The streaming for the event will begin at approximately 10:00 a.m. on October 7, 2026.   For more information, go to the Induction Ceremony for New Florida Bar Members page.  

Click HERE to view the Induction Ceremony live on YouTube.

Judge Matthew C. (Matt) Lucas has been unanimously elected chief judge of Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal by his colleagues. He will serve a two-year term that begins July 1, 2025, succeeding the current chief judge, Daniel H. Sleet. The court is currently headquartered in Tampa, pending the completion of its new courthouse in downtown St. Petersburg in Fall 2025.

“I’m deeply humbled and honored to be elected as the next chief judge of the Second District Court of Appeal. I look forward to working with my colleagues and our court staff as we start a new chapter in a new courthouse and serve the people of our district.”

                                                            –  Chief Judge Lucas

Judge Lucas will become the district's thirty-sixth chief judge since the court became operational on July 1, 1957. As chief judge, he will be responsible for all administrative matters in the court.

Judge Lucas was born and raised in Tampa, Florida. He received his B.S. degree in economics, magna cum laude, from Florida State University and his J.D., with honors, from the University of Florida. Governor Rick Scott appointed Judge Lucas to the Second District Court of Appeal in 2014. Before his appointment to the district court, Judge Lucas served as a circuit judge in the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit and as a county judge in Hillsborough County.  Additional information may be found at Judge Matthew C. Lucas - Second District Court of Appeal.

The Court

The Second District Court of Appeal hears appeals of circuit and county court decisions from three of Florida's twenty judicial circuits in the Greater Tampa Bay area, representing nearly four million people. The circuits include the Sixth Judicial Circuit (Pinellas and Pasco counties), the Twelfth Judicial Circuit (Manatee, Sarasota, and DeSoto counties), and The Thirteenth Judicial Circuit (Hillsborough County). In most cases, the district court of appeal is the court of last resort for these appeals. 

In most cases, each case is decided by a panel of three judges, at least two of whom must agree on how that case will be resolved. Infrequently, all of the court's judges will hear and decide a case. Typically, this occurs when the court considers receding from a previous decision by the court because new events have caused the court to view that decision as no longer being an accurate statement of the then-current law.  

The court has fifteen judges. When a vacancy exists, a new judge is appointed by the governor. Newly appointed judges go on the ballot for the first time within two years after appointment for the district's voters to confirm whether that judge should be retained in their position. If the voters retain them, the judges will appear on the ballot every six years.  

The court was established in 1956 in Lakeland. At that time, the court was centrally located within the court's district, which included the territorial jurisdiction of the subsequently established fourth, fifth, and sixth district courts of appeal, headquartered in West Palm Beach, Daytona Beach, and Lakeland, respectively.   

The 2021 legislative session produced the long-awaited approval and funding to build a new courthouse in Pinellas County--The Bernie McCabe Courthouse-- named for the late, longtime, and distinguished State Attorney for the Sixth Judicial Circuit. The following year, the legislative session of 2022 voted to divide the court's then fourteen-county district in half and create a new Sixth District Court of Appeal to be headquartered in Lakeland, beginning on January 1, 2023. 

Starting April 15, 2024, please visit the Appellate Case Information System (ACIS) located at https://acis.flcourts.gov for access to all public dockets. Please note some case dockets and documents may be restricted by rule, statute, or otherwise unavailable to the public. Attorneys of record and self-represented litigants must register to obtain access to documents in their cases. It is important to note that your ACIS account is replacing your eDCA account.  

Attorneys of record who registered with ACIS for access to Supreme Court and/or First, Third, or Fourth DCAs do not need to re-register.  

Access the registration guide here.