The Florida Bar is the integrated

bar association A bar association is a professional association of lawyers as generally organized in countries following the Anglo-American types of jurisprudence. The word bar is derived from the old English/European custom of using a physical railing to separ ...

for the state of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. It is the third largest such bar in the United States. Its duties include the regulation and discipline of attorneys. The Florida Bar is also responsible for the governing of Florida Registered Paralegals.Florida Registered Paralegal program
/ref> As elsewhere in the United States, persons seeking

admission to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

must pass a

moral character Moral character or character (derived from charaktêr) is an analysis of an individual's steady moral qualities. The concept of ''character'' can express a variety of attributes, including the presence or lack of virtues such as empathy, coura ...

screening, in this case administered by the Florida Board of Bar Examiners. Admission to the Bar includes passing a background investigation, the

Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination The Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE) is a 120-minute, 60-question, multiple-choice examination designed to measure the knowledge and understanding of established standards related to a lawyer's professional conduct. It i ...

, and the

bar exam A bar examination is an examination administered by the bar association of a jurisdiction that a lawyer must pass in order to be admitted to the bar of that jurisdiction. Australia Administering bar exams is the responsibility of the bar associa ...

, which tests both the

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...

through the

Multistate Bar Examination In the United States, those seeking to become lawyers must normally pass a bar examination before they can be admitted to the bar and become licensed to practice law. Bar exams are administered by states or territories, generally by agencies under ...

and

Florida law The law of Florida consists of several levels, including constitutional, statutory, and regulatory law, as well as case law and local law. The ''Florida Statutes'' form the general statutory law of Florida. Sources The Constitution of Florida ...

through written state essays and state-specific multiple-choice questions. The Florida Bar's headquarters building and annex are located in

Tallahassee Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2020, the population ...

, three blocks from the

Florida State Capitol The Florida State Capitol in Tallahassee, Florida, is an architecturally and historically significant building listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Capitol is at the intersection of Apalachee Parkway and South ...

History

In 1889 the first, small, voluntary group of lawyers formed in Florida. This developed into the Florida State Bar Association in 1907. This remained a voluntary organization, publishing a legal journal, drafting court procedures, and presenting occasional educational courses for lawyers. Its membership never exceeded a few thousand. With a sharp increase in the number of lawyers after World War I came interest in requiring lawyers to join the Florida State Bar Association, both as a means of improving communication within the profession and of disciplining unethical lawyers. However, the Florida Supreme Court declined to order this until 1949. In April 1950, the Florida State Bar Association met for the last time. The name was shortened to "The Florida Bar" and the state's 3,758 lawyers automatically became members. Its first president was Richard H. Hunt of Miami. In 1989, The Florida Bar went to the U.S. Supreme Court to defend restrictions on attorney advertising. The court found in favor of the narrowly tailored rules in '' Florida Bar v. Went For It, Inc.''.

References

External links

The Florida BarThe Florida Board of Bar ExaminersTips on Preparing for the Florida Bar Exam
{{DEFAULTSORT:Florida Bar 1907 establishments in Florida American state bar associations

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

Organizations established in 1907