The Only Thing Constant Is Change

by Judge Ross Goodman

Photo by August de Richelieu from Pexels

I took a break the other day and noticed, outside my office, there are three pictures that depict the members of the Escambia-Santa Rosa Bar in 1975, 1980 and 1999-2000 (I note that the pictures do not contain all of the members). I noticed something I hadn’t noticed before. In 1975, all the members pictured were men, and only one of the men was black. In 1980, there were only eight women lawyers pictured and one black lawyer. Before going to the third picture, I thought surely, there must be progress between 1980 and 1999. And there was: three women judges, 49 women lawyers and two black lawyers (out of 399 lawyers pictured). The percentage of female lawyers had reached 13 percent. I found this interesting. I expected continued increase in the number of women and black lawyers in the 25-year span. So, I wondered, how do the numbers look today? Out of 700 members, 153 are women and eight are black. (These numbers are drawn from the pictures posted on the Bar’s website which, again, does not reflect all members.) In the 20 years from 1999–2000 to today, the percentage of women lawyers had risen to 23 percent. Black lawyers went from .005 percent in 1999–2000 to .011 percent.

No, this is not some liberal diatribe on sexism and racism. No, this is not a scolding or any kind of condemnation. The numbers are what the numbers are. What meaning you ascribe to them, if any, is up to you.

The point I want to make is that there has been an increase in the percentage of women and black lawyers over the last 45 years. This has changed the Escambia-Santa Rosa Bar Association. And, more change is to be expected.

So what is this change going to look like?

Law Schools now hover around 50 percent men and women. The percentages of black law students is going up as well. Demographically, the trend from 1975 to today will continue, and likely will increase at a faster rate.

Technology over the time period has also changed dramatically. In 1975, copies were by mimeograph (look it up) or carbon paper; there were no computers, let alone the powerful gigabyte memory laptop computers of today. Correspondence was dictated on a tape recorder and handtyped by the secretary. They at least did have electric typewriters back then. If you wanted to cut and paste something, that’s what you did...with scissors and glue.

The practice of law changed as well. Professionalism replaced the “gotcha” style of the practice of law. The rules changed requiring more disclosure and imposing sanctions for dilatory or unethical work. We went from tracing the history of a case by looking in books, to the Westlaw, LexisNexis, etc. software today.

Technology has changed exponentially. “Between 2000 and 2017 three critical things happened simultaneously in the technology universe: (1) computer processing power increased from 103 to 107 ; (2) the cost of data storage reduced from $12.4 per GB to $0.004 per GB; and (3) there was astronomically large data growth. In other words, we are now in an age when it’s easy to harness computer power to engage in learning; it’s cheap, and there are massive amounts of data from which to learn.” The Future of Law Firms (and Lawyers) in the Age of Artificial Intelligence ABA Journal, Vol. 27 No. 1 (Anthony E. Davis) [Anthony Davis is Of Counsel at Clyde & Co US LLP. He is a Lecturer in Law at Columbia University Law School and a Past President of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers.]

For me, this tectonic change was relatively gradual. But I am nearing the end of my career. For those of you in the beginning or the middle of your careers, the change will accelerate as well as increase in magnitude.

All of this series of meandering thoughts are what led me to this article. Who will be the leaders of the tsunami of change in the legal profession that is inevitable? How are those leaders going to shape all of this change? Will lawyers simply go along and adjust to change as it comes, or will they be proactive and work to affect the change?

These questions are not just idle curiosity. This is a wake up call to the young and middle-term lawyers. You can let others shape your profession, or you can take this opportunity to shape it yourselves. You can simply go along with the change and adjust with it, or you can adjust the change in such a way as to improve the profession and the practice of law.

Look, I know how busy you are. I appreciate that you read this far. And, I know I am asking you to pile one more worry onto your “to do” list. C.S. Lewis once said something to the effect that you cannot change the past, but you can be a part of shaping the future. So, I challenge you. Get informed. Keep up with the changes. Proactively work to affect that change. Hopefully, over the next 45 years, you can do a better job than us old lawyers did!

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UWF’s Newly Redesigned Legal Studies Internships

by Hal White and Charlie Penrod

UWF’s Legal Studies Program in the

Department of Administration and Law has for years conducted a small, competitive Legal Internship program for which course credit can be earned. The Legal Studies program is pleased to announce the hiring of an internship coordinator that will allow more students to take advantage of this valuable opportunity. If conditions allow, the internships would begin in the Spring of 2021.

We are extending our internships to private firms to allow students the chance to gain experience in a variety of legal settings. We are excited that our internship coordinator allows us to expand our internship offerings to all legal providers. Of course, our valued non-profit and public/ governmental organizations will continue to serve as placement sites. Students are provided the opportunity to investigate potential career paths within the legal field while also serving the community.

Students apply for this internship, and admission is not automatic. The application process is competitive based upon factors such as GPA and overall engagement within the university. Every Legal Studies internship is conducted as a cooperative effort between the Legal Studies Program and the placement site. Each placement site will have the opportunity to interview the potential intern before the internship begins.

Importantly, private law firms can now choose between offering either paid or unpaid internships so long as the firm commits to providing an educational opportunity for the intern. The Legal Studies intern works under the overall supervision of a licensed attorney. This supervising attorney then shares his or her evaluation of the student’s work with the internship coordinator who will monitor the progress of the internship, receive weekly reports from the student and ultimately award the grade at the end of the semester. We also anticipate that the internship coordinator will make at least one site visit to the placement site every year.

While there are progress reports that we ask our attorneys to periodically submit, the workload is not onerous and the benefits of having a student intern are immense. Interns will have had Legal Research & Writing prior to interning, and thus can be asked to perform research, write memos or other similar tasks within the office. Typically, students will also have taken classes at UWF that include Civil Procedure, Evidence and perhaps Family Law, Torts and Criminal Law, which can prove valuable throughout the internship.

A Legal Studies intern must perform a minimum of 120 hours during the semester for three (3) credit hours, 90 hours for two (2) credit hours, or 60 hours for one (1) credit hour. The process for setting up an internship is easy. The participating office and the university enter into an agreement with regard to the scope and character of the internship. Then, the supervising attorney at the placement site works with the student to develop a work schedule prior to commencement of the placement.

Over the years, since its founding by Emeritus Professor Susan Harrell, the internship program has made some fine placements that achieved great successes, both for the placement sites and for the students involved. We want to especially thank Judge Gary Bergosh and UWF General Counsel Pam Langham for providing our most recent placement sites.

If you are interested in hosting a UWF Legal Studies intern, please contact Charlie Penrod, Associate Professor of Legal Studies, by either phone or e-mail. We are looking for a wide variety of placement sites, including private law firms, clerkships with judges, nonprofit organizations or governmental agencies. This is a win-win for everyone involved, and we hope to hear from many of you!

Hal White - University Professor of Ethics, Law & Policy, Senior Administrative Fellow Department of Administration and Law, College of Education and Professional Studies

Charlie Penrod - Associate Professor of Legal Studies and Interim Chair of the Department of Administration and Law. Professor Penrod can be reached at cpenrod@uwf.edu or by phone at 850-474-2777.