Seven new administrative law judges join DOAH.

Meet the seven new administrative law judges who are coming on board at the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings in Tallahassee.

Chief Administrative Law Judge Sharyn L. Smith said she "looks forward to working with this impressive group of administrative law practitioners and believes their backgrounds will complement the backgrounds and experience of the current administrative law judges at DOAH."

The DOAH conducts evidentiary proceedings, much like nonjury trials, involving disputed issues of fact for state agencies acting in their regulatory capacities, challenges to agency rules, the appropriate educational programs for exceptional students in Florida's schools, termination of employment by Florida's school boards of instructional and non-instructional personnel, the continued involuntary placement of patients in Florida's mental health facilities, and the bid protests of intended contractual awards by state agencies.

The following will assume their new duties the first week of September.

Fred L. Buckine -- A senior partner in the Tampa firm of Buckine and Associates, he is a certified mediator and arbitrator. He has represented both non-governmental clients and governmental agencies regarding land use and environmental matters and in eminent domain litigation. He served as a Hillsborough County judge before serving as general counsel to the Florida Department of Transportation, District VII.

Harry L. Hooper -- While in the U.S. Marine Corps, Hooper served as judge advocate, prosecutor and military judge, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. He then served as an assistant state attorney in the 20th Judicial Circuit in Ft. Myers, followed by deputy general counsel for the Florida Department of Business Regulation, director of the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, and assistant director and counsel for the Division of Insurance Fraud in the Florida Department of Insurance. Currently, he serves as general counsel for the Florida Department of Banking and Finance.

Florence Snyder Rivas -- As a partner in the firm of Rivas & Rivas in Tallahassee, she concentrates in First Amendment law and access to government records, meetings and court proceedings. Her employment with previous law firms, including heading the litigation department of one, has provided her with extensive trial experience in many areas, including land use and environmental regulation. Under contract with DOAH from 1989 to 1991, she sat on a three-member panel...