Jason Blank to lead FACDL, seeks greater Florida Bar involvement

Jason Blank to lead FACDL, seeks greater Florida Bar involvement

The Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers bills itself as “the only statewide organization in Florida dedicated solely to the criminal defense attorney.”

That won’t change when President-elect Jason Blank assumes command of the not-for-profit at its 37th annual meeting June 6-8 at the Ritz Carlton, Sarasota.

But in a break with tradition, the Ft. Lauderdale attorney has asked Florida Bar President Scott Westheimer, a Sarasota native, to swear him in.

“We’re doing something a little different this year,” Blank said. “We are pushing to get more members involved with the Bar.”

A 2006 graduate of Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College of Law, Blank is a former Broward County assistant public defender turned partner with Haber Blank.

When it comes to promoting Bar service, Blank walks the walk.

Blank served on a local grievance committee and as president of the Broward Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He is a past chair of the Bar’s Criminal Law Section.

Currently, he serves on the Bar’s Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration Committee. He also chairs the Bar’s Criminal Procedure Rules Committee.

For the past few years, Blank and former FACDL President Jude Faccidomo have championed a court rule amendment, which the Supreme Court adopted last week, that promotes greater use of remote technology in routine, non-evidentiary criminal proceedings. FACDL argued that, in addition to enhancing efficiency for lawyers and their clients, the revision will make criminal practice more uniform statewide.

For Blank and the rule supporters, it’s more proof that Bar service benefits the entire profession.

“This is a big one for criminal law,” he said.