Applications Now Available for Florida Bar Board Certification In Two First-In-The-Nation Specialties: Adoption Law and Education Law

Online, March 31, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Applications now are available on The Florida Bar Web site for Florida lawyers interested in adoption law or education law board certification - both first of their kind legal specialties in the U.S. The first application filing deadline for both specialties is July 31, 2010, and exams are scheduled for March 2011.

Certified attorneys are the only Florida lawyers allowed to identify or advertise themselves as specialists or experts or to use "B.C.S." to indicate board certified specialist. Board certification evaluates attorneys' special knowledge, skills and proficiency in various areas of law and professionalism and ethics in practice.

Standards, certification committee members and staff contacts for each of the specialties are available at FloridaBar.org/certification. Please contact The Florida Bar's Legal Specialization & Education Department at (850) 561-5842 for more information.

Adoption Law Board Certification. According to Florida Bar Adoption Law Certification Committee Chair Michael A. Shorstein of Jacksonville, adoption law board certification will provide a necessary and important protection for consumers by distinguishing attorneys who have special knowledge, skills, and proficiency in adoption law along with superior professionalism and ethics in their practices.

"Florida adoption laws have changed almost every year over the last decade, and what once was a simple, form-based process now requires an experienced, intuitive approach to our complicated statutory framework," said Shorstein. "Our state is among the top pro-adoption states in the country, so licensed and unlicensed agencies, facilitators and others saturate Florida consumers with adoption solicitations. Many of these offers violate Florida law but our citizens currently have no way to distinguish between valid offers and fraudulent inducements.

"The certification of adoption lawyers allows the public to differentiate those lawyers who are proficient in the area of adoption law from those attorneys who do not understand the unique complexities of the adoption statute."

Adoption law certification is for lawyers who deal with complexities and legalities - both prior to and after placement of a child for adoption - in interstate and intrastate adoption placements and civil controversies arising from termination of biological parents' parental rights.

Adoption law board certification applicants must:
- have at least five years of law practice, of which at least 50 percent has been spent in active participation in adoption law.
- demonstrate substantial experience in adoption law, including substantial involvement in at least 50 adoption placements or 15 contested adoption proceedings or appeals during the five-year period immediately preceding application.
- undergo peer review by attorneys and judges.
- complete 30 credit hours of approved continuing legal education in adoption law during the three-year period immediately preceding the date of application.
- pass a rigorous examination.
Education Law Board Certification. Education Law Certification Committee Chair Marylin Batista-McNamara of Fort Lauderdale said education law encompasses a wide array of disciplines ranging from First Amendment rights and Sunshine Law to the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act and Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act - a broad spectrum of laws with education of students at the center.

"Education law certification evaluates lawyers' proficiency in various legal areas and allows the public to differentiate those attorneys from others who have not demonstrated their experience and expertise," said Batista-McNamara, who serves as Deputy General Counsel for Broward County Public Schools. "Board certification is a voluntary pursuit that requires time and resources, and as such demonstrates a lawyer's commitment to quality in the delivery of legal services and highest ethical standards in the practice of law."

Education law certification is for lawyers who deal with the legal rights, responsibilities, procedures, and practices of educational institutions, students, personnel employed by or on behalf of educational institutions and the guardians and parents of students participating in education.

Education law certification applicants must:
- have been engaged in the practice of education law for at least five years immediately preceding the date of application.
- be members in good standing of any U.S. state or District of Columbia bar association for at least five years preceding application.
- demonstrate substantial involvement in the practice of education law during at least three of the five years immediately preceding the date of application.
- demonstrate broad, substantial, practical experience in education law.
- undergo peer review by attorneys and judges.
- complete 50 credit hours of approved continuing legal education in education law during the three-year period immediately preceding the date of application.
- pass a rigorous examination.
Education law certification applicants who demonstrate substantial involvement in education law for a minimum of 20 years and who otherwise fulfill the standards are exempt from the examination. The exemption is only applicable to those applicants who apply within the first two application filing periods from the effective date of the standards.

A lawyer who is a member in good standing of The Florida Bar and who meets the standards prescribed by the state's Supreme Court may become board certified in one or more of 24 certification fields. Only 4,300 of Florida's 87,000 lawyers are board certified. Certification is the highest level of evaluation by The Florida Bar of the competency and experience of attorneys in areas of law approved for certification by the Supreme Court of Florida. Florida offers the greatest number of state-approved certification areas in the nation.