On November 1, 2019, the Young Lawyers Division is hosting a Government Lawyers Summit in Orlando, Florida. This Summit hopes to highlight issues facing young government lawyers and the offices that employ these lawyers. Some known issues include low pay, high student debt, inability to retain lawyers, and high caseloads. Over twenty-five percent (25%) of young lawyers work in government positions. The number is even higher when you look at the percentage of lawyers that served in the public sector at some point during their careers.
Access to justice and the success of the judicial branch depends largely on young government attorneys. Defendants are prosecuted and defended by young government lawyers. If there is a large turnover in the State Attorney’s Office or Public Defender’s Office, a Defendant may have multiple defense attorneys throughout the course of his/her case or may wait longer to get a resolution because the new ASA does not know about/or does not agree with the plea deal offered by the former ASA. Young government lawyers serve quietly behind the scenes as Staff Attorneys in all the Circuit and Appellate courts throughout Florida. These Staff Attorneys do copious amounts of research and analysis behind the scenes which allows judges to keep dockets moving along in criminal, civil, and family. Dependency court requires the advocacy of young attorneys from the Department of Children and Families. Young attorneys from the Attorney General’s Office argue the appeals before the District Courts of Appeal.
The Summit will consist of four (4) panels that look at the different branches of government (executive, legislative, and judicial) and feature a panel of attorneys that currently lead or previously led offices of young government attorneys. The objective is to discuss the issues and ways these offices combat these issues. The YLD also hopes those in attendance will learn about the power of involvement for young government lawyers and find ways to encourage young lawyers to engage more with the legal and local communities. After the initial Summit in November, the YLD will host regional summits around the state to speak directly to young government lawyers. The information gleaned at the November summit and regional summits will be consolidated and disseminated to the government offices throughout Florida and will guide the YLD forward with the initiative to help public sector attorneys.