Florida continues to lead the nation on entrepreneurial digital currency services with the recently adopted Financial Technology Sandbox law (“FinTech Sandbox”). Codified at Fla.Stat. 559.952 (effective January 1, 2021), the FinTech Sandbox establishes a two year, extendable for an additional year, exemption and waiver of select provisions of Florida’s Money Services Business Act (“FMSBA”), codified at Fla. Stat. 560.103, and Florida’s Consumer Finance Act (“FCFA”), codified at Fla.Stat. 516.03(1). See also Fla.Stat. 559.952(9)(a)(providing that a business entity with a FinTech Sandbox license is deemed licensed under the FCFA and the FMSBA). However, the Innovative Financial Product (“IFP”) licensee is subject to any provision of the FCFA and the FMSBA not specifically excepted under the FinTech law Sandbox. Fla.Stat. 559.952(9)(b)-(c). The licensee and must still comply with those FCFA and FMSBA provisions. As such, tThe licensee “may not engage in, “or in any manner advertise engagement in, the business of cashing payment instruments or exchanging foreign currency.” Fla.Stat. 559.952(9)(b)-(c).560.303(1).
Pro Bono Thoughts from the Judiciary: Judge Isicoff
Adina Pollan is a Jacksonville attorney who owns Pollan Legal, her own law practice, focusing primarily on business formation, litigation and bankruptcy issues.
Right after graduating from law school, Adina had the honor of clerking for The Honorable Jerry A. Funk at the United States Bankruptcy Court, in the Middle District of Florida. It was during that season of her legal career that she felt the calling to begin doing pro bono work. As a law clerk, she could observe first-hand the extensive number of pro se litigants that navigated through the bankruptcy courts without proper legal representation.
When Adina later started practicing with larger law firms, however, she was hamstrung, as many other lawyers at the time, as it was very hard to be able to engage in pro bono work due to potential conflicts with larger firms’ clients. But when the Jacksonville Legal Aid (“JALA”) created a waiver form informing pro se debtors of the limited legal representation and clarifying that there was no attorney-client relationship formed, . Adina, just as many other lawyers in large firms, saw that as an opportunity to start working with the JALA Pro Se Clinic several times a year at the bankruptcy court. Adina also volunteered as a matter intake attorney with JALA, and volunteered Saturday mornings during the JALA Wills Clinics.
