Sixth DCA launches January 1.

As the calendar turns to 2023, the newly formed Sixth District Court of Appeal worked hard gearing up for its January 1 implementation date.

In June, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 7027, which established the new appellate court by realigning the boundaries of the First, Second, and Fifth DCAs.

The realignment calls for:

* The First DCA is to be composed of the First, Second, Third, Eighth, and 14th circuits.

* The Second DCA is to be composed of the Sixth, 12th, and 13th circuits.

* The Fifth DCA is to be composed of the Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, and 18th circuits.

* The Sixth DCA is to be composed of the Ninth, 10th, and 20th circuits.

The legislation also authorized seven new appellate court judgeships.

On November 1, the Florida Supreme Court issued Administrative Order AOSC22-81, which gave the blueprint for how cases will be transferred to the newly formed Sixth DCA.

Beginning January 1, here are the transfer protocols:

* The First DCA will transfer any pending appeals from the Fourth Judicial Circuit to the Fifth DCA.

* The Second DCA will transfer any pending appeals from the 10th and 20th judicial circuits to the Sixth DCA.

* The Fifth DCA will transfer any pending appeals from the Ninth Judicial Circuit to the Sixth DCA.

With each transferred case, the clerk of the DCA receiving a transferred case will serve initial filings on the parties and on the clerk of the lower tribunal, while subsequent filings in a case that has been transferred must be filed with the clerk of the receiving court using the new case number identified.

Back in September, the Sixth DCA hired Stacey Pectol as its clerk of court. Pectol had served as the clerk for the Arkansas Supreme Court since 2014 and relishes the challenge of starting a court from the ground up.

"The opportunity to work on a brandnew court seemed very exciting to me," Pectol said. "It was a rare opportunity that doesn't come around very often."

As clerk of Arkansas' high court, Pectol implemented many changes in that office, notably its transition from the age of paper to electronic filing. She has served on the Arkansas Access to Justice Commission Foundation board and on the Executive Committee of the National Conference of Appellate Court Clerks.

Pectol says she has many key personnel for the clerk's office in place as implementation looms and says her biggest challenge has been learning Florida's case management system.

"Florida has been great and has a great case management system,"...