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28 verbatim requirements from admin. order AO 2.20 - Standards of Professional Courtesy and Conduct and Establishment of Local Professionalism Panel (Amended 1/12/24) [Judicial].
20th Judicial Circuit. Procedural information only; not legal advice.
Verbatim from https://www.ca.cjis20.org/pdf/ao/ao_2_20.pdf, harvested 2026-07-25; whitespace normalised only. • The operation of the Local Professionalism Panel, including referrals to and review by the Panel of allegedly noncompliant behavior, shall be as set forth in Attachment " B." • To the extent that this Adm in istrative Order may conflict wilh any rule, statute, or la w, the rule, statute or law, shall prevail. • In exercising this privilege. lawyers must not pursue victory at the expense of justice nor at the risk of Lhe • Bar must protect Lhe honor and integrity of the judicial sys tem and improve the pu blic trust and perception of the legal profession. • Lawyers must work to enhance com m unication, respect and courtesy amo ng members oflhe Bar. • It shall be the responsibility of ano m eys practicing wilhin Lhe Twentieth Judicial • Bur in striving lo fu lfill that duty. a lawyer must be eve r conscious of his or he r broader duty 10 the judicial system that serves both allomey and client. • (So me o f Lhe guidelines may not apply in criminal proc.eedings. or where a spec ific j udge has a difTerent ru le.) • Further. attorneys should cooperate with one another regarding all reasonable resch edul i ng requests that do not prejudice Lieir clients or unduly delay a proceeding . • Except in emergency situations. before filing any motion in a civil case, e xcept a motion for injunctive relief, fo r judgment on the pleadings, for summary ju dgment, to dismiss or to permit maintenance of a class action, to dismiss for failure to state a cause of action, to dismiss for lack of prosecution, or to oth erwise involuntarily dismiss an action, the moving party shall confer with counsel for the opposing parry in a good faith effort to re solve the issues raised by the motion, and shall fi le with the motion a statement ce rti fying that the moving counsel has conferred with opposing counsel and th at counsel have been unable to agree on the resolution of the motion. • Unless otherwise instructed by the court, o r agreed to by co unsel, all proposed orders shall be provided to other counsel with a reasonable time for approval or comment prior to submission to t he court. • Orders prepared by counsel must fai rl y and adequately represent 1he ruling of the court, and counsel shall make a goo d faith effort to agree upon the fo nn of the ord er prior to submitting it to the cou rt. • Generally, in examining a witness, counsel shall not repeat or echo the answer given by the witness. • Counsel shall admonish all persons at counsel table th at gestures, facial expressions, audible comments. manifestations of approval or disapproval du ri ng the testimony of a witness, or at any other time. is prohibited. • The members of the Local Professionalism Panel shall be appointed by the Chi ef Judge. • The Chair shall be se lected by the Chief Judge , or by the Chief Judge's designee. • Unexpected vacancies shall be filled by the Ch ief Judge, or by the Chief Judge's designee. • A member may be re-appointed to serve I additional 3-year tenn, not to exceed 6 consecutive years. • (ii) describe the alleged noncompliance or enclose the written referral form, and (iii) request a response from the subject lawyer to be provided within 30 days. • The subj ect lawyer's response shall be provided by the Panel to the complainant. • Panel thereaft er shall determine by majority vote whether conduct has occurred which does not comply with the Standards. • T he determination of the Panel shall be communicated to the subject lawyer as well as the complainant. • It is recommended that the entire review process be accomplished within 90 days from the date that the alleged conduct was referred by the complainant to the Panel; however, failure to adhere to this recommended time limit is not fatal to the re ferra l. ln the event that the Panel determines that conduct has occurred which does not comply with the • The summary shall briefly and concisely inform t he bar of the referral, the alleged facts giving ri se to the referral, and the determination of the Committee. • The summary shall not identity the complainant, the lawyer, or the members of the Panel who voted. • The Panel shall comp ly with all Fl or ida Su preme Court reporting requi rements, which at this time include the filing of a biannual written report with the C hief Jud ge, the Florida Sup r eme Court, and the • Th e biannual reports must in clude the follow ing information fo r each referral for the 6 ca lendar m onths prece ding t he month in which the report is due: • Th e biannual reports must not include any identifying information fo r the respon dent or the party who submitted the referral.
The operation of the Local Professionalism Panel, including referrals to and review by the Panel of allegedly noncompliant behavior, shall be as set forth in Attachment " B."
Reviewer note: Order PDF sha256: 50be5b18031fc9b3bed9398b71a23e038529e4fb5fac09a7207801b2bd8f76d3. Extracted from the order's own text layer.
Judge Bell caps motions and responses at 5 pages for UMC hearings and 12 pages for special-set hearings.
Judge Alijewicz requires every motion for attorney's fees and/or costs to attach a document detailing time records — no records, no fee award.
Judge Corlew bars informal contact: every communication with the Court must be in writing, filed with the Clerk, with copies furnished to all parties — and no calls to the JA to schedule or cancel UMC.