Navigation ‘Hot Topics in Public Records’ webinar roundup
With public records laws under increasing scrutiny and digital communication muddying the waters, The Florida Bar’s second webinar in its Reporters’ Workshop series, Hot Topics in Public Records, offered journalists and legal professionals a crash course in making smarter, more strategic records requests.
The May 21 webinar addressed changes to Florida Statutes Chapter 119 – Public Records, Florida’s Online Sunshine Manual (the state’s reference guide for compliance to public records and open meetings laws), and Rule 2.420, Florida Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration, governing access to court records.
The session opened with the first rule of a public records request: “You need to ask for documents. Do not ask for information,” said Susannah Nesmith, the session moderator, who was formerly a journalist with the Palm Beach Post and the Miami Herald and is now with Goren, Cherof, Doody and Ezrol in Ft. Lauderdale. “The courts have been clear: the government does not have to dig up the information for you. That’s not their job.”
