Committees and Subcommittees

Legal Education Committee

Continuing Legal Education Subcommittee
Current Legal Developments Subcommittee
Judicial Outreach Subcommittee
Publications Subcommittee - Check Off/Bar Journal
Website Subcommittee

The Legal Education Committee offers educational programs, current information relating to labor and employment, Section publications and practice resource materials to Bar and Section members.  Additionally, the Committee provides practical resource materials and related information regarding labor and employment to the federal and state judiciary. The Chair of the Committee is responsible for oversight of the Committee’s subcommittees who are charged with meeting the Committee’s objectives.  The six subcommittees are: (1) Continuing Legal Education Subcommittee; (2) Current Legal Developments Subcommittee; (3) Judicial Outreach Subcommittee; (4) Publications Subcommittee – Check Off; (5) Publications Subcommittee – Bar Journal; and (6) Website Subcommittee.

Committee Chair

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Continuing Legal Education Subcommittee

This subcommittee is responsible for the Section’s CLE seminars, including the selection of program chairs for each section CLE event.  This chair is appointed by the Section’s nominating committee and is designated to serve as the Legal Education Committee Chair in the year following his/her service as CLE Subcommittee chair.  As such, selection as CLE Subcommittee chair is a prerequisite for advancement to President of the Section.

Current Activities – Soon to be updated.

Subcommittee Chair

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Current Legal Developments Subcommittee

Purpose – the Current Legal Developments Subcommittee tracks, analyzes and reports to the Executive Council about proposed state and federal legislation impacting our area of practice.

Subcommittee members

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Judicial Outreach Subcommittee

Purpose – the Judicial Outreach Subcommittee is charged with enhancing the exposure and positive interaction between Section members and the Florida Judiciary.  Furthermore, the Committee aspires to elevate the labor and employment law practice in the State of Florida by offering continued opportunity for legal education on labor and employment law issues to the judiciary.

Current Activities – Soon to be updated.

Subcommittee members

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Publications Subcommittee - Check Off/Bar Journal

Purpose – the Publications Subcommittee compiles articles written by Section members, law students or other members of the Bar for publication in the Section’s newsletter, the Check Off.

Current Activities - the Subcommittee is currently working in conjunction with the Special Projects Committee and the Website Committee Chair to develop a plan to generate revenue through advertising in the Check Off.  Generating revenue in this manner would help the Section to pay prominent speakers to present at our CLE seminars. Additionally, the subcommittee is exploring the possibility of sending the Check Off to the Section members electronically; and working in coordination with the CLD Chair and Website Committee Chair, to develop a method to electronically send e-mail blasts to the membership concerning significant new legal developments and/or proposed legislation which is time sensitive.

Purpose – the Publications Subcommittee – Bar Journal compiles reviews and works with authors to edit articles written by Section members for publication in the Bar Journal.

Current Activities – Soon to be updated.

Subcommittee members

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GUIDELINES FOR ARTICLES FOR THE FLORIDA BAR JOURNAL FOR THE
LABOR & EMPLOYMENT LAW SECTION

Interested in writing an article for The Florida Bar Journal? The Section is always looking for well-written, topical, thought-provoking submissions for the Labor & Employment Law Section column.

Here are some guidelines for articles for the Section.

Topic:

First, select a potential topic. Journal articles can cover a variety of subject matter relating to labor and employment law. Articles are often written on timely and significant developments in the field of labor and employment law. Some potential sources of good topics are

• Recent U.S. or Florida Supreme Court cases
• Major NLRB or PERC decisions
• Major Eleventh Circuit or Florida District Court of Appeal cases, preferably after certiorari review has been denied
• Significant new regulations (e.g., the 2004 amendments to the FLSA White-Collar Exemption rules)

Good articles can consist of an analysis or synthesis of the development of the law in a particular area. For example, recent articles have included an analysis of the current state of summary judgment in employment discrimination cases; an analysis of the interpretation of Desert Palace by district courts; and a retrospective on Faragher and its application by the Circuit Courts of Appeal.

Finally, “how-to” articles on practice topics such as litigation, attorneys fees, ADR, etc., are useful if written in a scholarly fashion.

After selecting a topic, but before beginning work, please check with the Section
Journal liaison to make sure the topic is appropriate and available, as someone else may have already begun work on the same or a similar topic.

Style and Format:

Journal articles should run between 2000 and 2500 words in length, about 10-12 pages of double-spaced text, plus endnotes. Please submit your articles electronically in either MS Word or WordPerfect format. This assists in any editing necessary and in layout. Although Journal articles do not need to be written as formally as a law-review article, articles should be written in a scholarly, professional fashion with formal usage. If you are writing about a recent development, don’t just explain what has happened, but provide analysis of the impact of a development, or a synthesis of the law as affected by the decision.

Articles should appeal to the broad spectrum of Section members: plaintiff attorneys, management attorneys, union attorneys, neutrals (government agencies, mediators, arbitrators, etc.). Keep in mind that Section members may work for private firms, government agencies, or in-house at businesses, and may have years of experience in this field, or just be starting out. This doesn’t mean that articles can’t be written from a particular point of view, such as a plaintiff’s viewpoint or defense lawyer’s viewpoint.

However, the topic and information should be useful and relevant to as broad a spectrum as possible. If an article is written from a particular point of view, please make it clear in the article what that viewpoint is. Don’t give what purports to be an objective analysis of the law if what you are doing is advocating a position.

Journal articles should use endnotes for all citations. The names for the primary cases can be identified in the article text – the citations, and case names for secondary cases, should be included in endnotes only.

Timing:

Journal articles are due to the Bar two months before the publication date. That doesn’t include the time necessary for any editing or formatting we need to do at the Section level. Accordingly, articles should be submitted to the Section liaison no less than 8-9 weeks prior to the expected publication date. Articles submitted after that time may be published in a later issue.

Approval:

The large majority of articles submitted specifically for the Journal are accepted for publication. However, the Section maintains the right to determine whether an article is appropriate for publication in the Section column, and to edit or format as needed.

Following these guidelines will help insure that your article is accepted. Keep in mind that the The Checkoff, the Section newsletter, is a good location for many topics or articles that might not meet the requirements for the
Journal.

Questions:

If you have any questions about these guidelines, submission requirement or anything else relative to writing or publishing a Journal article, contact the Co-chair of the Publications Subcommittee, Frank E. Brown, or any of the Publications Subcommittee members listed on the Section’s website.

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Website Subcommittee

Purpose – the Website Subcommittee is responsible for updating and maintaining the Section’s website. This includes revising and enhancing the current website; and to seek ways to make the website a useful resource for the Section’s membership.

Current Activities - the Subcommittee is currently working in conjunction with the Special Projects Committee and the Publications Subcommittee- Check Off to develop a plan to generate revenue through advertising on the website. Advertisements on the website would include corporate ads, classified employment listings and labor and Employment firm’s announcements. Generating revenue in this manner would help the Section to pay prominent speakers to present at our CLE seminars. Additionally, the subcommittee is exploring the possibility of sending the Check Off to the Section members electronically; and working in coordination with the CLD Chair and Check Off Committee Chair, to develop a method to electronically send e-mail blasts to the membership concerning significant new legal developments and/or proposed legislation which is time sensitive. Finally, the subcommittee is looking to add new features to the website such as expanding our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) bank to assist younger practitioners.

Subcommittee members

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