About the Law Libraries
Welcome to the Pinellas County Law Libraries Web Site!

We are two public Law Libraries residing in the courthouses in Clearwater, and St. Petersburg with combined holdings of over 50,000 volumes and electronic products. The Libraries are under the Administrative Office of the Courts for the Sixth Judicial Circuit and are dedicated to serving the judiciary, attorneys, self-represented litigants (pro se), other members of the legal community, county departments, and the general public. Use our website to learn about the Law Libraries, our services, and the legal resources in our collections as well as to identify legal sites on the web that may be useful to your research.
History

The county law libraries were created by a special act of the Florida Legislature in 1937 whereby counties having a population of 180,000 people or more were appropriated funds for a law library. Individual Law Libraries were established in Clearwater and St. Petersburg in and about 1950 and at the Criminal Justice Center in 1982. In 1996, through an Interlocal Agreement, Pinellas County and the Sixth Judicial Circuit agreed to cooperate and the three Law Libraries came under the administration of The Honorable Susan F. Schaeffer, Chief Judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit with funds budgeted for the Libraries by the Pinellas Board of County Commissioners.
Law Libraries Board of Trustees

By an administrative order, the Libraries are advised by a Library Board of Trustees whose members are appointed by the Chief Judge, and, represent Pinellas County Government, the Judiciary in Pinellas County, the Clearwater Bar Association, Pinellas Criminal Attorneys, and the St. Petersburg Bar Association. The current Library Board of Trustee members are:

The Honorable Karen Williams Seel,
Pinellas Board of County Commissioners
The Honorable George Jirotka,
Circuit Judge Pinellas County
Michael C. Berry, Sr., Esq.,
Clearwater Bar Representative
Dudley J. Clapp III, Esq.,
Office of the Public Defender
William H. Bartlett, Esq.,
St. Petersburg Bar Association

Mission Statement

The Pinellas County Law Libraries are committed to providing cost effective and timely access to significant print and non-print legal resources at the local, state, and federal level useful to the Courts of the Sixth Judicial Circuit, the practicing Bar, Pinellas County Agencies, and the public in their search for law-related information and their pursuit of justice.