Judge: Rule for Higher Admission Fee to Florida Bar Does Not Violate Constitution
"The principle involved goes to the heart of the integrated economic union our founding fathers sought to ensure under the commerce clause," said Michael Debenedictis, a partner at Debenedictis & Debenedictis.
April 10, 2024 at 02:28 PM
4 minute read
What You Need to Know
- The U.S. District Court in Tallahassee held that Florida Bar Admission Rule 2.23.4 does not violate the dormant commerce clause.
- The rule holds that an attorney seeking admission to the Florida Bar has a higher application fee because the lawyer was previously admitted in another state for more than a year.
- An expert said the plaintiff appears to have an uphill challenge given the language of the federal district court judge in the order.
A federal district court in Tallahassee held that a rule—in which an attorney seeking admission to the Florida Bar has a higher application fee because he was previously admitted in another state for more than a year—does not, in practical effect, violate the dormant commerce clause in Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution.
And in doing so, U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor of the Northern District of Florida partially denied the summary judgment motion of the plaintiff, David Drwencke, a partner at DRD Law in Chicago, who has been previously admitted in three other jurisdictions for more than a year and sued the defendant, the Florida Board of Bar Examiners.
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