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Post Frequency: 2.6/day Last Entry: November 20, 2009 at 16:45:00 Recent Entries: 885
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Taking Google Scholar Out For A Test Drive.
Posted on November 20, 2009Ok, let's get Rothstein out of the way:John Pacenti and the Herald report on how Scott allegedly bilked this investor just weeks before he took off for Morocco.The purported "investment opportunity" is insultingly stupid:The deal offered a return of eight percent per month for the following four months...
SFL Friday -- "Mad Men" And Scott Rothstein
Posted on November 20, 2009To paraphrase Mark Harris, it seems that Scott Rothstein continues to rule our world.Here's the latest:1. Bill Scherer sues the firm he used to retain for collection matters.Marc Nurik's reaction -- "This is the first I'm hearing of it."(Check out the email Bob Norman dredged up)...
It's Motion to Dismiss Day in Banco Santander Land!
Posted on November 20, 2009Anyone remember that Banco Santander/Madoff suit pending before Judge Huck?Well it looks like the defendants got together and decided to just bombard the court with motions to dismiss.I'm not sure but I think even Judge Huck filed one, that's how many motions there are to wade through...
Latest YouTube Sensation -- Ervin Gonzalez!
Posted on November 19, 2009That's pretty weird.I was searching for a new "cat playing piano" video and somehow ran across Ervin Gonzalez.Not bad Ervin, but a few tips if I may:1. Get up from your desk. These tubes are a fluid medium.2. Why are your hands clasped so much -- express yourself!3...
The Interesting But Really Long Life Story of Michael Chow
Posted on November 19, 2009You know, some idiot bloggers have suggested that certain recent Supreme Court cases have forced litigants to include a lot of extra verbiage in complaints nowadays, most of it entirely irrelevant and unrelated to the actual legal claims for relief.I don't know about you, but now that Alan Kluger is off the Mr...
My Kind of Federal Judge!
Posted on November 19, 2009Sure we have Scott Rothstein and his lovely Tom James clothier Romina Sifuentes, but Louisiana has ED LA judge G. Thomas Porteous Jr.:A federal judge from Louisiana who had run up big gambling debts routinely solicited money and gifts from lawyers with cases before his court, Congressional investigators said Tuesday as the House opened impeachment hearings in the judge?s case...
GrayRobinson Seeks Fees After Removal As Receiver For Alleged Conflict of Interest
Posted on November 18, 2009Remember that old joke about chutzpah?Something along those lines may or may not come to mind when reading this motion for fees filed by GrayRobinson in the Middle District.Even after a contested battle in which Leyza F. Blanco (I like the new picture!) was removed as receiver over an alleged undisclosed conflict of interest, it appears that the firm still seeks to be compensated for the work done on behalf of the receivership...
A Children's Treasury of Kim Rothstein Photographs!
Posted on November 18, 2009I'm bored to bits here.Can someone explain how a lawyer who has accepted voluntary disbarment is still on the 4th DCA JNC and our Governor has "no immediate plans" to remove him?I also love the ridiculous application he made to the Governor for appointment, preceded and followed by boatloads of cash (was any of it his?):"I am driven to insure (sic) the integrity of our judiciary,'' Rothstein wrote...
3d DCA Watch -- Have I Died And Gone to Heaven?
Posted on November 18, 2009You know, I find it more than a little annoying that Scott Rothstein has stolen my 3d DCA "bunker" imagery.It's mine, dammit!You can have Dr. No and his lair, "frickin' sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their frickin' heads", Jack Benny and his vault, but leave our beloved judicial bunker out of it...
RRA Update -- Still Waiting For Ruling On Emergency Enlargement
Posted on November 17, 2009Remember that post from Friday which detailed efforts by RRA lawyers Steve Lippman and Riley Cirulnick to get an emergency enlargement of upcoming deadlines in a matter pending before Judge Cooke?If you'll recall, Matthew S. Nelles at Ruden McClosky opposed the requested enlargement, basically arguing that the discovery deadlines date back to April and the RRA lawyers were dilatory in a number of respects and should have completed the discovery well before the whole Scott Rothstein stuff broke...
Tomorrow Is Such A Long Time
Posted on November 17, 2009Oh Indiana federal district judge David Hamilton, you have been waiting eight months for confirmation to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. You have been endorsed by Indiana's senior Senator Richard Lugar and the Federalist Society of Indiana yet you are about to be filibustered...
Your Handy Glenn Garvin Checklist
Posted on November 17, 2009I lost my breakfast attempting to get through Garvin's column this morning, so I was reluctant to give it another go and actually try to finish the darn thing.But I waited for my lunch to digest, and gave it another crack.Here's a checklist of things I learned from Garvin today:1...
I Love You George L. Metcalfe!
Posted on November 16, 2009No, not in that way.But your extraordinary certainty in the application of God's law to Florida gay adoption issues is either admirable or very scary:Law which accurately contemplated this eventuality for the Jewish people (and the fact that slavery continues even today) is perfect God-given law...
Has the RRA Media Strategy Been Successful?
Posted on November 16, 2009Happy Monday campers.Sad news as retired Judge Leonard Rivkind passed away Saturday. I think it's fair to say everyone has a Judge Rivkind story, and they are all positive. He touched many of us by being a smart, caring, compassionate judge, who will be dearly missed...
Memories....
Posted on November 13, 2009Mike's an excellent photographer and we wish him well and hope he lands on his feet.
"A Good Lawyer Knows The Law, A Great Lawyer Knows The Judge"
Posted on November 13, 2009A few days ago I went off on the generally declining standards in our profession, the business community, and in society as a whole.I heard another piece of those declining standards on WLRN this morning, as Peter Galbraith offered a spirited defense of his undisclosed investments in Kurdish oil fields which will net him $100 million or more...
SFL Friday -- Hitting The Curves Weekend
Posted on November 13, 2009Well it's been an eventful week in the South Florida law biz, and those of you who do not yet have "Rothstein fatigue" soon will before this is all done.If you've wondered what it must be like to be a lawyer trying to service clients in that s*@tstorm, take a look at this emergency motion for enlargement filed by Steve Lippman and Riley Cirulnick in the case I covered earlier (in which lead counsel is none other than Scott W...
Parsing The Fake Judge Marra Order
Posted on November 12, 2009You know, I've been trying to stay away from Rothstein for a least a post or two, and had every intention to do a 3d DCA Watch now that the opinions are up, but these allegedly fake orders in the Ted Morse lawsuit are just too delicious to pass up.Brittany Wallman of the Sun-Sentinel has the story here:The Sun Sentinel Wednesday obtained copies of the fake court orders Morse says he was given, allegedly by Rothstein...
All Hail Village Green Ad Hoc Committee On Rules And Procedures Preservation Society
Posted on November 12, 2009Remember when we discussed the impending changes to the Federal Rules and the adoption of the new "days are days" time calculation standard?Well, even though we live here in South Florida, it appears that things are actually under control, in that Chief Judge Moreno just signed this Administrative Order reconciling our local rules with the new changes...
3d DCA Watch -- Worth The Wait.
Posted on November 12, 2009I got into a debate with someone at the courthouse the other day over which bunker is more secure -- Scott Rothstein's padlocked and elaborately secure Fort Lauderdale lair, or the newly reinforced and fortified judicial bunker by the highway.In many ways they are similar:** armed guards -- check;** intercom and/or pneumatic tube messaging system -- check;** inhabitants garbed in resplendent robes when preparing court orders -- check;** miles of concrete poured for no apparent aesthetic purpose -- check...
Who Are "The Others"?
Posted on November 11, 2009Jordana Mishory lays out the forfeiture complaint filed against Scott Rothstein in today's DBR:Prosecutors said they had probable cause to believe the properties ?were acquired in connection with a Ponzi scheme conducted by attorney Scott Rothstein ....
