John A. “Jack” Weiss, who is regarded as one of Florida’s foremost attorneys in professional liability, has joined Rumberger, Kirk & Caldwell in Tallahassee as Of Counsel. He will focus his practice on representing lawyers in proceedings brought by The Florida Bar, representing applicants before the Florida Board of Bar Examiners, and giving expert opinions in the field of lawyer's professional responsibility.

“We are privileged to have someone with such an impressive legal reputation to join our Tallahassee team,” said Leonard Dietzen, Administrative Partner of Rumberger’s Tallahassee office. “Jack brings with him a deep level of knowledge of Bar defense that will assist practicing attorneys throughout the state.”

Weiss began working for The Florida Bar Grievance Department after graduating from the University of Florida, College of Law in 1974. While at the Bar, he argued before The Florida Supreme Court and served in numerous positions including UPL Counsel, Branch Staff Counsel for the Tallahassee grievance office of the Bar, and as Chief Disciplinary Counsel with the responsibility of supervising all lawyer disciplinary cases.

Weiss went into private practice in 1983 and has represented more than 2,000 lawyers, applicants to the Bar, and judges in Bar disciplinary proceedings, Board of Bar Examiner admission cases and JQC proceedings.   He has also written countless ethics opinions and testified as an expert on professional responsibility matters in both federal and state courts.

Weiss received the prestigious Charles W. Kettlewell Legal Advisor Award from the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers (APRL) in 2014.  APRL is an organization composed of lawyers who work primarily in the field of professional responsibility including law school professors teaching ethics and private practitioners who defend lawyers in grievance proceedings, in malpractice cases and in related areas of endeavor.

Weiss is past President of the Board of North Florida Legal Services, a federally funded legal aid provider.  He has served on many committees including the ABA's Standing Committee on Client Protection and The Florida Bar's Professional Responsibility Committee. Weiss has taught Professional Responsibility as an Adjunct Professor at the Florida State University College of Law and he has participated in many seminars on ethics, lawyer discipline, bar admissions and professional responsibility.  Among those seminars was one jointly sponsored by APRL and United States Department of Justice in June, 2000 in Shanghai, China. Weiss has also been a member of ABA accreditation teams evaluating law schools' compliance with the ABA's standards for law school certification.

Rumberger, Kirk & Caldwell provides litigation and counseling services in a wide range of civil practice areas including product liability, commercial litigation, construction, real estate, intellectual property litigation, securities litigation, labor and employment law, bankruptcy, insurance coverage, professional liability and administrative law. Offices are located in Orlando, Tampa, Miami, Tallahassee and Birmingham, Alabama. For more information, please visit www.rumberger.com.