Reminder: Bar fees now due.

Florida Bar members should now have received their annual membership fee statement, containing the first fee increase since the 1990-91 fiscal year.

The annual fees -- $265 for active members and $175 for inactive members -- are payable July 1 and become late after August 15. Members will receive one of two statements, depending on whether they are active or inactive members.

Bar finance director Allen Martin said the statements have changed little from last year. This year, members will also have the option to complete their annual fee statement and pay their fees online via the Bar's website at www.FLABAR.org.

Members have an option to make a voluntary contribution to The Florida Bar Foundation's Lawyers Challenge for Children campaign and the Supreme Court Historical Society. They can use the fee statement to join one of the Bar's many sections or the Out-of-State Practitioners Division.

"Members should be aware that the fee statements are two-sided and must be completed both front and back and be mailed along with their payment to cover their fees and sections joined," Martin said.

Under the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar, fees postmarked after August 15 will be assessed a $50 late fee (up from $25 a year ago). Members who do not pay by September 30 will be deemed delinquent. The delinquency may be cleared by petitioning the Bar, paying the fees, the late fee, and a $150 reinstatement fee.

Under the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar, members delinquent for five years will lose their Bar membership on October 1. To be reinstated, those members must meet all the requirements of the Florida Board of Bar Examiners.

Expanded Programs

The Supreme Court approved the higher annual fees after hearing oral arguments, during which Bar officials reported on some of the changes and new programs that have occurred since the previous dues increase. Among those changes:

* The Bar greatly expanded its unlicensed practice of law operations, including adding a UPL counsel to each...