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40 verbatim requirements from 5th Jud. Cir., Donald E. Scaglione — sha256-hashed 2026-07-25.
Fifth Judicial Circuit (Citrus, Hernando, Lake, Marion, Sumter). Procedural information only; not legal advice.
Verbatim from https://www.circuit5.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/adminstrative-order-professionalism-guidelines-1.pdf, harvested 2026-07-25; whitespace normalised only. • A lawyer must not seek clients through the use of misleading or manipulative oral and written representations or advertisements. • Contingency fee arrangements must be in writing and follow R. • A lawyer must place a client's best interest ahead of the lawyer's or another party's interests. • A lawyer must maintain and preserve the confidence and private information of clients. • A lawyer must routinely keep clients informed and attempt to resolve client concerns. • In the case of irreconcilable disagreements with a client, the lawyer must provide diligent representation until the lawyer-client relationship is formally dissolved in compliance with the law and the client's best interests. • A lawyer must devote professional time and resources and use civic influence to ensure equal access to our system of justice. • A lawyer must avoid discriminatory conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice in connection with the practice of law. • Candor and civility must be used in all oral and written communications. • A lawyer must avoid disparaging personal remarks or acrimony toward opposing parties, opposing counsel, third parties, or the court. • Incivility within the profession and courts of the Fifth Circuit shall not be tolerated. • A lawyer must timely serve all pleadings to prevent prejudice or delay to the opposing party. • A lawyer's communications in connection with the practice of law, including communications on social media, must not disparage another's character or competence or be used to inappropriately influence or contact others. • A lawyer must not lmowingly misstate, misrepresent, or distort any fact or legal authoricy to the court or to opposing counsel and must not mislead by inaction or silence. • Further, the discovery of additional evidence or unintentional misrepresentations must immediately be disclosed or otherwise corrected. • A lawyer must not inappropriately communicate with a parcy represented by a lawyer (See R. • Social media must not be used to disparage opposing parties, lawyers, judges, and members of the public. • Social media must not be used to inappropriately contact judges, mediators, jurors, witnesses, or represented parties. • Social media must not be used for the purpose of influencing adjudicative proceedings. • A lawyer must ensure that the use of electronic devices does not impair the attorney-client privilege or confidentiality. • A lawyer must diligently respond to calls, correspondences, complaints, and investigations by The Florida Bar and to any Professionalism Panel of the • A lawyer must not permit non-lawyer personnel to communicate with a judge or judicial officer on any matters pending before the judge or officer or with other court personnel except on scheduling and other ministerial matters. • A lawyer must avoid substantive ex-parte communications in a pending case with a presiding judge. • The lawyer must notify opposing counsel of all communications with the court or other tribunal, except those involving only scheduling or clerical matters. • A lawyer must promptly prepare a proposed order, ensure that the order fairly and adequately represents the court's ruling and does not include any argument, inflammatoiy remarks, or unannounced findings, before submitting the order to the court, and advise the court whether or not opposing counsel has approved the order. • A lawyer must not ask a deponent irrelevant personal questions or questions designed to embarrass a deponent. • A lawyer must not prevent a deponent from answering questions unless a legal privilege applies. • A lawyer must not threaten opposing parties with sanctions, disciplinary complaints, criminal charges, or additional litigation to gain a tactical advantage. • A lawyer must not invoke a rule for the purpose of creating undue delay, or propose frivolous oral or written arguments which do not have an adequate basis in the law nor fact. • A lawyer must not use discovecy to harass or improperly burden an adversary or cause the adversary to incur unnecessary expense. • A lawyer must not request rescheduling, cancellations, extensions, and postponements without legitimate reasons or solely for the purpose of delay or obtaining unfair advantage. • A lawyer must not criticize or denigrate opposing parties, witnesses, or the court to clients, media, or members of the public. • A lawyer must always behave in a courteous and formal manner in hearings, depositions, and trials and should refrain from seeking special consideration from a judge or juror. • A lawyer should accede to all reasonable requests for scheduling, rescheduling, cancellations, extensions, and postponements that do not prejudice the client's opportunity for full, fair, and prompt adjudication. • A lawyer must respond promptly to inquiries and communications from clients and others including opposing parties and lawyers. • A lawyer must counsel a client against using tactics designed: • Participants must dress and otherwise present themselves professionally, as if they are physically appearing in a courtroom, deposition or mediation, as the circumstances indicate. • Participants must not operate a motor vehicle while participating in a remote proceeding and should otherwise ensure that their participation does not create a public safety issue. • Participants in video conferencing proceedings must use a device that allows them to have access to a camera, a speaker, and a microphone. • Participants must have an adequate Internet connection.
A lawyer must not seek clients through the use of misleading or manipulative oral and written representations or advertisements.
Reviewer note: PDF sha256: 5384dcadac4729b4ae23eaddba964b0140c3ca0ceccbf7ee0c8f5b5cea1cabb2. Extracted from the document'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.