Veteran's Day
Posted on November 11, 2009Sure I wanted to do a whole post with this whopper of a question from Judge Carol Kelly to the canoodling priest who couldn't resist the sins of earthly temptation: "How does she have emotional control over a priest?'' an incredulous Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Carroll Kelly asked Dueppen...
Love Song For Kim Rothstein
Posted on November 10, 2009Let's see -- is there any non-Scott Rothstein-related news we can talk about?I'm a little pissed Scott hasn't wrote in yet -- you're "in hiding" at the Capital Grille but you can't send a short note to a humble blogger and loyal fan?(Note -- I'm mostly a fan of the family)...
Do You Want To Own A Piece of Lew Freeman?
Posted on November 10, 2009Two independent facts confirm in my mind that it's great to be a lawyer -- (1) an apparent lawyer is suing Twitter on behalf of Levi Johnston; and (2) Governor Crist appointed Scott Rothstein to be on the 4th DCA Judicial Nominating Commission.These are end times, peoples...
Scott Rothstein and the "Grip Flow System"
Posted on November 09, 2009An interesting question is "does Scott practice law"?In an effort to get to the bottom of this question, I took a look on PACER to see if Scott is counsel in any SD FL actions.Surprisingly, Scott appears (still) as counsel of record for plaintiff Edward Bennett involving rights to his patented and trademarked "Grip Flow System...
This is Good Publicity??
Posted on November 09, 2009So Marc Nurik agrees to a Herald interview of his client Scott Rothstein.Scott says "I am sitting here smoking cigars with Marc.'' Rothstein says he's "doing pretty good."Although Rothstein is allegedly cooperating with authorities, Marc denies over Rothstein's background laughter that Scott is talking to them:Rothstein said Sunday he could not disclose his whereabouts because otherwise ``Marc will break my head...
Dwyane Wade Lawsuit Hits Mediation Impasse
Posted on November 06, 2009Anyone wondering what's up with the suit against Dwyane Wade pending before Judge Marra?Last we checked, motions related to the proposed deposition of Pat Riley were pending, and the parties were about to conduct a mediation before Bill Hearon.That was back on September 16...
Scott Rothstein -- Your "Criminal Defense Lawyers Welfare Relief Act"
Posted on November 06, 2009Joel Hirschhorn makes a wise observation:?It?s sort of like the Criminal Defense Lawyers Welfare Relief Act,? he said. ?Basically, anybody who has had a position above a secretary ought to be lawyered up. And even secretaries ought to be cautious of speaking with authorities without counsel...
SFL Friday -- Free Scott Rothstein!!
Posted on November 06, 2009Brian Tannebaum points out that there's not a single lawyer in South Florida who has stepped up to vouch for the character or personal integrity of Scott Rothstein.Think about that.Amid all the near-constant chatter in the South Florida legal community I've not bumped into a single judge or lawyer (let alone a client) who has said -- "hold on, let's see what the evidence is...
Ladies and Gentlemen, Elizabeth du Fresne!
Posted on November 05, 2009One of our more colorful and beloved local attorneys, Elizabeth du Fresne, is featured in this Herald article about her book club, which also includes lots of her delicious food: Begun in 2004, du Fresne's group is the largest, with close to 50 members, though only half attend any one discussion...
Let's Meet Jason Diamond, Ticket Attorney!
Posted on November 05, 2009A very nice fellow named Doug who is a friend of Rumpy and I am sure 100% real (because you can pretty much believe everything you read on these here intertubes) posted this love letter to Broward ticket attorney Jason A. Diamond: Doug said...I have to tell you, this was a great Article and informative...
Sympathy For Scott Rothstein
Posted on November 05, 2009Let me tell you what -- if I have to write another post about Scott Rothstein I'm going to wire $16 million to Morocco, hop on a G-5, and drop a dime on Charlie Crist.So now the circular firing squad is forming, led perhaps by Mark Raymond: Mark F. Raymond, an attorney who specializes in securities litigation at Broad and Cassel, said one investor told him that Rosenfeldt was at an initial meeting in March 2009, at which Rothstein explained structured settlements...
Good Lord Am I Sick of Scott Rothstein!
Posted on November 04, 2009How many news cycles can this story dominate?Scott, this scandal has officially joined the list of Things That I Hate -- in no particular order:1. Flatbread;2. The Case That Dare Not Speak Its Name;3. Any current or former lovers of Drew Barrymore;4...
3d DCA Watch -- "Actions Have Consequences" Edition
Posted on November 04, 2009Well given that there were only three civil opinions released this week and one is a glorified PCA and two are United Auto cases, I thought I would do a short 3d DCA Watch and head over to the Federal Bar luncheon early to see if Judge Jordan wanted to have a quick game of pick up football in the Bankers Club lobby...
Are You Ready For Some More Rothstein?
Posted on November 03, 2009Sheesh, media coverage of our friend Scott Rothstein is reaching almost canoodling beach priest levels -- but without the sexy bikini photos.Raise your hand if you think Scott is returning today from his sojourn in exotic Morocco.(tumbleweed blows slowly across vacant western town...
The Return of Scott Rothstein!
Posted on November 03, 2009His head fully cleared, Scott just touched down from parts unknown and is being whisked to his law firm, which is back to business as usual, if your law firm is routinely surrounded by SWAT teams in bulletproof vests.BTW, Bob Norman's reporting on Scott from the get-go has been exceptional...
Professor Donald Jones Sues ATL!
Posted on November 03, 2009Anyone remember that old arrest involving UM Law Professor D. Marvin Jones?The one everyone told me they already knew about and I was such a schmuck for not being clued in?Yep, that one.Well as David reports here, and our friend Guest Blogger at MaL does too, the ole' Perfesser has decided to go pro se and sue AboveTheLaw in Miami federal court!You can read the complaint here, which is pending before Judge Cooke...
How (Not) To Recuse A Judge
Posted on November 02, 2009So I see that Congress is taking at look at revising the federal recusal guidelines:The House Judiciary Committee, led by Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., is planning a hearing on federal recusal guidelines amid controversies that have swept through state court systems in recent years, culminating in a U...
Blockbuster Allegations At RRA!
Posted on November 02, 2009Happy Monday, folks!I don't know about you, but I woke up full of piss 'n vinegar today.Maybe it was the drive in to downtown this morning.Here's what I brought with me in my luxury hermetically-sealed personal transport vehicle:1. Large cup of freshly-brewed Sumatran coffee;2...
This One's For Scott Rothstein!
Posted on November 02, 2009I got a few requests for a Zep video, and naturally Kashmir sorta seemed right (although it's somewhere near India, not Morocco where Scott is rumored to be, hopefully "clearing his head").But then I came across this video about a lovely train trip through the Moroccan countryside, sung by two very sober and upright gentlemen who obviously are very fond of that country...
SFL Friday -- Happy Halloween, Plebes!
Posted on October 30, 2009Well you know what they say -- "Halloween is for windsurfing" -- so I am going to cut out of here early and catch some glistening, chocolate-covered waves all afternoon.Before I go, I see my crazy-eyed zoftig birther mama caught some more federal judicial flak today, this time coming from C...
"Significant Fee Enhancement" Request Almost Causes Judicial Heart Attack
Posted on October 30, 2009There's been a lot of discussion lately about the bills submitted by receivers and trustees in bankruptcy to compensate lawyers for marshaling up assets.David notes Vanessa Blum's excellent coverage of the recent hearing before Judge Moreno, where Roberto Martinez argued for an $11 million "enhancement" for his and KTT's work on the MBC receivership...
