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 The Investiture of the Honorable Charles T. Canady
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Justice Charles T. Canady was invested as the 82nd justice of the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday, December 3. During the investiture proceedings presided over by Chief Justice Peggy Quince, Justice Canady took the oath of office (administered by Justice Charles T. Wells) before the full court and a large courtroom audience. Justice Canady took the oath with his two daughters, Anna Elizabeth and Julia Grace, along with his wife Jennifer. Justice Canady replaces Justice Raoul G. Cantero, who resigned on September 6, 2008.
Justice Canady received his J.D. from the Yale Law School in 1979. He practiced law privately through 1984 when he began serving three terms with the Florida House of Representatives, only to be followed by four terms in the United States House of Representatives. Upon leaving Congress, he became general counsel to Governor Jeb Bush, and was appointed by Governor Bush to the Second District Court of Appeals in 2002.
Go to the Florida Supreme Court web site to read Justice Canady's entire biography. |
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The Gavel is Passed to Peggy Quince
Justice Peggy Quince, appointed to the Florida Supreme Court jointly by the late Governor Lawton Chiles and Governor Jeb Bush in 1998, became Chief Justice Peggy Quince on Friday, June 27, 2008. She serves as Florida's first African-American woman on the Supreme Court. Dignitaries, friends, and members of the judicial community were present to witness the Passing of the Gavel ceremony (the Florida chief justice serves a two-year term) in the Florida Supreme Court courtroom. Out-going Chief Justice R. Fred Lewis passed the ceremonial gavel to Chief Peggy Quince.
Chief Justice R. Fred Lewis welcomed the overflowing audience in the courtroom and introduced several key speakers before asking Justice Quince to step forward to be sworn in by Justice Barbara J. Pariente.
 Prior to swearing in the new Chief Justice, Justice Pariente said that Justice Quince was moments away from being "captain of the Florida judicial ship." She continued by saying, "The people of Florida will look to you to protect their legal rights. . . . There is no one better suited to do that and to lead the judicial branch over the next two years." Justice Pariente then swore in Justice Peggy Quince (her hand on a bible secured from a nearby well-wisher) as the 53rd Chief Justice of Florida with the new Chief Justice's husband, Fred Buckine, by her side.
Chief Justice Quince graduated from Howard University in 1970 and received her law degree from the Catholic University of America in 1975. After more than thirteen years of service as a prosecutor in the criminal division of the Attorney General's Office (and just prior to being appointed to the Supreme Court), she was appointed to the Second District Court of Appeal in 1993, the first African-American woman named to any of Florida's five lower appeals courts.
Go to the Florida Supreme Court web site to read Chief Justice Quince's entire biography. |
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Be Prepared during Hurricane Season
The Court Emergency Management Group strongly encourages families to develop a disaster plan. To help in developing a plan, a Hurricane Survival Guide was created by the Capital Area Chapter of the American Red Cross and the Apalachee Regional Planning Council. The purpose of the guide is to aid everyone in creating hurricane readiness plans, and:
- Serve as a guide regarding the biggest decision of all: Should you STAY or GO?
- Explain what to do: Before the Storm, As it Approaches, and After the Storm.
- Serve as a guide through the creation of a plan.
Other important links to visit during times of severe weather:
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he Honorable Thomas H. Bateman III personally handed over the Task Force on the Management of Cases Involving Complex Litigation report to Chief Justice R. Fred Lewis and Justice Barbara J. Pariente on Tuesday, April 30 at the Florida Supreme Court. The Chief Justice created the task force by administrative order in September, 2006, while Justice Pariente served as Supreme Court Liaison to the task force. Judge Bateman served as chair, designating three subcommittees to meet the task force's charge of: definition, rules, and technology.
The definition subcommittee reviewed previous Florida legislation, a senior judge report defining complex cases, and other states' definitions of complex litigation. The rules subcommittee goal was to advance a civil procedure rule addressing discovery timeliness, firm trial dates, case management, and procedural issue expediency. Finally, a number of technology recommendations were brought forward by the technology subcommittee for the Supreme Court's consideration since technology plays such a large role in the courts' document review and management.
