For 30 years, Henry Latimer Center has championed professionalism and civility

For 30 years, The Florida Bar’s Henry Latimer Center for Professionalism has worked to answer a deceptively simple question: What does it mean to be a professional lawyer?

The answer has evolved alongside the profession itself — through rising incivility, increasing commercialization of legal practice, technological disruption, and growing concerns about lawyer wellness and public confidence in the justice system. Today, the center serves as the Bar’s hub for professionalism education, mentoring, leadership training, ethics programming, and civility initiatives, while carrying forward the legacy of Judge Henry Latimer, one of Florida’s most respected legal figures.

“Professionalism in the legal field continues to be the foundation of public trust,” says Charise Morgan, chair of the Bar’s Standing Committee on Professionalism. “Every interaction we have, whether in the courtroom or mediation, online or in person, reflects not only on us individually but on the integrity of the profession as a whole. Our duty in representation is competence and upholding the rule of law, but the requirements of professionalism and civility are parallel to that duty. It includes civility in our conduct, honesty in our representations, and respect for the institutions we serve.”

The Center for Professionalism is tasked with promoting and instilling fundamental ideals of character, civility, competence, and commitment in the legal system and those who serve within it.

Today, under the guidance of Director Rebecca Bandy, the Center for Professionalism produces a prodigious catalog of training and enrichment videos, podcasts, and other resources for Bar members; provides support to professionalism committees and local professionalism panels; administers the annual Professionalism Awards recognition program, including the William M. Hoeveler Judicial Professionalism Award, the Group Professionalism Award, the Law Faculty/Administrator Professionalism Award, and new in 2026, the Patricia Ann Seitz Outstanding Lawyer Professionalism Award; and hosts professionalism programs and seminars, such as the diversionary Professionalism Workshop and Ethics School, as well as virtual and in-person symposiums, seminars, and presentations tailored to specific needs and requests.

The center supports Bar members by:

• Creating content for the professionalism and ethics website, Decorum.law, in partnership with The Florida Bar’s Young Lawyers Division

• Publishing The Professional, a blog that promotes and encourages professionalism in Florida

In addition, the center serves as a clearinghouse for professionalism research and information to members of the judiciary, the Bar, law schools, local bar associations, and other state bars.

Created as the Center for Professionalism by the Florida Supreme Court in 1996, the center was renamed in honor of Judge Henry Latimer in 2005, “in recognition of his legacy of excellence, equality, and professionalism in practice,” according to Morgan.

“Throughout his career, Judge Latimer prioritized giving back to the community through pro-bono legal work and advocating for access to courts for all,” says Morgan.

Latimer’s untimely passing in a 1990 car accident after leaving a court function was a shock to many. His friend and firm colleague Paul Lipton said Latimer, or “Lat” as he was known to his friends, was on track to become president of The Florida Bar.

“Lat was a force of nature,” says Lipton, whose 50-year legal practice and history of service to the Bar and to the profession have established him as a respected and knowledgeable leader in Florida’s legal community. “Bright, wise, funny — he had a presence about him that was unmatched… The center being named after him is a wonderful, wonderful thing.”

Professionalism in the legal profession has been an evergreen topic of concern for decades. Arguably, among the factors historically associated with the laxity of professionalism are: greater competitiveness among lawyers resulting from skyrocketing growth of the legal profession during the 1970s, when the number of lawyers grew by approximately 76% during that decade; legal compensation exploding from mass tort litigation and class actions during the 1980s and 1990s; the emphasis on discovery becoming the norm the 1990s, leading to a precipitous increase in legal fees; and a contemporaneous shift in legal culture away from viewing the law as a “calling,” to viewing it as a business.

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren E. Burger is credited with initiating the promotion of legal professionalism in 1986 with the release of a report he commissioned, according to the 2004 Bar Journal article, The Common Quest for Professionalism, by Donald J. Weidner, then dean of Florida State University College of Law. Weidner wrote that The Florida Bar Board of Governors adopted its Ideals and Goals of Professionalism in 1990, based on the recommendations of that report.

By the mid-1990s, professionalism and civility were at a nexus of nationwide attention with the landmark case Florida Bar v. Went For It Inc.

“First, the Bar has substantial interests in promoting professionalism,” announced U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor as she delivered the majority opinion on June 21, 1995. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision reinforced the profession’s ability to self-regulate actions that could erode confidence in the legal system, encouraged ethical restraint in the profession, and set a precedent in balancing free speech with professional ethics.

In alignment with these factors, the 1996 creation of the Center for Professionalism was rooted in the advocacy of former Florida Supreme Court Justice Harry Lee Anstead, widely recognized as "the founding father of professionalism," and chair of the court's Commission on Professionalism.

A proclamation presented to Justice Anstead by Justice Major Harding on November 15, 2000, reads, “Because of his tenacity, we now enjoy an enthusiastic cooperative relationship for professionalism efforts with the judiciary, the academy of legal scholars, and The Florida Bar.”

That relationship continues to thrive, with the Center for Professionalism partnering with the judiciary to produce the “Your Honor” CLE series hosted by Paul Lipton, as well as other CLE videos and podcasts highlighting guest judges and law scholars, and speaking engagements with law schools.

Center proponent Lipton says, “The center is providing an opportunity for people that are lost in the ‘busy-ness’ of the practice of law…[it] is there to help lawyers who may be going through — or getting ready to go through — crisis, and they need a safe harbor. And to me, that's what the Center for Professionalism is all about. It's a safe harbor for people to go to, to remember their ‘why,’ and re-establish their anchor to who we are and what our responsibility is – that we're an honorable profession.”

“The Standing Committee on Professionalism continues to be stewards of that responsibility,” says Chair Morgan. “Together, we aspire to make ethical practice supported, not just enforced — where lawyers feel equipped to meet high standards rather than burdened by them.”

A luncheon celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Henry Latimer Center for Professionalism is tentatively being planned for the 2026 Bar Convention. For more information, visit the 2026 Florida Bar Convention webpage.