Court-Appointed Counsel

Application Information:

1. Attorneys seeking court appointed cases in the Eighth Judicial Circuit shall submit a completed application for consideration.
2. Once the selection process is completed, you will be notified whether you were selected and, if selected, for what case types.
3. Once selected, you must sign a contract with the Justice Administrative Commission (JAC) within 30 days of approval. JAC is the entity which pays the court appointed attorney’s fees and costs. JAC contracts are available at www.justiceadmin.org/court_app_counsel/index.aspx.
4. After Court Administration receives confirmation from you that the JAC contract has been signed, we will notify the Clerk’s office.

Appointment Information:

1. Pursuant to Florida Statute 27.04(b) the Court shall appoint attorneys in rotating order in the order in which names appear on the applicable registry, unless the Court makes a finding of good cause on the record for appointing an attorney out of order.
2. The Clerk of Court in each county maintains the court registry lists.
3. An attorney’s failure to accept appointments may result in the attorney being removed from the registry.

Circuit-wide Orders of Appointment & Withdrawal

Related Administrative Orders

• 1.13 – Registry of Court-Appointed and Criminal Conflict Attorneys
• 1.12 – Appointment of the Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel, Region 1