Tag Archives: Florida Bar

Bottle and gavel

Mental Health Month – Breaking Down Barriers in the Legal Profession That Stigmatize Mental Illness

By Disability Independence Group, Inc. |

Mental health month is always a good time to remind the legal profession that we still have a profession that stigmatizes applicants and lawyers that have mental illness or past histories of substance use disorder and that has a practice of conditioning the ability to practice law on mandated treatment and conditions that may… Read More »

law students protesting in front of the supreme court with signs that says our profession needs us and I would rather be taking the bar exam

October 2020 Bar Exam takers – Welcome to the Bar: Time to Change the Florida Bar Admission Process from a Hazing Ritual into Collaborative Process.

By Disability Independence Group, Inc. |

If the Florida Bar Exam moves forward on October 13th, (which I hope that all the pieces fall together, and it is successful), I would like to welcome you into our exclusive club of Florida Lawyers. But I would like to apologize for the period of hazing that you have undergone because of our… Read More »

matt in a suit with a tiny brown puppy

Matthew Dietz – New Chair of the Animal Law Section of the Florida Bar

By Disability Independence Group, Inc. |

I am so excited and proud to be the Chair of the Animal Law Section of the Florida Bar.  At the 2019 Florida Bar Convention, we educated the mind and soul of the membership of The Florida Bar.

Office Animals for Wellness

By Disability Independence Group, Inc. |

The question for all persons who focus on wellness is how to maintain mental, spiritual, and physical balance when being besieged by crisis (both real and perceived) from all sides. In this issue, I give my answer – Lucy. To quote my favorite industrialist, Willie Wonka, – “A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.”  #WellLawyer

Lawyers drinking shots with one man looking disturbed

The Legal Profession’s Mental Health Issue is a Suppressed Epidemic

By Disability Independence Group, Inc. |

As a new lawyer, the emphasis is to focus on career development, and the life tenet of “Work Hard, Play Hard” is taken to heart. A balanced life is only considered for later in life, and wellness is not good for advancement to partner. Twenty years later, balance is not achieved, and anxiety as well as management of that anxiety is a way of life.

Can Judges from the Florida Supreme Court get a Reasonable Accommodation for a Disability?

By Disability Independence Group, Inc. |

For Supreme Court Justices, or any other lawyer, with cancer, continuing to work should be dependent on the person’s health, and not limited by logistical or technological details.

ADA 25th Anniversary – The State of the Florida Bar and Courts

By Disability Independence Group, Inc. |

Persons with disabilities should not be “inspiring” or be required to “overcome” their disability to be a member of the Florida Bar. No other population needs to proffer its superstars to become eligible to be a lawyer. The ADA’s intent was to open the door and create a level playing field so anyone who has the intellectual ability and required ethical standards to be able to practice law should be able to do so. As a profession, we need to examine our practice, our rules, and our profession to remove attitudinal barriers and accept each other as equals.

Settlement between the Law School Admission Council and the Department of Justice will set the Benchmark for testing accommodations

By Disability Independence Group, Inc. |

  On May 20, 2014, the Department of Justice announced a settlement with the administrators of the LSAT, the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC), for alleged violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act for denying disability accommodations for test-takers.   For the past twenty years, testing agencies, schools, and the Florida Bar have applied different… Read More »