There Was Another Lawyer Who "Attended" Obama's Fundraiser
Posted on October 30, 2009You remember how a bunch of South Florida lawyers got together with former law professor President Obama on Miami Beach a few days ago?Well there was another lawyer there who I forgot to mention, except he was outside demonstrating against the President's visit:Although the president brought good news to Florida, not every one here welcomed his visit...
Dean Hausler Continues Effort to Collect Assets From Cuban Government
Posted on October 29, 2009You may recall the continuing efforts by Roberto Martinez, on behalf of longtime and beloved UM Law School Dean Hausler, to collect on a default judgment against the Cuban government relating to the 1960 torture and death of her brother Bobby Fuller.The latest twist is a case recently removed and pending before Judge King in which Dean Hausler seeks to garnish funds allegedly retained by Tata Communications, a telecommunications company...
Dennis Stackhouse -- A Lawyer's Friend
Posted on October 29, 2009We've previously expressed admiration for Dennis Stackhouse and his endless capacity for litigation, some of which may or may not have involved the great wrestler Dave Batista.Turns out today the State arrested Stackhouse for fraud and grand theft in connection with the troubled never-built, $118 million Poinciana Biopharmaceutical Park that was supposed to spur redevelopment in Liberty City:According to court documents, Stackhouse stole about $990,000 from loans he obtained from the Miami-Dade Empowerment Trust and Tremont Realty Capital LLC in Boston...
BREAKING -- Supreme Court Rules for Robert E. Lee!
Posted on October 29, 2009I guess it has been kinda slow around here when I am headlining a case from 1882, but what the hail.This month's Smithsonian Magazine has a fascinating account of the history of Arlington National Cemetery, which was formerly the estate of General Robert E...
Judge Ryskamp Affirmed In Reducing FLSA Attorney's Fee Request
Posted on October 28, 2009Boy oh boy, posts about two of my favorite subjects all in one day.I know -- going to the well.So you guys remember the time Judge Ryskamp slashed fees in a FLSA case by 60 percent because of excessive requests for extension of time to respond to discovery?You're right, let me be more specific:The Court is concerned, however, that the total number of hours claimed, 547...
3d DCA Watch -- Safe Inside The Bunker Again!
Posted on October 28, 2009Yes, folks, the moment we have been waiting for has finally arrived -- the long national nightmare of having to pay for your own parking at the 3d DCA has come to its own inglorious end, not with a bang but with these few simple words:Beginning Monday, October 26, 2009 the Court will resume hearing oral arguments at the courthouse located at 2001 S...
Congress Held An Iqbal Party!
Posted on October 28, 2009I had some time on my hands yesterday, so I went ahead and did a Jay Z-White Album-style mashup of the Congressional testimony on Iqbal yesterday and John Lennon's seminal Plastic Ono Band album from 1970 -- it starts with a gong and a raspy-voiced John primal screaming "Mama don't GOOOOOOOOOO!!, Iqbal stay home" and ends with Lennon cooing to Arlen Specter "Rule 8 and me, that's reality...
A Tale of Two Lawyers And President Obama -- OK, Three Lawyers.
Posted on October 27, 2009So you probably heard our President was in town yesterday for a fundraiser on Miami Beach.Two South Florida lawyers had very different reactions.Here's one from Kirk Wagar in today's NYT:?We could have the president here twice a month and we?d have great events,? said Kirk Wagar, a Miami lawyer who served as a finance chairman of Mr...
Should Lawyers Tell Jokes?
Posted on October 27, 2009That's the question raised by the above video appearing on a new YouTube-like site for lawyers called LegalTube.Ok, it's mildly funny but am I missing something? Is this supposed to be a marketing tool?I'll stick with Carlin for now.Then there's this profile of Doral lawyers Michael Wermuth and Ricardo Gonzalez from today's Herald...
UF Frat Permitted to Be Most Boring In Nation!
Posted on October 27, 2009I don't know about you, but I don't recall Charlie Crist or my rush hazing to be anything like this wholesome little frat at UF, which is the subject of this 11th Circuit opinion today written by Judge Tjoflat:BYX is a national fraternity founded in 1985...
Ben Kuehne Freed!!!
Posted on October 26, 2009Well, not quite (it's kinda my version of the "CASTRO ALMOST DEAD" teasers the Herald has been feeding readers every couple of months for the last decade or so).Still, as David says, let's hope the feds dismiss the rest of the case.Nice opinion by Judge Barkett, which concludes that Judge Cooke's opinion below was "eminently correct...
UM's Foreclosure Fellowship Program Gets National Attention
Posted on October 26, 2009It's nice to see a good idea reach fruition, as is the case with UM Law Professor Michael Froomkin's Foreclosure Fellowships, which received national attention in this Time article:That specter of judicial paralysis helped spur UM law professor Michael Froomkin to create the foreclosure defense program...
Sign of the Times -- Robert Zarco Abandons Extravagant Travel Policy
Posted on October 26, 2009Hi folks!So overall it was a pretty good football weekend, no?Not to get all Iqbal-centric on a bright Monday morning, but I see that the House Judiciary Committee will be holding hearings this week on the dreadfully imprecise Iqbal pleading standard...
Judges Still Mastering New "Email" Technology.
Posted on October 23, 2009I was in a pretty surly mood when I came in this morning, what with the continued news of layoffs and terminations -- just this week we had Foley & Lardner, SSD, and the continued reports of drips and drabs at Akerman.But like they say about the weather in New England, if you don't like it just wait a while:Faber, elected in 2006, said in his memo that the old system, which would have ignored Arzola?s years on the county bench, was ?demeaning? to Arzola...
SFL Friday -- Sand Pebbles Edition
Posted on October 23, 2009Well kids it's the end of another work week (unless you are working all weekend or don't have a job at all), so I'm flying the coop to catch some late afternoon waves.One thing I won't be doing is spending two weeks with sand in my shorts (if someone can tell me how to upload docs I could have broken that story with help from a certain Guest Blogger)...
You Don't Want My Metadata.
Posted on October 23, 2009A few years ago everyone wanted to talk about "metadata."There were CLE seminars on it, papers, you name it.Of course the Florida Bar got involved and the Florida Bar Board of Governors held a conference and naturally everyone got very worried about it -- so worried that several of the board members hadn't heard the word "metadata" until the meeting in which they immediately voted to denounce it...
Lawyer Spotlight -- Steven Marks
Posted on October 22, 2009Steven sure has generated a lot of news recently.First, there's the $22.5 billion Bank of New York Russian customs case, which settled for $14 million (prior coverage here).Then there was Judge Huck's ruling in the Dole matter, which has a number of facts that aren't too hot, as noted by CNNMoney's Roger Parloff:The broad terms of Huck's ruling make its reasoning virtually certain to control the outcome of a companion DBCP case known as Herrera Rios v...
"Days Are Days" (UPDATED)
Posted on October 22, 2009I don't know about you, but a significant part of my day consists of haranguing my paralegals and young associates regarding calendaring of motions and response times.Frankly, it's often a highlight -- watching them use their hands, fingers, and other body parts to count, forgetting holidays no one knew existed, and getting wrong which day to start or stop counting and why...
I'm Sick To Death of "IMPORTANT NOTICES OF REDACTION RESPONSIBILITY" And Other News
Posted on October 21, 2009Listen, I understand it's not a good thing to publish Social Security numbers or other personal information in public forums (hey, that's what Facebook is for!), so I get why CM/ECF has recently started to highlight that issue.But every single time you log in? You mean we all will have to separately click that box for the rest of our legal career, every single time, every single day we try to access PACER -- perhaps thousands upon thousands of times?I guess we really are that dumb...
