SUPREME COURT APPROVES INSURANCE COVERAGE LAW CERTIFICATION AREA

The Florida Supreme Court has approved a new board certification area in Insurance Coverage Law, giving lawyers who concentrate on the increasingly complex field a new way to demonstrate their expertise.

The court’s October 8 opinion makes only minor modifications to a proposal submitted by The Florida Bar and makes the new certification area effective January 1, 2027.

The opinion creates Rule 6-32, titled “Standards for Board Certification in Insurance Coverage Law,” along with rules governing eligibility, minimum standards, and recertification.

The court received no comments on the proposed amendments and made three changes to the proposal as filed, including revisions concerning consideration of an LL.M. degree in insurance law and clarification of the timeframe for demonstrating substantial involvement.

Tampa insurance attorney Debbie Crockett, co-chair of the Real Property, Probate & Trust Law Section’s Insurance and Surety Committee, spearheaded the effort. She filed the application in August 2024, following a series of hurricanes and an increasingly challenging insurance environment in Florida.

“My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner,” Crockett said when the application was filed. “However, I couldn’t have anticipated several years ago the insurance crisis that the state is facing.”

Crockett’s special committee spent months surveying Bar sections, divisions, and committees and gathered commitments from more than 250 attorneys who said they intended to pursue certification if the program was available.

The Board of Legal Specialization and Education approved the proposal in January, and the Board of Governors unanimously approved it on September 19.

West Palm Beach attorney Michael Gelfand, a longtime Board of Governors member and board-certified specialist in Real Estate and Condominium and Planned Development Law, praised Crockett’s work when the proposal was presented to the board.

“What she has done is extraordinary in preparing the approval for a deep certification area,” Gelfand said. “She and her colleagues have been extremely diligent in bringing forth what we are here for, and that is to encourage professionalism in both ethics and substantive knowledge.”

The certification covers a broad range of insurance-related practice, including policy construction and interpretation, property and liability insurance, coverage litigation, reinsurance, and bad faith and extracontractual litigation. It also encompasses areas such as professional liability, directors and officers coverage, employment practices, excess and umbrella coverage, environmental insurance, workers’ compensation, and builder’s risk.

Applicants must have practiced law for at least five years and demonstrate continuous and substantial involvement in insurance coverage law, with at least 40% of their practice devoted to the area during the preceding five years. They also must complete 50 hours of approved insurance-law CLE and pass a certification examination.

The proposal was endorsed by the Florida Justice Association’s Property Insurance Section, the Florida Defense Lawyers Association, and consumer advocacy group United Policyholders.

Third District Court of Appeal Judge Kansas Gooden, chair of the Board of Legal Specialization and Education, presented the proposal to the Program Evaluation Committee earlier this year, saying Insurance Coverage Law certification fills a notable gap.

“In Florida, we have always been the leader in board certification across the nation,” Gooden said. “In this area, we are not.”

Supporters had identified only two comparable programs, in Texas and Ohio.

The 6-1 court acted in Case No. SC2025-1956. Justice Adam Tanenbaum dissented without an opinion.

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