C. C. J.
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA
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A certified legal intern may not represent a defendant at a violation hearing without a written consent form executed by the defendant, and the absence of such documentation requires reversal regardless of the supervising attorney's actual participation.
[1] Representation of a defendant by a certified legal intern requires an executed written consent form verifying the defendant's acceptance of representation by the intern.
[2] The lack of a written consent to representation by a certified legal intern is fatal to the proceedings, even if a supervising attorney was present and actively participa…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“the lack of a written consent to representation by a certified legal intern is fatal”
Court citing C.B. v. State for the proposition that written consent is required even where the supervising attorney was present and actively participated in the defense
C.C.J. was represented at violation hearings in two pretrial diversion cases by a certified legal intern, but the trial court record contained no exec…
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BLACK, Judge.
C.C.J. challenges two disposition orders rendered following the trial court's finding that C.C.J. violated the conditions of his pretrial diversion plans in two separate cases. C.C.J. raises multiple issues on appeal, including that the disposition orders must be reversed because a certified legal intern represented C.C.J. at the violation hearing on both cases but the record does not contain an executed written consent form verifying his acceptance of representation by the intern. We agree that the law requires a written consent for representation by a certified legal intern. R. Regulating Fla. Bar. 11-1.2(b), (e); see also C.B. v. State, 973 So. 2d 1285, 1285 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008) (stating that "the lack of a written consent to representation by a certified legal intern is fatal" even where "it appears that the supervising attorney was present and actively participated in the defense of the juvenile"). We are therefore constrained to reverse the disposition orders. We decline to address the other issues C.C.J. raises.
Reversed and remanded.
BADALAMENTI and SMITH, JJ., Concur.