Florida Bar President John Stewart, left, and Elisa D'Amico, president of the Miami-Dade Chapter of the Florida Association for Women Lawyers, right. Photo: Dylan Jackson/ALM
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Striving for perfection is important in the practice of law, but it is dragging down progress in achieving diversity in the workplace, Florida Bar President John Stewart told a crowd attending a diversity luncheon Thursday.

"Perfection can mean the death of progress," he said to the packed luncheon co-hosted by several voluntary bars in Miami.

Stewart advocated in favor of a proposed parental leave rule at the Florida Supreme Court last week. The court heard oral arguments over the proposed rule, which says a judge must grant a motion for parental leave for up to three months unless the opposing party can show substantial prejudice. Stewart represented the Florida Bar in favor of the rule along with eight other attorneys, including Florida Association for Women Lawyers past-president Jennifer Richardson and Lara Bach, who sits on the board of governors for the Florida Young Lawyers Division.

"We are moving the needle in the conversation. I think you can tell by the questions and the arguments made." he continued. "The rule wasn't perfect — there's no question about that — but the concept is a solid one. Whatever we do in this arena is not going to be perfect. We need progress in this arena."

This, he said, also applies to diversity in the legal profession more broadly. Waiting for a perfect rule, situation or program risks losing the faith from the very people these programs are trying to help.

"And I think this rule is good enough," he said, noting, however, that he doesn't think the court will adopt it. He hopes, at the very least, that the court creates a similar rule with a sunset clause so that data can be collected.

Stewart also applauded Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for ensuring there is gender diversity in his judicial appointments. Last week, DeSantis announced his appointees, and two of the four  Miami-Dade appointees are women: Miami-Dade County Court Judge Laura Cruz and Assistant U.S. Attorney Marlene Fernandez-Karavetsos.

So far, half of DeSantis' bench appointments have been women, although DeSantis did take knocks for not appointing a black Florida Supreme Court judge — the first time the court has not had a black judge in nearly four decades.

Stewart did chide DeSantis, though, for rejecting seven Judicial Nomination Commission slates recommended by the Florida Bar, 24 nominees in total. The governor is not required to disclose why he rejected the nominations and gave no explanation.

Stewart called on members to elevate and encourage women and minority lawyers to apply for the JNC so that the governor has no excuse for rejecting their slates.

"Over time, we can start to put pressure on the governor's office. They can't reject them and point the finger at us and say 'this is on you,' " he said, " which is not, to be clear, the reason why they're rejecting slates — but it's easy for them to say so."

The luncheon was held at Truluck's in Brickell and co-hosted by the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of South Florida, Dade County Bar Association, Gwen S. Cherry Black Women Lawyers Association, Haitian Lawyers Association and Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr. Bar Association.

K&L Gates litigation partner and Miami-Dade FAWL Chapter president Elisa D'Amico introduced Stewart and led the event.