This handbook will introduce you to the American Inns of Court and, more particularly, to the Willson American Inn of Court. Its purpose is to acquaint you with the history of the American Inns of Court movement in the United States and in Florida and with the operation of the Willson American Inn of Court.

AMERICAN INNS OF COURT

     The Movement.  The American Inns of Court is the fastest growing legal organization in the country. Today, there are nearly 300 American Inns of Court in all fifty states and the District of Columbia. Thirty-five new Inns were chartered during the first six months of 1995 alone. Nearly 17,000 judges, lawyers, law professors and law students are currently members of an American Inn of Court, including 40 percent of all federal judges and over 1,500 state judges.

     American Inns of Court are patterned after the English Inns of Court, which began in 1292, when King Edward I directed his Chief Justice to satisfy a growing need for skilled advocates at the Royal Court at Westminster. The English Inns of Court grew in number and importance during the Middle Ages. They emphasized the value of learning the craft of lawyering from those already established in the profession. Their collegial environment fostered common goals and nurtured professional ideals and ethics.

     In 1977, Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and other American lawyers and judges spent two weeks in England as part of the Anglo-American Exchange. They were particularly impressed by the collegial approach of the English Inns of Court and by the way the Inns passed on to new lawyers the decorum, civility and professional standard necessary for a properly functioning bar. Following his return, Chief Justice Burger authorized a pilot program that could be adapted to the realities of law practice in the United States.

     Chief Justice Burger, former Solicitor General Rex Lee and Senior United States District Judge A. Sherman Christensen founded the first American Inn of Court in 1980. The Inn was affiliated with the J. Reuben Clark School of Law at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, The number of Inns increased slowly at first, but the growth of the movement began to accelerate in 1985 with the creation of the American Inns of Court Foundation.

     The Concept for a Polk County American inn of Court.  In 1989, Judge John NI. Scheb of the Second District Court of Appeal organized a steering committee of nine judges and lawyers of varying experience to establish a local Inn. The Willson American Inn of Court, as it is now known, was originally founded in 1989 as the Polk County American Inn of Court. It was the 113th Inn chartered in the United States, Fred Lotterhos, an attorney then practicing with the firm of Holland & Knight, accepted the charter for the Inn at a special ceremony in Washington, D.C. judge Scheb served as its first President. Upon his retirement from the Second District Court of Appeal, Judge Scheb returned to his Sarasota home where he founded another inn, which has since been named The Judge John M. Scheb American Inn of Court.

     Purpose and Objectives of an American Inn of Court.  American Inns of Court are designed to improve the skills, professionalism and legal ethics of the bench and bar. They help lawyers become more effective advocates with a keener ethical awareness by providing them the opportunity to learn side-by-side with the most experienced judges and lawyers in their community. The objectives of each Inn, including the Willson American Inn of Court, are as follows:

1. To establish a society of judges, lawyers, legal educators, law students and others to promote excellence in legal advocacy in accordance with the Professional Creed of the American Inns of Court;

2. To foster greater understanding of an appreciation for the adversary system of dispute resolution in American law, with particular emphasis on ethics, civility, professionalism, and legal skills;

3, To provide significant education experiences that will improve and enhance the abilities of lawyers as counselors and advocates and ofjudges as adjudicators and judicial administrators;

4. To promote interaction an collegiality among all legal professionals in order to minimize misapprehensions, misconceptions and failures of communication that obstruct the effective practice of law;

5. To facilitate the development of law students, recent law school graduates and less experienced lawyers as skilled participants in the American court system;

6. To pteserve and tansmit ethical values from one generation of legal professionals to the next; and

7. To build upon the genius and strengths of the common law and the English Inns of Court And to renew and inspire joy and zest in legal advocacy as a service worthy of constant effort and learning.

WILLSON AMERICAN INN OF COURT

     In August, 1989, Judge Scheb and his Staff Attorney, Debra Sutton, met with M. David Alexander, III, President of the Polk County Trial Lawyers' Association to discuss the possibility of fonning an American Inn of Court in Polk County. The idea was met with much enthusiasm and in short order a steering committee was formed to begin the process. The original steering committee included:

     The formation of our inn was also assisted by the efforts of Judge Chris Altenbernd of the Second District Court of Appeal and Attorney Peter Grilli of Tampa.

     Finally, with the hard work of many, the Willson American Inn of Court was founded in 1989. It was the 113th American Inn of Court in the United States. The Charter for the Polk County American Inn of Court, as it was originally known, was made by and presented to The Honorable John M. Scheb, now retired, Debra J. Sutton, Esquire, and The Honorable Oliver L. Green, Jr. The original Executive Committee of the Inn included:

     From 1989 to 1996, hundreds of lawyers; many of our appellate, circuit and county judges; as well as professors of law from Stetson University College of Law have been members of the Willson American Inn of Court. The Willson American Inn of Court continues to be associated with Stetson University College of Law.

     Along with the legal education provided to inn members, the inn also reaches out to edudate the community and future attorneys who are not yet enrolled in law school. In this vein, the Inn has sponsored a number of mock trials for the students of Florida Southern College. These are miniature trials, but include all aspects of the trial from voir dire to actual student jury deliberation. At each phase of the trial, an experienced trial judge, who doubles as moderator, explains the purpose of and legal issues associated with each step. This has been a wonderful opportunity for pupil members of the inn to learn for themselves while teaching others.