West Palm Beach Attorney Greg Coleman To Become President-Elect of Florida Bar Next Week

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - June 21, 2013 - PRLog -- West Palm Beach attorney Greg. W. Coleman will become president-elect of The Florida Bar at the organization’s annual convention in Boca Raton next week. Coleman, who is a partner at Burman, Critton, Luttier & Coleman in WPB, has been a member of the Bar’s governing board since 2006 and will be sworn in at the General Assembly meeting on Friday, June 28 at 9:30am.

Coleman will focus on technology and communication during his time as president-elect, and hopes to build on those goals during his time at president of The Florida Bar, which will start June 2014. Coleman points out that the average lawyer disregards or ignores technology and communication and the impact of both in their daily work life, which is a huge mistake and disadvantage.

“Technology and communication are affecting the practice of law and its time that The Florida Bar acknowledges that and educates and trains our members on best practices in processes as well the newest technology,” Coleman said.

One such example of how Coleman’s influence as already impacted the work of the Bar is the availability of next week’s convention schedule and materials on a Mobile App. Florida Bar members can download the app for free on their iPhone, iPad or Android, and have access to daily schedules, meeting locations, and other necessary details.

It’s all part of Coleman’s hope to help lawyers utilize technology as an asset and benefit from its advantages – rather than a detriment as it can also be.

“Technology has definitely negatively affected what we do as lawyers,” Coleman added. “The constant contact from emails and social media has really hurt our ability to spend the necessary time to adequately analyze a case, understand what our clients have gone through, and be able to communicate it during court.”
Coleman points out that years ago, the deposition process could take a week to ten days after all necessary parties were contacted and the required letters were dictated and mailed. Nowadays, he admits, if you haven’t responded to an email in two hours, someone is on the phone asking you “why the delay?”

Coleman points out four specific tactics that he and the Bar will be focusing on this coming year when it comes to improving the internal and external use of Technology and Communications in law:
1. Education: Educate lawyers how to redirect technology to benefit you. For example, lawyers can put an out-of-office email up during the day that says you will only check emails at certain times. Make it a commitment not to read your email in between those set times.
2. Best Practices: Share best practices of what has worked for other lawyers in the industry. This will help with rewiring the brain and what all lawyers have gotten used to as the accepted norm.
3. Self-Control: Don’t go on social media all day long! There are great uses and advantages for it but understand that it is a distraction and the amount of time a lawyer is spending on it during the day needs to be controlled!
4. Email is forever: Similar to what we tell our kids, anything you write in email, text and/or post on the Internet is out there forever. So before you click “send” or “post” reread your email, take a step away and think before you respond. In the past there were lots of safeguards but with modern technology we’ve lost that and need to be more careful with what we write.

About Greg Coleman
Gregory W. Coleman has been practicing law in Palm Beach County for more than two decades. He joined the Law Firm of Burman, Critton, Luttier & Coleman in 1995 and was named partner in June of 2000. Earlier this year, he was awarded the President’s Award of Merit by The Florida Bar for the third time. Coleman became the first lawyer in the history of The Florida Bar to receive such a distinction. He is profiled in The Best Lawyers in America, is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell and included in their Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers. He has also been selected by the  South Florida Legal Guide as a Top Lawyer, is listed as one of Florida Trend magazine’s Legal Elite, and has been named a Florida Super Lawyer. He devotes his practice to the areas of complex commercial litigation, insurance bad faith, employment litigation, professional malpractice defense, personal injury and wrongful death.
Coleman is admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Florida, all Circuit and County Courts in the State of Florida, the United States Supreme Court, and the United States District Court for the Southern Districts of Florida.
In addition to being a part of The Florida Bar’s Board of Governors for six-plus years, Coleman has sat on the following committees: Executive Committee, Legislation Committee (Chair 2008-2009), Strategic Planning Committee (Co-Chair 2007), Client Security Fund Procedures Committee (Chair 2008-2012), Program Evaluation Committee (Chair 2010), Communications Committee (Chair 2011-2012), Budget Committee, Annual Meeting Committee Liaison (Chair 2005), JQC Screening Committee (Chair 2008-2012), JNC 4th DCA Screening Committee (Chair 2008-2009), Rules Committee (Vice-Chair 2006-2007), Special Committee on Lawyer Regulations (Hawkins Commission Vice-Chair 2011-2012), Disciplinary Review Committee, Board Liaison to the Special Committee on Diversity & Inclusion, Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism, Presidential Special Committee on Multi-Jurisdictional Practice, Florida Rules of Civil Procedure Committee, Speaker’s Bureau (Co-Chair 2000-2001), Annual Meeting Committee (Chair 2003-2004), Long Range Planning Committee, Professionalism Committee, Client Security Fund, and All-Bar Conference Delegate.

Coleman has been actively involved within the Florida legal community, serving as president of the Young Lawyers Division of both The Florida Bar and the Palm Beach County Bar Association. Coleman served as president of the Palm Beach County Bar Association, at the time being the youngest person to serve in the position. He is a former member of the House of Delegates for the American Bar Association.

Coleman received his Bachelor of Business Activities in Finance and a Minor in Political Science from Stetson University in 1985. He then received his Juris Doctor from Stetson University College of Law in 1989. Coleman was a member of the Stetson University College of Law Board of Trustees from 2010 to 2011, a member of the Stetson University Public Service Award Committee from 2010 to 2011, and is currently on the Dye Preserve Board of Directors.

Coleman lives in Palm Beach with his wife Monica and son Cody. Learn more at www.bclclaw.com.