In Re: Amendments to Rules Regulating the Florida Bar - Professionalism Expectations

Summary

The Supreme Court of Florida, per curiam and with all seven justices concurring, adopted as proposed The Florida Bar's petition amending the Professionalism Expectations, making nine sets of edits across billing, client communication, deposition conduct, discovery, decorum, and responsiveness. The changes relocate the advice to avoid unnecessary client expenses into a new standalone Expectation 1.14, delete the client's-best-interests qualifier from Expectation 1.11, replace "pleadings" with "documents required to be served" in Expectation 2.4, add two exceptions to the ban on instructing a deponent not to answer in Expectation 3.11, permit nondisclosure based on a valid legal objection in Expectation 4.9, remove the subjective intent to conceal evidence from Expectation 4.10, narrow Expectation 4.20 to a ban on denigration, require lawyers to instruct rather than merely encourage support personnel in Expectation 5.1, and limit the prompt-response duty in Expectation 6.10 to clients. The amendments become effective May 18, 2026, at 12:01 a.m., and a motion for rehearing will not alter that date.