3d DCA Watch -- Judge Salter Takes His Foot Off The Brakes Edition
Posted on October 21, 2009Hi kids, well it was a busy day in the temporary bunker, what with the now nearly frenetic coffee-swilling, the elaborate robing ceremonies that occur more and more frequently throughout the day, and of course FIU's refusal to comp the lawyers for free parking, so let's get right to it:Ramos v...
Michael Pizzi's Law Office Ablaze!
Posted on October 21, 2009That blue-eyed Mayor and talk show host, Michael Pizzi, found out late last night that his Miami Lakes law office was mysteriously ablaze.According to a spokesman from Miami Lakes interviewed by CBS4, the police suspect possible arson.Michael claims he "will not be deterred...
It's Here, It's Here, It's Finally Here!!!
Posted on October 20, 2009Hoo boy I feel like a kid who opened up his Hanukkah present two months early and -- instead of some slacks and a nice belt -- found a bottle of Malaccan gin and Bo Derek holding two glasses and wearing nothing but a smile and some windsurfing gear.Wow that got a little weird, I better start again...
11th Circuit Tip To Aspiring Litigants -- Don't Get Assaulted At A Strip Club
Posted on October 20, 2009There are few certainties in life, but one universal rule seems constant -- if you refuse to leave a strip club at closing time, you will in fact get the s$#t beat out of you.The 11th Circuit upholds the validity of this maxim in an unpublished opinion affirming Judge Marra's summary judgment in a case involving the company Seductions LLC, which appears to be doing business as Hotties Gentlemen Club/Goldfellas:Mauricio Arana was injured in 2006 when Seductions employees allegedly beat and threw him out of the company?s nightclub after he refused to leave at closing time...
Glenn Garvin Equates Rush Limbaugh With "My Humps"
Posted on October 20, 2009Alanis Morissette parodie "My Humps"by ineptiqueToday's Glenn Garvin op-ed epitomizes everything that is wrong with his columns:1. It is at least three media cycles too late.2. It is riddled with factual and logical errors; and3. See first two points above...
Two Phrases That Do Not Belong Together -- "Lew Freeman" and "Taint Team"
Posted on October 19, 2009Hi folks!So the kids are home, but the judges and lawyers are not (I can tell from all those ECF filing notices), which means we all have to work today.First off -- did anyone catch Shakira's performance on Saturday Night Live?It was a bit of a mixed bag, in that I couldn't believe a member of her band was actually playing a Keytar (a fancy new version btw), and yet --criminally -- the Keytarist was not allowed to deliver a mindblowing, gesture-filled epic guitarlike solo! What the hail?Still, baby steps, baby steps...
Count Your Pennies -- All Good Jews Do!
Posted on October 19, 2009Sorry folks, long day and I'm out of here.Before I leave, I want to thank South Carolina for just being South Carolina -- it makes being a Floridian seem not quite as bad:After a Democratic state senator wrote in The State that DeMint didn't bring enough money back home, Bamberg County GOP Chairman Edwin Merwin and Orangeburg County GOP Chairman James Ulmer responded that he was just looking after the nation's pennies -- like a Jew would...
It Makes No Difference
Posted on October 17, 2009The Band (minus Robby, who went "all Hollywood") in Japan, 1983.Rick Danko RIP.I may be mistaken, but I believe that is the Florida Justice Institute's Randy Berg joining the boys on sax at approximately 5:19 in.
SFL Friday -- The Continued Return of George L. Metcalfe (But Also Tania deLuzuriaga!!)
Posted on October 16, 2009Well kids, I'm heading out of here shortly and after a busy week a man's gotta windsurf where a man's gotta windsurf.And, according to George L. Metcalfe's most recent letter in the The Florida Bar News, men may never windsurf in the company of other men:In creation and throughout at least a 5,000-year history, God has kept children and homosexual adults separated...
Lew Freeman's Business Placed In Receivership
Posted on October 16, 2009Wow, Jordana Mishory reports this shocker:In a stunning collapse, South Florida attorney and receiver Lewis Freeman went to court today to put his firm out of business and liquidate amid a federal investigation trying to trace $3.6 million from accounts overseen by the firm...
Gather Round, Children!
Posted on October 16, 2009And read Middle District of Georgia Judge Clay Land's sanctions order against Ms. Birther, California lawyer Orly Taitz (thanks for posting, Marco!).I particularly like the way Judge Land handles the recusal motion, which is in part based on an affidavit asserting that Judge Land met personally with US Attorney General Eric Holder in a coffee shop across the street from the courthouse:In support of this accusation, counsel submits the affidavit of Robert D...
Appoint More Federal Judges (And Pay Them More Too)
Posted on October 16, 2009As I mentioned the other day, judges are frequently clueless about how much money it takes to litigate a case. The issue often arises when they are asked to approve counsel fees, and fail to inquire of opposing counsel how much they spent to litigate the exact same case...
Mr. Chow Substitutes Bertram Fields for Alan Kluger!
Posted on October 15, 2009I don't know, is my coverage of this Mr. Chow suit pending before Judge Hoeveler getting borderline chronic?We saw what happened when I tried to delve into the hot monkey judicial love that is ERISA.So let's get back to my mespucha Alan.WHOA -- no more Alan:Plaintiffs Michael Chow, known as ?Mr...
Judge Carnes Continues Trend of Discursive Opening Paragraphs
Posted on October 15, 2009Judge Carnes is sure on a roll.Yesterday we wrote about the opening of his opinion in Stein, which crisply distilled the entire history of American real estate into a single pithy and readable paragraph.Today the Judge starts an opinion by likening a debt collector's efforts to rely on the "bona fide error" defense under the FDCPA to America's bloody involvement in the Vietnam War:In an oft-repeated statement from the Vietnam War, an unidentified American military officer reputedly said that ?we had to destroy the village to save it...
Today's Entertainment Schmooze For Jews
Posted on October 15, 2009Anyone remember Entertainment News and Views?It was a local publication with news and notes, mostly catered to the older condo crowd of Hallandale, Aventura and Broward.We called it "entertainment schmooze for Jews."I got thinking about that rag after hearing this great NPR report on the demise of the classic Jewish Deli...
3d DCA Watch -- Don't Follow Leaders, YOU MUST PAY YOUR PARKING METERS Edition
Posted on October 14, 2009Hi folks!I was in a pretty good mood for a while there.For example, after court this morning I took a lovely stroll along the Miami River, and decided to sit and smoke a nice cigar at this bench along the water (see above photo).Look at that wonderful "litter art" the city has strewn about the area for our olfactory and visual amusement!And the homeless and/or vaguely menacing gentlemen who continually approached me as I sat amid the city-provided artwork?I imagined they were all Audio-Animatronic figures, you know like from Disney's The Hall of Presidents, and that made their noises and gestures all seem hip, cool and retro/futuristic...
Has The Eleventh Circuit "Channeled" Classic Styx?
Posted on October 14, 2009I wonder what tomorrow has in mind for meOr am I even in it's mind at allPerhaps I'll get a chance to look ahead and seeSoon as I find myself a crystal ballSoon as I find myself a crystal ballTell me, tell me where I'm goingI don't know where I've beenTell me, tell me, won't you tell meAnd then tell me againMy heart is breaking, my body's achingAnd I don't know where to goTell me, tell me, won't you tell meI've just got to knowCrystal ballThere's so many things I need to knowCrystal ballThere's so many things I've got to knowCrystal ballJohn Pacenti does a nice write up of the 11th Circuit's latest ILSA opinion...
Robert Zarco Claims Another Scalp!
Posted on October 13, 2009I'm still reeling from the wealth on display at Bob Zarco's house from his appearance on Joan Rivers' How'd You Get So Rich?(Oy Bob, that mural!)We also know that Bob only stays at 5-star hotels.But today we learn that he's also taken down the GC of Dunkin' Donuts:The doughnut chain has reportedly filed more than 350 lawsuits against its franchisees...
