When William Schifino Jr., president-elect of The Florida Bar, visits Jacksonville next week for The Jacksonville Bar Association’s member luncheon, he won’t deliver a traditional keynote address.
“It will be more of a town hall conversation with a question and answer format,” he said.
Schifino, managing partner in the Tampa office of Burr & Forman, will take over leadership of the state association in June 2016. He already is traveling throughout the state spreading the message of Vision 2016, the association’s initiative focused on equal access to justice, how technology is changing the legal profession, law school education and Bar admission.
“The idea is to present a holistic view of the practice of law, evaluate changes and find ways to improve the profession for citizens and (Bar) members,” he said.
Two of the vision’s focuses — access to justice and technology — are closely related.
Schifino said despite members of the state Bar performing 1.4 million hours of pro bono service the past year — a value of about $500 million — the need is greater than the supply. There are attorneys at all levels of experience and hourly billing rates who could assist people in need of representation.
“It’s alarming that in so many family law, juvenile and landlord-tenant cases, at least one litigant is not represented,” he said.
And the lack of representation affects both sides of the bench.
“Judges are not advocates. They are forced to watch litigants flounder,” said Schifino.
The Florida Bar is developing a web-based portal designed to connect attorneys who can offer pro bono or reduced-rate services to those who are unable to afford traditional representation.
“Many lawyers indicate they don’t have enough work and there are young lawyers who can’t get a job,” Schifino said. “We’ve got to do a better job matching attorneys and clients.”
Schifino is a 1985 graduate of the University of Florida Levin College of Law and a second-generation attorney. His father, William Sr., was an attorney in Washington, D.C., for the Securities and Exchange Commission before moving to Jacksonville for private practice when Schifino was 3 years old.
The family moved to Tampa in 1966, where the elder Schifino continues to practice and leads Burr & Forman’s corporate and securities group.
Schifino Jr. is past president of the Hillsborough County Bar Association and represents his colleagues in the 13th Judicial Circuit on the Florida Bar board of governors.
He recently completed an eight-year term as a member of the 13th Judicial Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission, including a term as its chair.
Schifino was elected for inclusion in the 2008-14 editions of “Best Lawyers in America” and in 2014 was named Tampa’s “Lawyer of the Year” in securities litigation.
When he isn’t practicing law or working to advance the Florida Bar’s initiatives, Schifino serves as director of the Boys & Girls Club of Tampa Bay and director of the Florida Guardian ad Litem Foundation. He’s also president of Tampa Bay Little League and serves on the board of trustees of his alma mater’s law school.
His wife, Paola, is founder and principal of Schifino Lee Advertising & Branding and a member of the Zimmerman Advertising Program Advisory Board at the University of South Florida in Tampa.
Schifino is looking forward to visiting Jacksonville on Sept. 22 to spread the Vision 2016 message and meet local attorneys.
“There are some great women and men in The Jacksonville Bar Association,” he said.
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