Long-Range Issue #5

Maintain a Professional, Ethical, and Skilled Judiciary and Workforce

Justice depends on the competence and quality of judges and court employees.  These professionals handle complex legal issues and court procedures, address difficult legal and ethical issues, and face increased expectations from court users.  Providing advanced levels of education and development will enable those who work within the courts system to effectively perform the challenging work of the courts and meet the needs of those whom they serve.

To meet the demands of justice in the twenty-first century—and to foster the public’s trust and confidence in the justice system—judicial officers and court staff must have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to serve and perform at the highest levels of expertise.  Recognizing this imperative, the long-range plan for the judicial branch recommends that the branch “provide timely education and training to judges and court employees to ensure high-level performance” and to maintain “high standards of professionalism and ethical behavior.”

Long-Range Issue #5 Topics:

• Education for Judges and Quasi-Judicial Officers
• Education for Court Personnel
• Publications, Distance Learning, and Other Self-Learning Resources
• Judicial Branch Education Strategic Plan

Education for Judges, Quasi-Judicial Officers, and Court Personnel

Numerous groups within the judicial branch develop high-quality education and training opportunities, both in person and virtual, for the people who work in Florida’s courts, making efficient and effective use of limited funding and staff resources.  These groups include the many trial and appellate courts that design education programs for select categories of their own, and often neighboring, court personnel (e.g., court interpreters, staff attorneys, managers).  In addition, members of the Standing Committee on Fairness and Diversity regularly offer diversity education and training events for judges and court personnel, both locally and regionally.  And various entities within the Office of the State Courts Administrator (OSCA)—most notably, the Office of Court Education, the Office of Court Improvement, the Florida Dispute Resolution Center, the Innovations and Outreach Unit, the Court Services Unit, the General Services Unit, the statewide ADA coordinator, and the statewide emergency coordinating officer—commonly conduct or facilitate trainings for judicial officers and court employees.  Readers can learn about this bounty of instructional offerings elsewhere in this annual report.

This section of the report focuses largely on the education programs and resources supported by the Florida Court Education Council (FCEC), established by the supreme court in 1978 to coordinate and oversee the creation and maintenance of a comprehensive education program for judges and some court personnel groups and to manage the budget that sustains these ventures.  Chaired by Justice Jorge Labarga, the council, with the support of the Office of Court Education, provides continuing education through live programs, both statewide and local—and through publications, distance learning events, and other self-learning resources, which have become particularly imperative since the pandemic outbreak impelled the cancellation of all live education programs beginning in early April 2020.

Education for Judges and Quasi-Judicial Officers

The Florida Judicial College is a three-phase program that provides mandatory bedrock training for those who are new to the bench (as well as training for veteran judges who are switching to a new division).  Pictured here, Judge Angela Cowden, Tenth Circuit; Judge Cory Ciklin, Fourth DCA; and Judge Robert W. Lee, Broward County teach a workshop on Trial Skills.

In 1988, with the implementation of an opinion authored by former Justice Ben Overton, continuing judicial education became mandatory for all Florida judges.  They are required to earn a minimum of 30 approved credit hours of continuing judicial education every three years, and new judges must satisfy additional requirements.  The FCEC regularly works closely with the leaders of the judicial conferences and the judicial colleges to ensure that judges have opportunities to meet their professional obligations.

Every year, each of the three judicial conferences coordinates an annual education program designed, in large part, to help sitting judges remain in compliance with the Rules of Judicial Administration and to keep them abreast of changes in the law, providing for a more professional and knowledgeable judiciary.  During the 2019 – 2020 fiscal year, an annual education program was offered by the Conference of County Court Judges of Florida (just shy of 300 county judges received training) and the Florida Conference of Circuit Judges (approximately 500 circuit judges received training).  The September 2019 program of the Florida Conference of District Court of Appeal Judges had to be cancelled due to Hurricane Dorian.

Because of the uniqueness of the work of appellate court judges, all new appointees, whether they come directly from the practice of law or from the trial court bench, benefit from assistance with transitioning to judicial service on the appellate bench.  The New Appellate Judges Program seeks to provide this assistance.  Pictured here, Judge Lori Rowe, First DCA, conducts a Zoom session on Judicial Writing and Style.

Also during the 2019 – 2020 fiscal year, the FCEC sponsored a DUI Adjudication Lab (67 participants); three Judicial Faculty Trainings, a two-day program that teaches judges how to be more effective teachers of other judges (52 participants); and a Handling Capital Cases Program, required of all judges prior to sitting on capital cases (53 participants). Typically, each of the two judicial colleges also offers a judicial education event every year.  Approximately 111 judges, magistrates, and child support hearing officers attended the Florida Judicial College, a three-phase program that provides mandatory, bedrock training for those who are new to the bench and also provides training for veteran judges who are switching to a new division (Phase I is a pre-bench program that includes a series of orientation sessions and a trial skills workshop; Phase II focuses on more substantive and procedural matters and includes a “Fundamentals” portion for judges who are preparing to rotate to a new division; and Phase III consists of a year-long mentoring program for new judges).  However, the Florida College of Advanced Judicial Studies, a comprehensive program designed to help judges become proficient in advanced subject matters with which a judge may come in contact, had to be cancelled due to the pandemic.

