FEATURED PRESENTATION:
Course Description:
This course explores the meaning and importance of professionalism in the legal profession and how professionalism differs from ethical obligations. It will address professional expectations for lawyers, the relationship between professionalism and The Florida Bar Rules of Professional Conduct, and how conduct that violates professionalism standards may result in a disciplinary grievance, including under Rule 4-8.4(d) and SC13-688. The course will also provide practical guidance on how lawyers can promote and advance professionalism in their daily practice and throughout the legal community.
Speaker Bio:
Chardean M. Hill has served as a Child Support Enforcement Hearing Officer for the 13th Judicial Circuit of Florida since March 2025. As a quasi-judicial officer, she conducts hearings involving the establishment, modification, and enforcement of child support obligations. She conducts hearings fairly and impartially in accordance with the law, routinely resolving legal issues after receiving and evaluating evidence and applying Florida’s laws and procedures. At the conclusion of her hearings, she prepares orders for judicial review and entry.
Ms. Hill has been practicing law since October 2008. Before becoming a Child Support Enforcement Hearing Officer, she served as a Judicial Staff Attorney for the 13th Judicial Circuit of Florida. Prior to that, she was the sole practitioner and owner of CMH Law & Dispute Resolution, LLC, located in Brandon, Florida. She operated her firm from May 2019 through early February 2024, focusing primarily on alternative dispute resolution, including mediations and arbitrations. She also handled legal ethics defense and risk management for Florida lawyers and represented applicants for admission before the Florida Board of Bar Examiners.
Before opening her own firm, Ms. Hill worked for The Florida Bar for approximately 14 years, ultimately serving as Senior Bar Counsel. In that role, she handled attorney grievance proceedings for the Sixth, Twelfth, Thirteenth, and Twentieth Judicial Circuits of Florida and litigated numerous cases, resulting in several notable Florida Supreme Court opinions. She is well-versed in navigating the attorney grievance process in Florida and assisting applicants for admission.
Ms. Hill is a Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil, Family, and County Court Mediator and a Florida Supreme Court Qualified Arbitrator. She has mediated and arbitrated disputes involving a variety of claims and subject matters. She lectures on various ethics topics for local bar associations and law schools and presents on topics involving professionalism and child support.
Ms. Hill is actively involved in Florida’s legal community. From July 2020 through June 2026, she served on The Florida Bar’s Standing Committee for Professionalism (SCOP), including serving as Chair during the 2023–2024 Bar year. She has served as a pro bono mediator and arbitrator for The Florida Bar’s Grievance Mediation and Fee Arbitration Program and has served on The Florida Bar’s Standing Committee for Grievance Mediation and Fee Arbitration since July 2023. She also serves on the Executive Council of The Florida Bar’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Section, where she chaired the Arbitration Committee from June 2022 through June 2026.
Ms. Hill is a member of the Hillsborough County Bar Association and its Alternative Dispute Resolution Section and Marital & Family Law Section. She is also a member of the Ferguson-White American Inn of Court, where she currently serves as President-Elect and has served as a Board member since July 2022. She is a former member of the National Organization of Bar Counsel and the National Association for Court Management.
10/15: Attorney Roundtable at Beef O Brady's
10/28: Fall Social at Wulfaven Brewing Company
