Members assess appellate judges.

Florida lawyers have overwhelmingly recommended the retention of Florida Supreme Court Justice Kenneth B. Bell and Justice Raoul G. Cantero III, and the 22 district court of appeal judges up for merit retention on November 2, according to results of The Florida Bar's biennial merit retention judicial poll.

In a secret ballot mailed in August to all lawyers residing and practicing in Florida, participants were asked to indicate whether the incumbent judges should be retained or should not be retained for another six-year term under the merit retention system and were asked to consider eight attributes: quality and clarity of judicial opinions; knowledge of the law; integrity; judicial temperament; impartiality; freedom from bias/ prejudice; demeanor; and courtesy. Only lawyers who indicated at least limited knowledge of the judges' qualifications were included in the poll results. A total of 4,503 lawyers participated in the statewide poll.

Florida Bar members with more than 15 years experience comprised the largest segment of those polled (2,636), followed by 923 with five to 15 years, and 382 with less than five years. The remaining 562 participants did not respond to the experience question.

The Results

Poll results indicated that 80 percent of participating lawyers recommended retention of Justice Bell and 84 percent recommended retention of Justice Cantero.

The results of the merit retention poll of lawyers for the First District Court of Appeal show the following percentages of lawyers recommending retention of: Judge Michael Allen, 88 percent; Judge Edward Barfield, 85...