Florida’s Anti-DEI Push Axes ‘Bias Elimination’ Lawyer Training

Courses on “bias elimination” were struck from ethics classes that Florida attorneys must take to keep their law licenses under a rule formally accepted by the Florida Supreme Court Thursday.

The ruling is the latest push by the high court to remove diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training from the state bar—a step that has drawn criticism from Florida attorneys and dissent from Justice Jorge Labarga. The court said the changes take retroactive effect to January this year.

The court’s Thursday opinion departed from rules that have been recommended by The Florida Bar committees in two key ways: instead of increasing the number of continuing legal education (CLE) hours as the bar suggested, the court reduced education mandates to 30 hours from 33 hours every three years. The court also pulled “bias elimination” from the list of special training courses lawyers must choose from to receive necessary ethics CLE.

The high court has reversed several of The Florida Bar’s DEI polices by ending diversity mandates for CLE panels, removing funding for a DEI committee within the bar, and removing DEI training from special judge training requirements. The court contends that a respect for diversity and the inherent rights of all individuals is a cornerstone of judicial and legal ethics, and thus special training isn’t necessary.

This trend—pursued as the court increasingly makes changes without requests from the bar as seeks comments afterward—harms the legal community, Labarga said.

The court’s “unilateral action potentially eliminates vital educational content from our state courts’ judicial education curriculum and does so in a manner inconsistent with this Court’s years-long commitment to fairness and diversity education,” Labarga said in a dissent when the court altered rules for judicial education. “Moreover, it paves the way for a complete dismantling of all fairness and diversity initiatives in the State Courts System.”

The case is: In re: Amendments to Rules Regul. the Florida Bar - Continuing Legal Educ., Fla., No. SC2023-1412, 2/29/24.