Agenda takes shape for board's October meeting.

The Board of Governors could move a significant step closer to settling a debate over the way lawyers and law firms advertise their specialties when it convenes October 12 on Amelia Island.

At the center of the dispute, which has been simmering since 2013, is Rule 4-7.14, "Potentially Misleading Advertising." It bans non-certified lawyers and law firms from advertising themselves as "experts" or "specialists."

But in a 2014 federal challenge brought by Searcy, Denny, Scarola, Barnhart and Shipley, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle ruled that the ban violates First Amendment speech rights. Hinkle declared the rule unfair to attorneys who have the same level of expertise as their board-certified brethren, or who are experts in areas of the law where no board certification program exists, and enjoined the Bar from enforcing it.

The Board of Governors has been working ever since to amend the rule to comply with the order while satisfying the concerns of the Florida Supreme Court.

Justices rejected an initial proposed amendment that would have allowed noncertified lawyers and law firms to call themselves "experts" or "specialists" if they essentially met the same requirements for board certification.

"We are concerned that the Bar's proposal here does not sufficiently address the district court's decision, and that the language requiring that a lawyer's experience be 'reasonably comparable' to the Florida Certification Plan will prove to be problematic because it could lead to differing and inconsistent applications," justices wrote in their unanimous, per curium opinion. "Because we believe that this important issue requires further study, we decline to adopt the Bar's proposed amendments to Rule 4-7.14, and we refer this matter to The Florida Bar for additional consideration."

The board will consider a new proposed amendment that removes parts of the rule that the judge banned, and adds new subdivisions. They would allow non-certified attorneys to call themselves "specialist" or "experts" if they can objectively verify the claim based on the lawyer's education, training, experience, and "substantial involvement" in the area of practice. The amendment also would allow law firms to do the same if they can objectively verify the claim for at least one lawyer in the firm. However, the firm would have to post a disclaimer that not all firm members meet the same standards, if they fail to do so.

In other action:

The Board could consider Proposed...