Florida Supreme Court to Spotlight Civil Justice Reforms at Bar Convention
BOCA RATON — Florida’s civil justice system will take center stage when the Florida Supreme Court leads a seminar at the 2025 Annual Florida Bar Convention on Thursday, June 26.
The “Keynote Discussion with the Florida Supreme Court,” scheduled for 9 a.m. at the Boca Raton resort, will feature all seven justices in a panel moderated by Bar President Roland Sanchez-Medina, Jr., and President-elect Rosalyn Sia Baker-Barnes. Topics will include newly-implemented civil procedure rules, ethical hypotheticals, a professionalism order, and updates on court system structure and accreditation.
Central to the discussion will be landmark civil justice reforms that took effect January 1, following a series of Florida Supreme Court opinions issued in 2024. Developed from Judicial Management Council recommendations and refined through rulemaking committees, the reforms mark the most significant overhaul of civil litigation procedures in decades.
The changes are aimed at improving fairness and efficiency in the court system, with a focus on active case management, earlier deadlines tailored to case complexity, and greater judicial oversight from the outset. Local implementation is underway, with each of Florida’s 20 judicial circuits issuing administrative orders to guide civil case management under the new framework.
“We think that the new rules will give better effect to the promise of the civil justice system,” Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz said earlier this year.
The reforms have drawn significant attention from the legal community. A January 15 webinar on the rule changes, hosted by ABOTA Ft. Lauderdale and ABOTA Florida, has been viewed nearly 7,000 times on YouTube.
