On April 5, 2012, Schef Wright, a Shareholder at Gardner, Bist, Wiener, Wadsworth, Bowden, Bush, Dee, LaVia & Wright, P.A., presented at a CLE webinar on The Basics of State Licensing of Power Plants and Electrical Transmission Lines in Florida hosted by The Environmental & Land Use Law Section of The Florida Bar.  Mr. Wright’s presentation focused on determinations of need in Florida power plant and transmission line permitting proceedings.

On March 21, 2012, Schef Wright participated in the panel discussion on “Conservation, Energy Efficiency and Renewables: Can clean energy sources meet the challenge?” hosted by St. Petersburg College, Institute for Strategic Policy Solutions.  The panel examined the current state of energy technologies and the impact of policy upon them.

Mr. Wright, a Shareholder at Gardner, Bist, Wiener, Wadsworth, Bowden, Bush, Dee, LaVia & Wright, P.A., has focused his practice on Energy and Public Utilities Law, including Renewable Energy, Sustainability, Utility Rates and Service and Franchise Issues.

Mike Bist, a shareholder with Gardner, Bist, Wiener, Wadsworth, Bowden, Bush, Dee, LaVia & Wright, P.A., is serving on the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce, New Construction/Remodeling Subcommittee for the Capital Improvements Review Team (“CIRT”). CIRT is currently reviewing the need for an extension of the half-cent cent sales tax referendum for education. Recommendations from CIRT are set to be submitted in April 2012.

On February 7, 2012, Ben Bush was awarded the 2012 Thomas M. Ervin, Jr. Distinguished Young Lawyer Award by the Tallahassee Bar Association (the “TBA”) .  This award is given each year to a Young Lawyer who exemplifies the contributions that Tom Ervin made to the legal profession, The Florida Bar and the TBA.  Recipients of this annual award are acknowledged for their exceptional service to TBA, TBA’s Young Lawyer Section and the Legal Aid Foundation, for exhibiting a high standard of professionalism, and for their participation in activities that promote interaction and collegiality among TBA members.

Best Lawyers, the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession, has named David S. Dee as the “Tallahassee Best Lawyers Litigation – Environmental Lawyer of the Year” for 2012.

After more than a quarter of a century in publication, Best Lawyers is designating “Lawyers of the Year” in high-profile legal specialties in large legal communities. Only a single lawyer in each specialty in each community is being honored as the “Lawyer of the Year.”

Best Lawyers compiles its lists of outstanding attorneys by conducting exhaustive peer-review surveys in which thousands of leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers. The current, 18th edition of The Best Lawyers in America (2012) is based on more than 3.9 million detailed evaluations of lawyers by other lawyers.

The lawyers being honored as “Lawyers of the Year” have received particularly high ratings in our surveys by earning a high level of respect among their peers for their abilities, professionalism, and integrity.

Steven Naifeh, President of Best Lawyers, says, “We continue to believe – as we have believed for more than 25 years – that recognition by one’s peers is the most meaningful form of praise in the legal profession. We would like to congratulate David S. Dee on being selected as the ‘Tallahassee Best Lawyers Litigation – Environmental Lawyer of the Year’ for 2012.”

On October 13, 2011, together with members of the Second Circuit Judiciary, Garvin B. Bowden will serve as a panelist for the Professionalism in Practice presentation at the 6^thAnnual “Afternoon at the Courthouse” program hosted by the Young Lawyers Section of the Tallahassee Bar Association.  Mr. Bowden has been a member of the Second Judicial Circuit’s Professionalism Committee since its reorganization in 2003, and Mr. Bowden is a Past-President of the Young Lawyers Section of the Tallahassee Bar Association. 

 The “Afternoon at the Courthouse” program is designed to provide new members of the Florida Bar with a fundamental guide to practice in the Second Judicial Circuit.

Mike Bist, a shareholder with Gardner, Bist, Wiener, Wadsworth, Bowden, Bush, Dee, LaVia & Wright, P.A.,  with the assistance of Erin Duncan, an associate with the firm, presented an Employment Law seminar to the Judges of the Second Judicial Circuit on September 22, 2011.

The seminar focused on statutory and common law protection of business interests in Florida, including covenants not to compete, trade secrets, whistleblower statutes, retailiation under workers’ compensation statutes, defamation, negligent hiring, negligent retention and tortious interference.

Much of the presentation was based on information that was graciously provided by the authors of the Florida Bar Employment Law Certification Course, as to these topics.

Mike Bist is a member of the Judicial Outreach Committee of the Employment Law Section of the Florida Bar.

                                                                                                                                                                                               The Law Firm of Gardner, Bist, Wiener, Wadsworth & Bowden, P.A. is pleased to announce:

David S. Dee has joined the firm as a Shareholder and will continue to practice in the areas of Environmental Law and Adminsitrative Law.

John T. LaVia, III has joined the firm as a Shareholder and will continue to practice in the areas of Administrative Law, Environmental Law and Public Utilities Law.

Robert Scheffel Wright has joined the firm as a Shareholder and will continue to practice in the areas of Energy and Public Utilities Law, including Renewable Energy, Sustainability, Utility Rates and Service and Franchise Issues.

The new name of the firm will be:

Gardner, Bist, Wiener, Wadsworth, Bowden, Bush, Dee, LaVia & Wright, P.A.

On October 20th, 2010, Wendy Russell Wiener will serve on a panel to discuss business ethics for Dr. Robert A. Brymer, CHA, Cecil B. Day Professor of Lodging Management at the Florida State University, College of Business.  Mrs. Wiener, a shareholder at the firm, serves as a guest panelist for Professor Brymer several times each year.

On Saturday, July 17, 2010, Ben Bush, Erin Duncan and Amanda Anderson volunteered at the 14th Annual “Christmas in July” hosted by the Young Lawyer’s Section of the Tallahassee Bar Association.  “Christmas in July” is held each year for children in the Leon County foster care system.  This year the Young Lawyer’s Division partnered with the Tallahassee Area Foster Parents Association to provide an afternoon of roller skating, pizza, hot dogs, cookies, drinks and a Christmas present from Santa Clause for over 70 area foster children.  Ben Bush, President-Elect of the Board of Directors of the Young Lawyer’s Division, has headed up the coordination efforts for the “Christmas in July” event for 2008, 2009 and this year.