Florida's New Board Certification in Insurance Law: What Changes for Policyholders
The Florida Supreme Court just approved a credential meant to separate lawyers who truly know insurance coverage from those who just say they do.
The Florida Supreme Court approved a new board certification in insurance coverage law last week, and starting January 1 lawyers on both sides of a claim, representing policyholders or insurers, will be able to earn the title board certified in this specific area.
I read this one closely because I spend my working life on the other side of the table from these lawyers. When a claim gets denied or underpaid, the insurance company usually has specialized counsel. The policyholder often does not. This certification is an attempt to fix that gap.
What It Takes To Earn The Credential
The bar is not low. An attorney needs at least five years of practice with 40% of that time devoted to insurance work. On top of that, 50 hours of continuing legal education, a passed exam, and demonstrated experience in real insurance matters, things like coverage provisions in contracts or actually representing policyholders or insurers in disputes.
Lawyers who have specialized in insurance law for 20 years or more are exempt from parts of the process. A Florida Bar committee still has to build the exam itself, and the bar is accepting submissions for that committee through November 15. So the first class of certified attorneys will not appear overnight. This is a multi-year rollout, not a switch that flips in January.
A Credential The Market Has Needed For Years
This is one of 28 certifications the Florida Bar offers, and only Ohio and Texas have anything similar for insurance law. The idea goes back to 2018, right as Florida's property insurance crisis and the litigation wars that came with it were heating up. COVID put it on hold, then Tampa attorney Debbie Crockett of Cheffy Passidomo and others pulled together support and submitted a formal proposal in 2024.
Crockett told the Florida Bar News at the time, "My only regret is that I didn't do it sooner."
For job seekers in the legal field, this is worth paying attention to. A new certification is a new career ladder. An associate who wants to build a specialty now has a defined path: years of practice, hours of CLE, an exam, and a title that sets them apart in job interviews and partner track decisions. It also gives small and mid-size firms a new way to market themselves against the big defense shops, which is its own kind of business opportunity.
Plaintiffs' attorney Chip Merlin made the real point back in 2024, when he said, "It takes years, decades, really, to get really good at something." The certification exists because plenty of lawyers call themselves insurance specialists without the track record to back it up, and that costs policyholders money and time they do not get back.
What I See When A Claim Turns Into A Lawsuit
In my agency, I am not the one litigating coverage disputes, but I sit close enough to them to see what happens when a claim goes sideways. A denial or a lowball offer on a commercial property claim is not an academic argument. It is payroll, it is a lease payment, it is whether a small business reopens after a loss. The attorney a policyholder hires at that moment matters as much as the policy language itself.
Right now a policyholder has no reliable way to tell a genuine coverage specialist from a general litigator who took a few insurance cases. Debbie Crockett pointed out the certification will help corporate risk managers, mediators, and attorneys who specialize in walking policyholders through the claims process, not just trial lawyers. That is the right frame. Most insurance disputes settle before trial, and the lawyer's job in that window, reading the policy correctly, knowing what a carrier is actually obligated to pay, is where a real specialist earns their fee.
What To Do Before You Hire Coverage Counsel
If you own a business or a property in Florida and you end up in a coverage dispute, here is what I would actually do.
- Ask any attorney you are considering how much of their practice is insurance work and for how long, not just whether they call themselves a specialist.
- Know that board certified in insurance coverage law will not exist as a title until the Bar builds the exam and lawyers sit for it, so for now ask about experience directly rather than the credential itself.
- If your dispute involves a denied or underpaid commercial claim, get an attorney involved before you sign any settlement or release, not after.
- Keep your own file: the policy, every piece of correspondence with the carrier, and the adjuster's written explanation for any denial. A good coverage lawyer needs that paper trail from day one.