With our beautiful weather, international access and great tax environment, why isn’t South Florida a genuinely optimal jurisdiction for a mature business? If you’ve had experience with our court system, I’d bet you a cafecito that a major sticking point to achieving a utopian vision of a true business haven is our literally and figuratively crumbling judicial infrastructure.

Recent surveys of the South Florida judicial landscape have not painted a pretty picture. In a recent, widely publicized “2019 Lawsuit Climate Survey: Ranking the States,” released by the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, Miami was ranked as having one of the worst legal climates for businesses in the United States, ranked 46th in the nation. For those of us who practice in these courts every day, it is not hard to see why. On the state level, we have an underfunded and overworked judiciary. There are too many cases and too few judges. The judges we do have are underpaid and drowning in their massive caseload. From 2016 through 2018, there were more than half a million civil lawsuits filed in the state of Florida. In 2017 to 2018, over 180,000 new civil lawsuits were filed, with more than 40% filed in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. To handle the 180,000 new lawsuits, South Florida relies on the 52 circuit civil judges currently presiding, roughly equating to 3,500 new cases per judge, per year. The number of judges appointed to handle this massive caseload has not measurably increased and legislative appropriations to state courts have been relatively flat (despite the fact that these courts generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for the state in filing fees). A trial judge in South Florida is paid as much as one in north Florida, although the cost of living and caseload disparity is significant. The nearly 100-year-old Miami-Dade courthouse is literally falling apart, a problem our community has finally taken the first step in rectifying by approving its construction a few weeks ago.