessions)
FL-BILLTRK-OLD (status tables from earlier legislative sessions)