FL · jury_instructions
Fla. Std. Jury Instr. (Crim.) 29.8
PRACTICING LAW WITHOUT A LICENSE
§ 454.23, Fla. Stat.
To prove the crime of Practicing Law Without a License, the State must prove the following two elements beyond a reasonable doubt:
1. (Defendant) [practiced law] [or] [held [himself] [herself] out to the public as qualified to practice law in Florida] [or] [willfully pretended to be qualified to practice law in Florida] [or] [willfully took or used any name, title, addition, or description implying that [he] [she] was qualified, or recognized by law as qualified, to practice law in Florida].
2. At the time, [he] [she] was not licensed or otherwise authorized to practice law in Florida.
The Florida Supreme Court has not formulated a singular, all-encompassing definition of the “practice of law.” In drafting a definition, trial judges should consider Florida Bar v. TIKD Services LLC, 326 So. 3d 1073 (Fla. 2021).
The “practice of law” includes (insert appropriate definition).
Give if applicable.
“Willfully” means intentionally, knowingly, and purposely.
Lesser Included Offense
PRACTICING LAW WITHOUT A LICENSE — 454.23
CATEGORY ONE
CATEGORY TWO
FLA. STAT.
INS. NO.
None
Attempt
777.04(1)
5.1
Provenance
- Source
- floridabar.org
- Retrieved
- 2026-08-18
- Edition
- 2026-08-18
- Content hash
3095509cd917798e144c4169d0417917fc8f0b8712c9845fcc22b31e0212bcf2
The link goes to the issuing authority’s own document — the one we read to produce this record. Where a source publishes whole titles rather than sections, your browser may need a moment to jump to the provision.
Unofficial copy of government-published law, reproduced from official sources with full provenance. Not an official publication; verify against official sources before relying on it in a filing. Records in the 'guidance' corpus, and only that corpus, are sub-regulatory (interpretive guidelines, survey procedures) and are not binding law. Validity bounds follow each jurisdiction's declared temporalBasis.