The Florida Supreme Court’s recent decision to prohibit diversity quotas for continuing legal education programs may reverberate beyond the borders of the Sunshine State.
In its Thursday order, the state supreme court held that while it understood the objective of the Florida Bar Business Law Section’s new policy requiring a minimum number of diverse faculty at section-sponsored CLE programs, the measure was “out of bounds.”
“Quotas based on characteristics like the ones in this policy are antithetical to basic American principles of nondiscrimination,” the court said. “It is essential that the Florida Bar withhold its approval from continuing legal education programs that are tainted by such discrimination.”
