Meet the Experts!

Meet the Experts!

More on that at the close (below), but first some exposition of the origins.

This program is the brainchild of Stuart Suskin, and to understand it, you must know Stuart. (Meet Stuart in the December 2025 unCOMPlex podcast on YouTube - discussing this program); See the brochure here.

A long time ago, in another galaxy, I ran into Stuart Suskin. He was a pushy, insistent (made me come to Gainesville instead of appearing by telegraph), and energetic mediator in the early days of mandatory Florida Workers’ Compensation mediation. I represented some clients in Gainesville back in the day, and would travel on horseback to mediate those cases, until the iron horse came to Florida (but that is another story).

Long before that, Stuart arrived in Florida in 1513 with Juan Ponce de Leon. Juan was purportedly looking for gold, but Stuart was merely searching for disputes that needed discussion or resolution. His near-pathological love of resolving disputes, no matter the challenge, likely inspired the Miguel de Cervantes character Don Quixote a few years later in 1605.

Dr. Suskin

Legend holds that Ponce de Leon soon wandered off from St. Augustine on his quest, but that Stuart was distracted by the entreaty of a local (St. Augustine, in this tale, is right next to modern-day Miami-work with me here), Izzy Abrams, one of the earliest Workers’ Compensation practitioners in the vast and unclaimed expanse of south Florida. 

 Izzy had come to Florida some years before the Spanish upon the encouragement of his friend and neighbor, Moses (last name not known). Some say he walked in through the Bering Strait land bridge before global warming began thousands of years ago, and the oceans rose.

Izzy and Stuart continued to practice Workers’ Compensation throughout Florida’s dark ages and the evolution into the era known as the High Middle Ages, when order began to emerge in the field of Florida workers’ compensation. Judges became full-time, the Code of Judicial Conduct was adopted, and more. In their era, there were various other legends devoted to Workers’ Compensation.

In South Florida, there was Ramon Malca, who legend holds came to Florida with Jean Ribault in 1562, landing at Jacksonville and walking thereafter to Miami. Sir Malca practiced on behalf of the injured and oftentimes litigated against George Kagan, whose legend holds that he arrived in Florida in the same era.

Some speculate that George or his ancestors initially came to America with the followers of Leif Erikson, to New England (then known as New Scandinavia). Though it is perhaps a tall tale, some say George then came from there to West Palm Beach in a canoe that he carved from a sycamore tree.

On the west coast of Florida, in that age, was a litigator named Stephen Rosen. In all the world, there was no greater litigator. And, if one was in doubt, they need only ask Sir Rosen, and he would both verify and expound. Sir Rosen had landed in Florida, near Tampa Bay, with Hernando de Soto in 1539. While de Soto explored for gold, Sir Rosen dove into the world of Workers’ Compensation and set up a small law office/blacksmith shop in Tampa.

As idyllic as this all sounds, Izzy and Stuart parted company as the Renaissance and Age of Discovery (some say “enlightenment”) began, when there came to Workers’ Compensation an epiphany known as “mediation.” Believing strongly in the potential for mediation, Florida’s king decreed it to be allowed in 1989 by approving Parliament’s insertion into Section 440.25(3), Fla. Stat.

(1989):

“On request by any interested party, the Judge of Compensation Claims shall order all parties to attend either a mediation conference or a hearing thereof.”

There were naysayers. Indeed, one youth even famously suggested, during the King’s vociferous support of mediation, that the King had no clothes. Alas, that is another tale entirely.

Nonetheless, our intrepid Workers’ Compensation luminaries persevered through the advent of permissive, then mandatory mediation. They witnessed the birth of technology, including the Gutenberg printing press, telegraphs, the steam engine, telephones, fax machines, personal computers, cell phones, electronic filing, and even the electric toothbrush.

And throughout these (r)evolutions, they persevered in the field of Workers’ Compensation. They faced technology, embraced change, adapted, and thrived. Anyone today who sees change on the horizon might learn from these experts.

And that introduces you to the characters (a fitting label, perhaps) for the first session of the new continuing education program “Meet the Experts.” These four will engage in a free Zoom discussion on January 16, 2026. They will bring their (near) eternity of experience to bear on the logistical, technical, ethical, and professional challenges of litigation.

They will provide mesmerizing glimpses into their discoveries, practices, and even mistakes. The audience will be encouraged to submit questions in advance or in the chat room that day.

Each of these legends was an innovator, explorer, and a pioneer. Each brings a wealth of experience, intellect, and charisma. In a world too focused on the now, now, now, come join them for great insight and advice on the how, how, how.

Join “Meet the Experts” on the third Friday of the month (except the summer solstice hiatus of June, July, and August):

Topic: Meet the Experts
Time: Jan 16, 2026 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
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Meeting ID: 277 757 3448

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