DEFINITIONS

(a) Civil Trial Law. “Civil trial law” is the practice of law dealing with litigation of civil controversies in all areas of substantive law before Florida circuit courts or equivalent courts of other states, federal district courts, and state county courts. In addition to the pretrial and trial process, “civil trial law” includes evaluating, handling, and resolving civil controversies before the initiation of suit.

(b) Trial. A “trial” is the commencement of an in-court or in-chambers adversarial proceedings before the trier of fact at which testimony is taken that includes at least 2 components of a trial as defined below. A non-jury county court proceeding does not count as a trial for the purposes of board certification or recertification.

(c) Lead Counsel. “Lead counsel” is conducting a minimum of 50 percent of the in-court proceedings.

(d) Jury Trial. A “jury trial” is a case in which the jury is sworn and testimony is taken before concluding or settling a matter. A county court jury trial must result in a verdict rendered by the jury in order to count as a jury trial for purposes of board certification or recertification.

(e) Components of a Trial. The “components of a trial” are:

(1) voir dire questioning;

(2) opening statement;

(3) direct examination;

(4) cross examination; and

(5) closing statement.

(f) Day in Trial. A “day in trial” is a minimum of 6 hours.

(g) Binding. “Binding” is when the parties are required to honor the court’s decision unless the decision is overturned under law.