Florida Bar feels Gulf Coast vibes

Tampa lawyer Bill Schifino Jr. is in line for the presidency of The Florida Bar, where he will be the second Gulf Coast attorney to head the organization in the last 20 years.

Schifino, according to a statement, was named president-elect designate of the organization after West Palm Beach attorney David Prather withdrew from an election scheduled for early this year. Schifino will become the Bar's 2015-16 president-elect when he is sworn in at the group's annual convention in June, the organization says in the statement. A business litigator and member of the Bar's Board of Governors since 2008, Schifino is the managing partner of the Tampa office of Burr & Forman.

Prather, in a Jan. 2 letter to the Bar, says he's been dealing with a family crisis and after re-evaluating his priorities over the holidays he will focus on his family. “This is not a decision I reached lightly, as I have dedicated many years of service to the Bar and, in many ways, view the friends and colleagues I have met along the way as family,” Prather says. “I always viewed the potential to serve as president as a natural extension of that service and hoped to bring diverse ideas and objectives to the office.”