PBCBA BAR BULLETINS PBCBA Bulletin - January 2020 | Page 3

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE 2020: A Year of Change the foster children’s holiday party. Jessica Callow 2019-20 PBCBA President Happy New Year! While it’s the beginning of the year 2020, the Palm Beach County Bar Association (“PBCBA”) year is already at its midway point. We’ve accomplished a lot this year and have many more events, CLE and volunteer opportunities on the way. The PBCBA hosted its annual holiday party on December 5, 2019, at the Kravis Center. Nearly 200 members enjoyed networking, holiday cheer, and shopping for a cause. Our North County and Young Lawyers Sections gathered terrific gifts for the silent auction, including hotel stays, golf excursions, and jewelry. The money raised during the silent auction and 50/50 raffle benefits local charities, including a holiday party for local foster children. A special thank you to Adam Rabin, the winner of the 50/50 raffle, for donating his winnings back to Our outstanding PBCBA staff is working hard as we continue to prepare for several signature events still to come, including the Bench Bar Conference, a family event, and Law Week. Kathy Clark was promoted to CLE Coordinator in November and is eager to help our members earn their CLE credits. The PBCBA offers many live CLE events all year long and there are many still to come over the next several months. Attending a live CLE allows you to meet and network with fellow members while also learning practice tips that may be unique to practicing in Palm Beach County. If you can’t make it to a live CLE, the PBCBA has prior CLE seminars available on CD or for download. More information can be found on our website or by calling the bar office. Our new Membership Coor- dinator is Emily Vasquez, so please take a moment to introduce yourself to her at an upcoming event. The North County and Young Lawyers Sections both have member- ship networking events this month so swing by and say hello. PBCBA BAR BULLETIN 3 In addition to PBCBA staff changes, there are changes to the county court system that may affect our practices and clients. Effective January 1, 2020, the dollar limits for civil cases in county court doubled to $30,000 and the limits for small claims cases increased to $8,000. Filers in civil court must now include a cover sheet that specifies the amount of money in dispute if the case is valued at more than $8,000. For more information, please visit www.flcourts.org/ Know-Your-Court. Before signing off, I’m proud to announce that the PBCBA board and staff are working on some exciting changes this year for our bar software and website. As always, we’ll keep you updated as we make progress with the changes. Please reach out to me and the rest of the Board with any ideas, comments or concerns. We can be reached at pbcba- [email protected]. PBCBA member highlight submissions for yourself or others should be sent to memberhighlights@ palmbeachbar.org.