Welcome to the Criminal Law Section of The Florida Bar for the 2025-2026 year! The Criminal law section boasts a membership of more than 2,300 judges, prosecutors, private and public trial and appellate defense lawyers, law professors, law students, and other criminal justice professionals. We are united by the shared goal of providing a fair, just, and efficient criminal justice system for everyone. Our members seek to protect the rule of law, ensure the independence of the judiciary, improve the administration of the criminal justice system, and defend our American Constitutional form of government.

As a new or returning member, you can make a difference in furthering the Criminal Law Section’s collective mission, while also taking advantage of the many unmatched opportunities provided by the Section to enhance your knowledge, training and skills. We strive to provide our members with the very best resources, whether in person, online, hybrid or remote, which will enable you to enhance your effectiveness as a criminal practitioner in and out of court. During the 2025-2026 Bar year, the Criminal Law Section will continue to provide its outstanding programs and valuable benefits to its members, including:

• CLE programming – The Section provides timely, important, and expert CLE programs, many of which are complimentary to members on matters relevant to our criminal justice system and its practitioners. For in-person programming we offer many scholarships to Assistant State Attorneys, Assistant Public Defenders, and Regional Conflict Counsel to encourage maximum participation. Our in-person programs include, among others, the Criminal Law Update (held during the Bar’s annual meeting in June), Masters of DUI (held yearly in March), seminars on basic and advanced federal practice, and Misdemeanor Madness (held in April), to name just a few. For added convenience, we also offer hybrid and remote programming, like our Legislative Update, Scholars Corner, and Experts on Advocacy Series. Being mindful of State budgets, our section also offers “Buy 1-Show-All” after-market video-recorded CLE packages to all prosecutor, public defender, and regional counsel offices so that they may benefit from the expert presenters we offer at our CLE programs. We are committed to making our wonderful CLE programs accessible to all members.
• Case law updates – We keep you informed about recent decisions in State and Federal Court that affect the practice of criminal law.
• Prosecutor/Public Defender (P/PD) trials skills training course – Offered annually in conjunction with the University of Florida School of Law, this week-long skills course features criminal case studies, mock trial exercises, critiques by a team of prosecutors, defense lawyers and judges, as well as individual review of videotaped presentations.
• Monthly email newsletter – We keep you up to date on Bar news, CLE, announcements, and the great work of our Section members.
• Opportunities to interact with others who work to assure criminal justice – Whether meeting with legislators in Tallahassee regarding the rulemaking and legislative process affecting criminal law, or networking with other criminal justice practitioners at our educational or social programs, our Section serves as a network for both young and experienced criminal practitioners from throughout the state of Florida.

Additionally, service on a committee is a great way to become more active in the Section, and all members are encouraged to participate on a committee. You can find information at (www.floridabarcls.org/section-committees/). If you’re willing to serve, contact our Program Administrator, Robin Lofton at rlofton@floridabar.org to be placed on any one of our active committees.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at tsalvador@coj.net. We hope you’ll become an active member of the Criminal Law Section, and we look forward to serving you and working with you.

Sincerely,

Judge Tatiana Salvador