Our history & mission
Founded in 1897. Still showing up.
Fourteen attorneys and a constitution
The Osceola County Bar Association was organized on February 4, 1897 with fourteen members. They put their purpose in writing, in the association's original constitution:
To maintain the honor and dignity of the profession, to cultivate professional ethics among its members, and to discuss legal topics of general interest.
Nearly 130 years later, that's still the job description. We're the voluntary bar association for attorneys, judges, paralegals, and legal professionals practicing in Osceola County and the Ninth Judicial Circuit.
Steps from Florida's oldest working courthouse
Our members practice in the shadow of the Osceola County Courthouse, completed in 1890 and the oldest courthouse in Florida still in use. The history isn't decoration here. It's a working reminder that the profession we maintain was built by the people who came before us, one term of court at a time.
What we do today
Monthly luncheons that bring the bench and bar to the same tables. Continuing legal education taught by local practitioners. Community outreach and pro bono service across Osceola County. And a Professionalism Panel that keeps our founding commitment to ethics more than a motto.
Leadership
Our officers and directors are elected each year by the membership. For the current slate of officers, see our profile with The Florida Bar's voluntary bar directory or contact us.
Older than the state bar itself.
The Florida Bar wouldn't exist in its modern form for another half century. By then, Osceola County's attorneys had already been meeting, mentoring, and holding each other to a standard for decades.