Fast Zombies Suck!
Posted on October 13, 2009Before we turn to, you know, legal issues, let's dispense with today's Glenn Garvin.....Hey now! You know what they say -- a blind pig finds a broken clock twice a day inside an acorn, or something, but Glenn actually is right -- this show is awesome (I watched it this morning on video-on-demand)...
It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Large Legal Fee To Cry.
Posted on October 12, 2009Legal bills remind me of the old Groucho Marx quip to the great New Yorker essayist S.J. Perelman -- "From the moment I picked up your book until I put it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Some day I intend reading it."But it's true -- I think many judges and certainly clients often don't realize how expensive litigation is nowadays...
Matt Staver Wants You To Pray For The "Unknown Liberal"
Posted on October 12, 2009I see that activist Orlando lawyer and Liberty Counsel chairman Mathew D. Staver has an exciting new prayer-in-action program:Here's How it Works... Pick one or more of the liberals from the list we have posted online at www.LC.org, or choose your own liberal(s) to adopt...
There's Something Different About These Photos
Posted on October 12, 2009I don't know, I can't quite put my finger on it.
Late Night Sunday
Posted on October 11, 2009Anyone remember the name of the Broward club they played at during their first US tour in 1979?
SFL Friday -- My Neuron Loves Your Neuron Edition.
Posted on October 09, 2009Hi kids!Speaking of the 11th Circuit and Judge Barkett, she just issued a very well-written forum non ruling, affirming Judge Ungaro's dismissal involving the West Caribbean Airways plane crash that went down in the mountains of Venezuela.One interesting fact I didn't know -- Martinique is technically still an official Department of the Republic of France...
Today's Digital Dumptruck
Posted on October 09, 2009Well, you know I need a steam shovel mama to keep away the deadI need a dump truck mama to unload my headShe brings me everything and more, and just like I saidWell, if I go down dyin', you know she bound to put a blanket on my bed.I've got a lot clanging around in my head this morning, and no desire or inclination to organize any of it in a coherent fashion...
ERISA!! (PACER Surfing Thursday)
Posted on October 08, 2009You heard me, I'm talking ERISA.ERISA!!Fed law clerks, you know what I'm talking about. You got to admit it, you get a little excited when you see a complaint come in and it deals with that provocative statute on steroids.In fact I'll go so far as to say that an ERISA case is nearly as exciting as a social security appeal -- minus all the sexiness and bodice-ripping drama...
Oy With This Justice Scalia!
Posted on October 08, 2009I don't think Justice Scalia has visited too many Jewish cemeteries:"The cross doesn't honor non-Christians who fought in the war?" Scalia asks, stunned. "A cross is the predominant symbol of Christianity, and it signifies that Jesus is the son of God and died to redeem mankind for our sins," replies Eliasberg, whose father and grandfather are both Jewish war veterans...
A Heartwarming Baseball Story!
Posted on October 08, 2009You know the drill -- peanuts and Crackerjack, America's pastime, Babe Ruth, a desperately poor city going further in depth to fund a privately-owned stadium that will be outmoded the second it opens (the county bond repayment in 2044 -- when the stadium is 30 plus years old -- will be $144 million) etc...
3d DCA Watch -- These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things
Posted on October 07, 2009Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudelsDoorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodlesDefaults and defective proposals to settleThese are a few of my favorite thingsHi kids, I've been humming that song all day -- the lid has been lifted, the coffee has been swilled, and the written utterances are again wafting their way north from the temporary judicial bunker located somewhere deep beneath the FIU campus...
Jackie Bueno Sosa Doesn't Like Lawyers (And Mike Haggard In Particular).
Posted on October 07, 2009Herald columnist Jackie Bueno Soso goes off on the mom of slain Coral Gables High student Juan Carlos Rivera because she has hired Mike Haggard to investigate a possible lawsuit:In the United States, public sympathy has an inverse correlation to the number of lawyers who surround you when you appear in public...
Greenberg Traurig Compared to Grisham's "The Firm"?
Posted on October 06, 2009Well, consider me stunned.I am shocked -- shocked mind you -- that in this excellent Herald article on Carlos Loumiet and his disgraced client R. Allen Stanford, there is nary a single mention of The World's Finest Legal Anecdote.Bowman, you broke my heart...
3d DCA Watch -- Judge Schwartz Explains The "Ground" of Benevolence And Compassion.
Posted on September 30, 2009Hi kids!I just started R. Crumb's newly published book -- four years in the making -- which is an illustrated word-for-word graphic retelling of the entire Book of Genesis.Here is Amazon's blurb on it:This eagerly awaited graphic work retells the first book of the Bible in a profoundly honest way...
Settlements: Sometimes A Good Thing.
Posted on September 29, 2009The always intrepid Julie Kay gets to the bottom of the $4.9 million malpractice verdict against Becker & Poliakoff.Apparently, Becker & Poliakoff stepped in to pursue malpractice claims against Ruden McClosky:The roots of the discrimination case began when Young and 55 other plaintiffs sued BellSouth, alleging failure to promote blacks to management...
Tuesday Roundup -- This One's For George.
Posted on September 29, 2009Ok, I'm going to try hard this morning to provide nothing but real serious legal news, so everyone can bill 1.8 hours for reviewing this crap.Let's start with Chinese Drywall.Everyone knows it's no fun to sue Chinese defendants.Still, I was a bit surprised to see plaintiffs' lawyers talking about seizing ships that transported the drywall:Herman said plaintiffs' lawyers were up to the challenge...
Glenn Garvin Definitely Does Not Want To Get Ourselves Back to the Garden.
Posted on September 28, 2009As Eye on Miami points out, we happen to be fortunate to live between two beautiful but fragile and endangered national parks -- yet this Glenn Garvin rant leads the Herald's coverage of the stunning new documentary series on the national parks system by Ken Burns, which debuted on PBS last night:But actually it's parks that are unnatural...
Alan Kluger Opens Second Front in Chow War
Posted on September 28, 2009Hmm, I'm no amateur WWII scholar (ok, I am), but last I checked it's not that good an idea to open up a second front while merry olde England is still alive and somehow surviving -- you know, blood, toil, tears and sweat and all that.Yet Alan Kluger's war against the allegedly fake Mr...
Scott Rothstein Thinks Your Goatee Lacks 'Tude!
Posted on September 27, 2009Would you want to work at a firm where the boss personally evaluates your facial hair?You would if you work at Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler:He will only let his underlings grow facial hair, for example, if they have the right attitude. ``I had one young attorney who wanted to grow a goatee,'' Rothstein says...
Proposed Clause Referencing Bob Josefsberg Removed From Non-Prosecution Agreement.
Posted on September 25, 2009I'll leave it to the defense lawyers to comment on the overall approach taken here but this proposed language on settling several related civil suits sure seems unusual:On its first draft in September 2007, it required that Epstein pay an attorney - tapped by the U...
SFL Friday -- Have An Awesomest Day of Atonement!
Posted on September 25, 2009Well kids I plan to scoot out of here shortly, to begin my long solemn weekend regimen of prayer, reflection, and expanding my abdomen, so let's take a quick look at what is happening around town.I see Bill Amlong has a good case against fancy Fort Lauderdale private school St...
Judge Frank M. Hull Has A New Look?
Posted on September 24, 2009Lots of coverage of the oral argument before the 11th in Ben Kuehne's case, including this nice piece by John Pacenti, which quotes our own David O. Markus:Miami criminal defense attorney David O. Markus, who helped write an amicus brief on Kuehne?s case for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said he was optimistic that Cooke?s rulings will be upheld...
Let's Get Physical!
