Rule 6-27.4 - RECERTIFICATIONThe applicant must satisfy the following requirements for recertification during the 5-year period immediately preceding application date.
(a) Substantial Involvement. The applicant must demonstrate continuous and substantial involvement in education law throughout the period since the last date of certification or recertification as lead lawyer on behalf of a private client or educational institution in matters totaling at least 10 points from the items for the substantial involvement requirement in the minimum standards for initial certification. The applicant has met the substantial involvement requirement if the applicant is serving or has served as an administrative law judge full-time for at least 3 years. Service as an administrative law judge, general counsel responsibility for an educational institution or other senior lawyer experience with supervisory responsibilities on behalf of an educational institution, representation of or membership on a committee working on substantial matters of education law, teaching education law at the college level, substitutes for the 10-point requirement.
(b) Education. The applicant must complete 90 credit hours of approved continuing legal education for education law certification. Passage of the examination given to new applicants will satisfy the education requirement if the applicant has completed more than 60 hours of continuing legal education. The applicant substitute 30 hours of continuing legal education by demonstrating involvement as lead lawyer on behalf of a private client or an educational institution in matters of education law since certification or the last recertification, totaling at least 25 points as described in the substantial involvement requirement in the minimum standards for initial certification.(c) Peer Review. The applicant must submit the names and addresses of 3 individuals, at least 2 of whom are lawyers and 1 of whom is a federal, state, or administrative law judge before whom the applicant has appeared during the 5-year period immediately preceding the application date to complete peer review forms. In lieu of a judicial reference the applicant may provide the name and address of the head of an educational institution (or a member of a collegiate body that serves as the head of the educational institution) under circumstances where the applicant has advised or appeared before such person within the 5-year period immediately preceding the application date. The lawyer references must be members of The Florida Bar in good standing and may not be members of the applicant's law firm or, if the applicant is employed by an educational institution, the references may not be employed in the same law department at the same educational institution as the applicant at the time the application is filed. The board of legal specialization and education and the education law certification committee may authorize references from nonlawyers.(d) Waiver of Compliance. An applicant for recertification who, at the time of application is serving and has served full time for 3 or more years as an administrative law judge, is deemed to meet the recertification criteria in subdivisions 6-27.4(a) and (b). New subchapter added June 11, 2009, (SC08-1981), (11 So.3d 343); amended and effective 12/4/2020 by The Florida Bar Board of Governors.