The Chief Justice concluded the impromptu meeting by thanking both Judge Bateman for his commitment as chair of the task force and Justice Pariente for her insightful involvement as the Court's liaison. |
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n a late afternoon ceremony on the Capitol Courtyard on March 11, Florida Governor Charlie Crist honored Justice Barbara J. Pariente as one of the three newest members to the Florida  Women’s Hall of Fame. Justice Pariente joined Dr. Pallavi Patel, Tampa pediatrician, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, 18th District Congresswoman of Florida, as the three 2007-08 inductees named by the Florida Commission on the Status of Women. Go to the Florida Commission on the Status of Women and the Florida Women's Hall of Fame for more information. Justice Pariente joins Justice Rosemary Barkett and Justice Peggy Quince who entered the Hall of Fame in 1986 and 2007 respectively.
Justice Pariente thanked Governor Crist for the honor of being selected, saying, "I have received other awards in my lifetime, but this is the Academy Award of awards." She continued by discussing her work, leading to this moment in time, indicating that her involvement with many high profile cases has been very significant.
Celebrated for her keen attention to family issues in her work, Justice Pariente concluded by saying, "I am convinced that some of the most complex and challenging cases in which we can make a difference are those involving children and families. So, I am very proud to be recognized for my constant advocacy for children in need who end up entangled in the legal system, because I subscribe to the notion that 100  years from now it will not make a difference what our bank account was or how many honors and awards we received but that the world will be better because we made a difference in the lives of children."
Justice Pariente, of West Palm Beach and Tallahassee, is only the second woman to serve on Florida’s Supreme Court and as its Chief Justice from 2004-2006. Throughout a legal career begun in 1975, she has shown a passionate commitment to improving the lives of women, children, and families in Florida, especially those whose disadvantages in life have brought them into courts.
Since her appointment to the Court in 1997, she has championed drug courts, Florida’s nationally praised program to rehabilitate people who commit minor crimes because of substance abuse, rather than imposing the more expensive and less successful alternative of jail. She has been a driving force behind Florida’s Unified Family Courts, a judicial approach to help ensure that each family’s legal problems are managed comprehensively by a single judge or team.
In her career, Pariente has mentored school-age children, has encouraged mentoring programs, and has worked directly to help juvenile offenders. In 2003, she turned a personal tragedy – breast cancer – into a public victory by sharing her successful treatment with Florida and national media. During this period, she never missed a court hearing, even appearing wigless in cases that were widely broadcast. Pariente graduated fifth in her law school class at George Washington University in 1973 and immediately began a successful twenty-year legal career, first as a Florida federal district court law clerk, then as one of South Florida’s pioneering women trial attorneys. She is married to Judge Fred A. Hazouri of Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal and is a mother and grandmother. |
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 Florida Supreme Court 
Gets a Face Lift
The Florida Supreme Court Library is getting a face lift. Crews are hard at work painting and recarpeting the library's third and fourth floors. According to Librarian Billie Blaine, “We are thrilled to be getting a fresh look, which will make the library an even more inviting place.”
The Library will be closed to the public from Feb. 11 through the end of the project, which might take up to seven weeks. The Library is still offering phone and e-mail reference service for public patrons and will be able to fulfill most requests.
Recently, the Supreme Court Library added a Rare Book Room to display many books, historic documents, and photographs related to the judicial branch. All the books in the collection were part of the library’s general collection until designated to become part of the rare book collection in 2007.
The Supreme Court Library is one of the two oldest state-supported libraries in Florida. It was established in 1845 along with the State Library of Florida.
The oldest volume in the rare book collection is De la Politica para Corregidores authored by Jerónimo Castillo de Bobadilla in 1597. It was a standard law book that served as a “how-to” for the military governors of Spain’s New World empire.
For additional information please contact Supreme Court Library staff at (850) 488-8919.
Captions
(Above Left), Joy Barnes removes books from current location to make way for new carpeting.
(Above Right) Erik Robinson, Jeffrey Spalding and Teresa Farley combine efforts to facilitate renovations. |
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"Efficient and Effective Management" Identified in Complex Litigation Report
Justice Barbara J. Pariente Enters Florida Women’s Hall