Posted on September 23, 2009Hey, what do you know -- my friend Greg Ward is now a fitness instructor in the evening:Ask a worker why they haven't exercised and the answer almost is automatic: I don't have time. It's the reason why more Americans desperately are turning to diet pills...
3d DCA Watch -- "Sword-Wielders" vs. "Prime Movers" Edition
Posted on September 23, 2009Hi kids, well the sun is shining, the per curiams are flowing, and thus all is well in my world.Before we jump right in and drink deeply from the sweet judicial well of written utterances, I note that there is yet another revised set of directions for getting to the relocated 3d DCA for oral argument...
Your Obligatory Iqbal Update and Other Random Items.
Posted on September 22, 2009Hi, did you know that in just four months Iqbal has already produced more than 1500 district court and 100 appellate decisions?Hmm, if Iqbal were a type of bread, what type would it be?Ok, let me translate it into something even you ham-and-schleppers can understand -- Iqbal is like the Lindsay Lohan of Supreme Court opinions -- a once promising young talent who has descended into a desperate drug-induced haze of oddball wildchild Scalia-like excess...
Glenn Garvin, Man of Peace.
Posted on September 22, 2009Say what you want about the rest of Garvin's silly column today, but at least he ends with something I can agree with:The unavoidable fact is that there is a rich history of violence on the fringes of both sides of the American political spectrum. The right, as liberals are fond of pointing out, has Timothy McVeigh and James Earl Ray...
How Not To Find Clients.
Posted on September 22, 2009Jay Weaver reports on the latest alleged hospital records-purchasing scheme: Maria Victoria Suarez was added to an indictment that charges her and husband Ruben E. Rodriguez with paying a JMH ultrasound technician $1,000 a month for the hospital records of hundreds of patients treated for slip-and-fall accidents, car crash injuries, gunshot wounds and stabbings, federal authorities said...
Sew Sory Jugdge'; Eye Dont Spelle To Guude!
Posted on September 21, 2009Ever have your pleadings redlined by a federal judge?You have if you are Daytona lawyer David W. Glasser, who unfortunately ran straight into the red, rich and flowing editing pen of Middle District Judge Gregory A. Presnell.You can see the judge's handiwork here...
Dear NFL, Welcome To State Court!
Posted on September 21, 2009So I understand some football was played this weekend?And some more will be played tonight, it seems.Meanwhile the NFL is reeling from this 8th Circuit opinion released last week that allows players to challenge drug tests under their own state laws.Preemption is great! (Unless it's bad)...
SFL Friday Supplement -- It's 5770 Baby!
Posted on September 18, 2009Ok, this time I really am heading off to launch my Days of Awe tour (btw, I have confirmed that dry gin is 100% parve) but before I go I wanted to mention a few things.Did you all see that Joe DeMaria filed what looks like a pretty good lawsuit (if he can prove up the damages)?And Debevoise, who is not (yet) named in Joe's suit, has its own worries...
SFL Friday -- Happy Rosh Hashanah, You Plebes!
Posted on September 18, 2009Well kids it's that time of the year again, when God opens up that big book of names, and he's making a list, and he's checking it twice, and he's gonna find out who's naughty or nice...Oops, wrong holiday.I'm in the middle of David Cross' hilarious new book, I Drink For A Reason, so believe me I understand the problems rational folks have with religion...
Don't Blame Us -- Blame Romeo The "Rogue" Lawyer.
Posted on September 17, 2009For all you Becker & Poliakoff fans, there is this:A West Palm Beach woman said she was victimized by BellSouth when she worked for the phone company, and then victimized again by her own attorneys, who messed up her case and hid the mistake from her until it was too late...
Six Reasons I Will Not Be Blogging This Morning.
Posted on September 17, 2009Hi kids, here they are:1. I just had new speakers installed at my office and I plan to blare Quadrophenia at excessive volumes so the new associates stay way the hail out of my way (note to sweet kitchen lady -- you can still bring in the cafecito at 10:30)...
3d DCA Watch -- (Possibly) Upholding A Serious Wrong Edition
Posted on September 16, 2009Well kids it's time to take a deep breath and breathe breathe breathe, in and out, visualize, close your eyes and inhale slowly as you imagine yourself as a cork on the ocean, drifting ever so slightly across a judicial sea, a calm and peaceful sea, where there are frolicking dolphins and rainbows and lollipops and Judge Schwartz and...
Smiles, Everyone!
Posted on September 16, 2009We've previously written about the $22.5 billion RICO suit that Podhurst's Steven Marks brought in Russia against the Bank of New York Mellon, which involved an expert affidavit by none other than Michael Hanzman.Forbes previously reported that the plaintiffs were looking at something like $800 million as a reasonable settlement figure...
Forum Nons Are Funny Things
Posted on September 15, 2009Remember that Chevron suit in Ecuador that Glenn Garvin wrote about recently? (We gave our take about it here).Glenn basically accused the lawyers bringing the suit of carpetbagging, filing the case down there when the politics of that country started to take a leftward tilt...
Pat Riley Would Rather Not Be Deposed.
Posted on September 15, 2009So Dwyane Wade and his Bilzen attorney Mike Kreitzer are gearing up for a big mediation tomorrow before Bill Hearon that may resolve a number of lawsuits pending against the Heat megastar:Wade attorney Michael Kreitzer said the Heat star wants all issues on the table...
When Lawyers Blog
Posted on September 14, 2009As Mr. Markus notes, the Broward Blog and allegedly intemperate judicial commenter Sean Conway made the front page of the Sunday NYT:For his part, Mr. Conway noted that the judge he criticized was reprimanded last year by the Florida Supreme Court, which affirmed a state panel?s criticism of what it called an ?arrogant, discourteous and impatient? manner with lawyers in another case...
Thank Goodness For Julie Kay.
Posted on September 11, 2009Forget Tom Scott, if I were Judge Gold I would appoint the intrepid Julie Kay to figure out what the hail is happening here:?I don?t know why it has risen to this level,? said Concepcion, lead counsel for the Elliotts. ?This is one of those unfortunate cases where the animosity has spilled over to the attorneys...
SFL Friday -- Perform Some Public Service, Plebes!
Posted on September 11, 2009Well kids today is Friday but it's also the eighth anniversary of 9/11.Talk about cognitive dissonance.It's a shame that eight years later the legacy of 9/11 can be polarizing to some.Still, for a moment put aside the regrettable politicization and manipulation, and remember the lives lost, the heroes found, the challenges our nation faced that day and those we will continue to face and must defeat in order preserve our sometimes-flawed but great democracy...
PACER Surfing Thursday -- Sorry About That, Chief!
Posted on September 10, 2009Dear Judge Graham and Magistrate Judge Torres:It is with some regret that I must write you both in relation to the docket in Appel v. Liberty American Insurance Company.Perhaps I am reading it wrong, but there appears to be some kind of misunderstanding...
Remember Frank Guerra?
Posted on September 10, 2009I was reading this article about more foreclosure problems at downtown's Wind By Neo (a beautiful building, btw) when something familiar caught my eye:On Sept. 2, Wachovia filed a foreclosure action against Neo Epoch 1 and managing members Frank Guerra, Lissette M...
Help Wanted -- Loring Spolter Is Looking For Someone to Bounce Ideas Off Of.
Posted on September 09, 2009Poor Fort Lauderdale attorney Loring Spolter.All he did was suggest to Judge Zloch that he is biased and cherry picks cases so he can further his conservative, anti-employment plaintiffs' agenda:Fort Lauderdale lawyer Loring Spolter said the former chief judge allows his religious and conservative views to color his decisions...
3d DCA Watch -- I Believe Edition!
