Florida Bar President Mayanne Downs appears ready to contest at least some of House Speaker Dean Cannon's judicial reform agenda.

In an e-mail obtained by Sunshine State News, Downs informs Florida's 90,000 Bar members:

"These are challenging times. I cannot promise that the results of this session will be everything we want, or that final legislation will be noncontroversial. I can promise, though, that your Bar leadership team is fully and completely engaged, and is passionately fighting for the very best outcomes we can obtain."

Outlining several areas of concern and potential conflict, Downs cited pending bills that would, in her words:

• Strip rulemaking from the Supreme Court, and give it to the Legislature.
• Eliminate all Judicial Nominating Commissions at the appellate court level and require Senate confirmation of gubernatorial appointees.
• Eliminate Judicial Qualifications Commission confidentiality.
• Pay judges based on how many cases they decide.
• Split the Supreme Court into civil and criminal panels.
• Raise the vote from 50 percent to 60 percent for judicial merit retention.
• Remove the Florida Bar from the Judicial Nominating Commission process.

"While legislative proposals are ever-changing, I want you to know what the Florida Bar is doing on behalf of the legal profession and the judiciary," Downs wrote.

"Over the next six weeks, we will actively participate in the legislative process to ensure that reasonable approaches and alternatives are being considered as these proposals are heard."

Downs, however, cannot take unilateral action. The Bar's 52-member Board of Governors must first vote to take positions on legislation. The board is scheduled to convene Friday in Orlando.

Speaker Cannon, through spokeswoman Katie Betta, said he has "a longstanding personal friendship with Ms. Downs [and] understands that some of the court reform proposals may face opposition."

Betta said Cannon, himself an attorney, has met with Downs "and other members of the Bar and the bench on an ongoing basis to receive their input and to discuss how the Legislature can work with the judicial branch to improve efficiency, accountability and transparency."

Senate President Mike Haridopolos says he expects his chamber to conduct "a full hearing" on the reforms, which he characterized as an effort to "spread sunshine on the [judicial] process, and make it more inclusive."

Though the Bar says it is most concerned about funding for the judiciary and public "access" to courts, critics see a political tug-of-war developing between the association, which is heavily represented by Democratic-leaning trial lawyers, and the Republican-controlled Legislature.

"The Bar's board of governors is run by the left. What is the check on the Bar?" asked one legal observer who declined to be identified. "There is no nexus with the voters."

Cannon's proposal to split the Supreme Court into civil and criminal panels garnered headlines this month, but plans to strip the Judicial Nominating Commission are particularly irksome to the lawyers' organization.

Holding four of the nine seats on the JNC, the Bar's appointees routinely vote as a bloc, and regularly pick off one or more of the five gubernatorial appointees to side with them.

Because the JNC terms do not coincide with elections, incoming governors are saddled with previous governors' appointments.

"Our justices are being picked by an unelected group to control one-third of our government. This is the most political thing going," said a critic, speaking on background.