Education for Court Personnel

The long-range plan for the judicial branch emphasizes that, like judges, court employees should receive timely education and training to ensure high-level performance.  To meet this goal, the FCEC, through its Florida Court Personnel Foundation, takes a creative approach to promoting access to and support for training for employees who work in the courts system: a decentralized delivery system, the foundation model has been providing resources to local courts since 2008, enabling them to develop educational opportunities for their own employees based on their most pressing education and training needs.

Judge Orlando Prescott, Eleventh Judicial Circuit, conducts a session on Detention and Shelter Hearings for the Florida Judicial College.

The foundation did not disseminate funds for local training programs during the 2019 – 2020 fiscal year, opting, instead, to sponsor an especially ambitious Florida Court Personnel Institute, the annual statewide program that provides concrete job skills training on a variety of subjects useful to court employees.  The February 2020 program, in which 266 court employees participated, offered seven tracks: Accountability and Court Performance; Purposes and Responsibilities of Courts; two Administrative Staff Program tracks; two Judicial Assistant Program tracks; and a Florida Court Personnel Faculty Training, which teaches court employees how to be more effective teachers of other court staff (earlier in the fiscal year, another faculty training was held, attended by 23 court employees).  Also in the 2019 – 2020 fiscal year, the FCEC supported a Trial Court Administrators Education Program (43 participants).

Publications, Distance Learning, and Other Self-Learning Resources

To supplement the scope of training and education offerings for judges and court personnel, the judicial branch’s long-range plan recommends that the branch “develop technology-based approaches to complement existing education programs for judges and court employees.”  To help the courts system achieve this goal, the FCEC supports judicial and staff efforts to develop new court education publications, update existing ones, and devise or facilitate distance learning events.

Since the pandemic-induced cancellation of live education and training programs in spring 2020, OSCA’s Office of Court Education staff have been working studiously to ensure the availability of remote trainings geared toward enhancing the knowledge and expertise of judges and court personnel.  The Court Education Calendar—which provides links to virtual programs sponsored by the National Center for State Courts, the National Judicial College, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, OSCA’s Office of Court Improvement, and OSCA’s Office of Court Education—has included webinars on a broad menu of topics, including Protecting the Judicial Branch from Cyberthreats; Opioids and the Florida Courts (a five-part series); County Court Legislative Update; Animal Cruelty and Child Abuse; Canvassing Board: Law and Procedure; Faculty Development (a 10-part series); Essential Steps to Tackling Backlog and Preparing for a Surge in New Cases; COVID-19 – Insurance Coverage Litigation (a five-part series); and Families First: Coronavirus Response Act.

Finally, the FCEC’s Publications Committee, with the assistance of OSCA’s Office of Court Education, worked diligently to update its repository of online publications during the fiscal year.  Among those updated were An Aid to Understanding Canon 7 (updated twice); Bar Referee Manual and course outline; Civil Jury Trial Benchbook; Florida Small Claims Rules Annotated; Florida Traffic-Related Appellate Opinion Summaries (updated three times); Fundamentals for Traffic Hearing Officers Manual; Interpersonal Violence Case Law Summaries – Civil and Criminal (both updated four times); Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee Opinions Topical Index (updated twice); Judicial Ethics Benchguide; and Residential Foreclosure Bench Book.

Judicial Branch Education Strategic Plan

In 2016, via AOSC16-42, the supreme court directed the FCEC to “Begin a long-range strategic planning process for the Council to consider the overall delivery system; the educational needs of judges and court staff; and the mission, vision, and goals for judicial branch education in order to determine where judicial branch education should be in the next five to six years.”  And in AOSC18-26, the FCEC was tasked with finalizing the plan by the end of its 2018 – 2020 term.  To launch the process, the council’s Strategic Planning Sub-Committee, chaired by Judge Donna Padar, Twelfth Circuit, worked with a consultant to conduct extensive outreach to judicial officers and court personnel across the state (via a survey and focus group sessions).  Sub-committee members then analyzed trends, completed a program assessment, identified long-range issues, and developed goals and objectives (i.e., strategies) for making improvements and advancing judicial branch education over the next five years.  These efforts were designed to complement the mission, vision, and goals delineated in the judicial branch’s long-range strategic plan.

The 2020 – 2025 Strategic Plan – Planning for the Future of Judicial Branch Education in Florida comprises three long-range issues: quality and responsive educational content; expanded access to education programs and resources; and sufficient and effective use of resources.  The FCEC has begun implementation of the plan, giving priority to integrating distance and blended learning into the overall educational delivery system and to assessing the educational needs of judges and court staff.