Posted on September 09, 2009Hi kids, the concrete bunker of justice is undergoing renovations, and will soon be even more fortified and concrete-like if that's possible.So rejoice rejoice (you have no choice)!In the meantime, the coffee must be swilled, the robes must be resplendent, the judicial wisdom must be closely rationed and dispensed only in small doses and only on Wednesdays and -- oh yeah -- Judge Schwartz must on occasion dissent:Prebkevitz v...
Gunster Yoakley Gets Some Good Press.
Posted on September 08, 2009Did you all catch the story Sunday in the Herald regarding George LeMieux's law firm, Gunster Yoakley, and their recent dealings:The law firm, chaired by LeMieux, helped foreign workers get visas last fall to help build a hotel and condos in Miami, depriving dozens of Floridians jobs at a time of rising unemployment...
Obama and Mandela and Castro, Together Again.
Posted on September 05, 2009Remember when noted Radical Black Communist Nelson Mandela came to Miami, and our public officials earned everlasting international scorn by acting like a complete bunch of close-minded, reactionary idiots?Well we have another noted Radical Black Communist who wants to spread his message all over our kids, so let's dust off the Mandela playbook:But Miami-Dade schools will not mass broadcast the speech, spokesman John Schuster said...
SFL Friday -- O Canada Labor Day Weekend Edition
Posted on September 04, 2009Have you guys seen this new 11th Circuit opinion from Judge Carnes on Tenet Health Care, affirming an sj and bad Daubert ruling against plaintiff Boca Raton Community Hospital?I love the first paragraph:More than a hundred years ago the mother of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale, observed: ?It may be a strange principle to enunciate as the very first requirement in a Hospital that it should do the sick no harm...
Lew Freeman Officially Retires 'Titanic' Metaphor; Now Trying Out Classic TV References
Posted on September 04, 2009Everyone by now is familiar with Lew Freeman's love of Titanic metaphors. You can see a few of Lew's greatest Titanic hits here, here and here.But like any good stand-up or forensic accountant, you got to keep your material fresh.Making tentative baby steps, Lew recently branched out from the "nautical disaster" metaphor genre and went straight for the popular backed up sewage reference...
Scratch Ecuador From Your Kinney Analysis.
Posted on September 03, 2009Next time some defendant wants to argue that the legal system of a South American country is perfectly suitable to handle the lawsuit and therefore the case must be dismissed under a Kinney forum non analysis, just show the court this:The latest turn of events has Chevron and its lawyers from Jones Day firing back against 30,000 plaintiffs, their lawyers and the Ecuadorean legal system...
Steve Zack Explains How He Broke Leg -- You Gotta Hear This Story!
Posted on September 03, 2009Oh this is a kneeslapper, you know Steve Zack?Here's the latest -- he broke his fibula.Why, may you ask, is that interesting or even arguably newsworthy?Here's why -- you're not going to believe how it happened:``Silliest thing. There was loose gravel over a road...
3d DCA Watch -- I'm Only Sleeping Edition
Posted on September 02, 2009Hi kids!For once Tallahassee kept their grubby hands out of it and thus the carefully packaged written utterances have been released from the concrete bunker precisely on schedule, much like well-timed stink bombs at a high school assembly.So let us not prevaricate, as it is notably apodictic that we are poised to decline the parties' invitation...
Checking Up on Mr. Chow.
Posted on September 02, 2009An inquisitive reader asks, "what's up with the Mr. Chow lawsuit"?My answer -- what am I, Action Line?Still, my job here is to inform, so let's a peek...What do you know, Mr. Chow (represented by Alan Kluger) has filed a response to the defendant's motion to dismiss, and it contains this blockbuster statement about current federal pleading standards:Inexplicably, Defendants suggest that Plaintiffs should have attached their evidentiary proof in support of their claims to the complaint itself, as they pointedly emphasize that ?Plaintiffs[] fail[] to attach any documents in support of its [sic] claims? to the Amended Complaint...
Cohiba Cigars and Lattes? It's Miami, Your Honor!
Posted on September 01, 2009It's pretty well known that all lawyers in Miami do all day is smoke Cuban cigars and drink lattes.That's why we're too busy to answer the phone when the judge calls for a telephonic hearing. And there's definitely no way I'm shutting down my WoW browser just because chambers is on the line...
Plea to Miami Herald -- Good Lord, Please Don't Publish This Richard Cohen Column!
Posted on September 01, 2009We all know the Miami Herald publishes old WP opinion columns long after they have been widely circulated and debunked on the tubes, I guess because they figure some old lady in Westchester doesn't have online access and therefore cannot learn what David Broder thinks about bipartisanship in real-time...
Tips For Young Lawyers -- Broward Edition.
Posted on September 01, 2009A spy report from inside Judge Zeller's courtroom this morning, all regarding one lawyer who shall remain nameless:1. Try to be on time.Coming 20 minutes late and making your way through a crowded courtroom while the judge is speaking is probably a bad idea...
Foreclosure Follies -- State Court Update
Posted on August 31, 2009Anybody who's been in state court lately knows the burdens of the foreclosure docket on the judges, clerks, staff, and of course the civil lawyers. It's a mess out there.It's unclear whether the forced mediation route will lessen the overload, though it does hold some promise: A task force convened by the Florida Supreme Court to examine the foreclosure crisis has endorsed that model, likening it to "off-ramps to get traffic off the road...
Robbery Suspect Denounces Robbery Investigation As "Unwise."
Posted on August 31, 2009Oy did I wake up pissed off this morning.But then I read John Pacenti's tremendous column today and learned that former prosecutor Sean Cronin, who got into such hot water for his shockingly poor judgment during the Ali Shaygan trial before Judge Gold (now on appeal), is actually working on Gitmo cases!?!?!Thanks John, now I feel a whole lot better...
Probably Not Good to Be "Outside Attorney A."
Posted on August 28, 2009Former CFO for R. Allen Stanford, Jim Davis, pleaded guilty to fraud yesterday.This is probably not good news for Proskauer's Tom Sjoblom, who the WSJ Law Blog has written is most likely "Outside Attorney A" in the Davis plea agreement.Here's just some of the fun stuff detailed by the Law Blog from the agreement:For starters, Sjoblom comes across in the agreement as a fervent defender of Stanford International Bank as early as 2006...
BREAKING -- Pepe Le Pew Named New US Senator!
Posted on August 28, 2009So I see everybody is buzzing about that French love-sick skunk being named the new US Senator from Florida.....Huh? You mean it's not...?Oops -- apparently the new US Senator is in fact Gunster chairman and former Crist chief of staff George LeMieux...
SFL Friday -- School's Out, Plebs! (Until Monday)
Posted on August 28, 2009So how many of you survived the first week?Let me rephrase -- how many of you survived the first week sober?Ok, so none of us did.Still, it's Friday afternoon and that means no one is paying any attention to what they are working on anymore.Just file the motion or response you have been editing and cut out already! The partner's gone, the judge is gone, the clerks are there but they stopped working, opposing counsel won't read anything until Monday, possibly Tuesday -- get the hail out of here...
A Full Service Firm, Providing A Wide Range of Legal Services to All Our Ice Delivery Truck Clients!
Posted on August 27, 2009How'd you like to have a practice that does nothing other than service condo associations in the middle of this real estate meltdown?Meet Robert Kaye:Kaye is a partner with Kaye & Bender law firm in Fort Lauderdale. The full-service commercial law firm represents more than 600 condominium and homeowner associations in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties...
Random Thoughts In My Head.
Posted on August 27, 2009I'm having some trouble organizing my thoughts this morning, so let me just lay out what's jogging around in my brain right now.....you guys tell me if any of this is somehow related:You know there's something wrong with Iqbal when Judge Posner questions its application in run of the mill federal cases: In our initial thinking about the case, however, we were reluctant to endorse the district court's citation of the Supreme Court's decision in Bell Atlantic v...
3d DCA Watch -- Ron Paul Teebagy Edition
Posted on August 26, 2009You know what they say, justice delayed is justice.....won't get fooled again?(Damn!! I always screw that up.)BTW, I have it on very good authority that Tallahassee -- as usual -- messed things up and caused a technical problem which resulted in the delay of our weekly breath of fresh judicial air...
3d DCA Pub Crawl!!
Posted on August 26, 2009I know everyone's anxiously waiting for 3d DCA Watch, but the pesky tubes are not cooperating and they still only have posted the opinions from last week.In the meantime, I see that beginning August 25th the 3d DCA has organized an FIU Oral Argument Pub Crawl, starting out at the concrete bunker and culminating with a kegger at FIU Law School...
Hey, I (Almost) Agree With Glenn Garvin!
Posted on August 25, 2009Boy it's slow out there, huh?I was going to point out that anybody with a law license is now apparently under consideration to be the next United States Senator, but I see my friends over at Riptide beat me to it.So let's talk Glenn Garvin.It's certainly a legitimate political and rhetorical tool to point out when the other side is being hypocritical...
J.B. Harris: A Day Late, A COBRA Short.
Posted on August 25, 2009Did any of you know that J.B. Harris once worked at United Auto?I didn't, but according to this 11th Circuit opinion his tenure as in-house counsel was apparently pretty brief.Once he stopped working there, he continued to maintain his own health insurance coverage through COBRA -- which if I'm not mistaken is an early, more euphemistic government variant to the Obama Death Panels...
Free Speech Rights?
Posted on August 24, 2009More on Tom Julin -- now he's busy representing BigPharma and lobbyists.I don't have a comment on this, other than that is possibly the worst photo I have ever seen of Tom Julin.Is that Tom or the Kingpin from Spiderman?There, now I have exercised my free speech rights.
D'oh!
Posted on August 21, 2009Have you seen this letter sent to local blogger Random Pixels by GT attorney Ian Ballon on behalf of his client the Miami Herald?I guess the Herald is upset over whether or not photos from their website are reproduced on blogs in thumbnail or "full-size"?As if that determines whether or not the photos fall within the protections of the fair use doctrine?Here is Ian's contention:"Because fair use looks to the amount and substantiality of the portion taken (both in terms of quality and quantity), reproducing entire articles, large excerpts of articles or large-size photos is not permitted...
SFL Friday -- Pump It Up Edition.
Posted on August 21, 2009Divorces are messy things.The kids, the finances, the house, sometimes even the dog.But who the hail cares about that stuff -- to me the most important issue is who gets custody of the x-rated pictures:When a marriage goes bad, who gets the X-rated photos of the wife? In the case of Valeria Gentile and Erwin Cajamarca, the wife says she does...
When the S*&T Hits The Fan.
Posted on August 21, 2009Boy it's a crazy day out there for South Florida lawyers, huh?First there's this blockbuster story from the always intrepid Julie Kay taking a look at the John Leighton-Ira Leesfield breakup.Among the more interesting allegations is that Ira installed spy software, bought lots of fancy things, and used his shop to bankroll Hillary's Florida campaign -- in other words, a day in the life at my firm...
Don't Like Arbitration Award? Have District Court Confirm It First.
Posted on August 20, 2009This is a pretty clever resolution to an arbitration problem that was just affirmed by the 11th Circuit.Problem was some monies were not properly credited to one of the arbitrating parties because the issue was not discovered until after the arbitration award...
Hey, At Least They Spelled The Name Right.
Posted on August 19, 2009You know what they say about getting your name in the press -- it's all good.So by that measure I suppose this is a positive development: In March, a federal jury in Richmond, Virginia convicted Okun of wire fraud, money laundering, smuggling, perjury and conspiracy, following a three-week trial...
3d DCA Watch -- Judge Shepherd Has Declined Your Invitation Edition!
Posted on August 19, 2009Hi kids!Well summer has finally made its way down to the fortified concrete bunker of justice, that hallowed spot by the highway where the Resplendently Robed Ones swill their free coffee and ply their shiny judicial wares.Indeed, there are only two civil opinions this week, and one is a child dependency case, so that one doesn't even really count...
Guy Bailey Jr. Disbarred.
Posted on August 18, 2009Remember Guy Bailey?He used to be a fairly prominent litigator who frequently appeared in federal court on commercial matters of various kinds.Board-certified for many years, even filed a brief with Alan Dershowitz, partners with several lawyers in town...
Sealed!
Posted on August 18, 2009Judge Thornton seals the Hirsch tapes:A Miami Beach man attempting to overturn his DUI manslaughter conviction was handed a setback today when a Circuit Court judge ruled that a secretly made tape recording did not show prominent defense attorney Milton Hirsch urged his client to flee the country rather than face trial...
Free PACER?
Posted on August 17, 2009Are you one of those cheapskates who can't afford $.08 per page just to see how brilliantly some lawyer cites Iqbal in a boilerplate motion to dismiss?Well, your prayers have been answered (h/t to a loyal reader):The Solution: RECAP, a Firefox-only plugin, that rides along as one usually uses PACER ? but it automatically checks if the document you want is already in its own database...
Burton Young Schools George L. Metcalfe (Using Only Words!)
Posted on August 17, 2009Most people are aware of (sick of?) Steve Zack's Claude Pepper impression.Less known is my spot-on impression of friend and noted mensch Burton Young.Sure it sometimes lapses into a passable George Burns, but when you think about it, so does Burt.Anyway, Burt knows what he is talking about, and has this to say about the ban on gay adoption in Florida:Florida?s bizarre ?law? was passed more than 30 years ago during the anti-gay hysteria of Anita Bryant?s Save Our Children campaign...
Bowman Brown Also Had Nothing To Do With Representing Stanford's "Outside Wives" Either.
Posted on August 14, 2009Quick question -- how many "outside wives" do you have?R. Allen Stanford had the customary number -- no more, no less -- for a Miami bigshot who was bilking investors for billions from his base at the Miami Center.I mean, the guy's not greedy or anything...
SFL Friday -- Have A Super Nice Death Panel Weekend!
Posted on August 14, 2009Hi kids!So I see one of those fancy government death panels finally got to Les Paul.RIP, old man.Indeed, I got so emotional over Les' passing that I pulled out my old Keytar and jammed with Eddie Van Halen to celebrate the great man's life and legacy...
Bobby Brochin Explains Iqbal (Did I Just Write That?)
Posted on August 13, 2009You know that whole new "conceivable" no, "plausible" yes pleading standard we've been talking about -- also known as one step over the line, sweet Iqbal?Well my friend Bobby Brochin understands it --I mean really groks it -- and succinctly explains the otherwise curiously vague standard right here:Added Robert Brochin of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, who represents Panamco: "The ruling reiterates that before you can file a lawsuit, particularly one brought under the banner of human rights abuses, you have to be able to plead facts that form a plausible legal theory...
Your Regularly Scheduled GG Update.
Posted on August 13, 2009Francisco Alvarado has done some great reporting on the continuing Sean Casey/Milt Hirsch secret tapes saga, which brought none other than the big man himself, Tom Julin, into Judge Thornton's courtroom this afternoon to seek the release of the tapes...
Is Roberto our next U.S. Senator?
Posted on August 12, 2009I've not gotten into the local online frenzy over who will be our next caretaker Senator before the election, mostly because I was unaware that Mel Martinez was in fact still a sitting Senator.Didn't he already retire?Was he ever actually our Senator?He is a nice guy with a compelling life story but was kind of a ghost Senator, much as he was a ghost litigator back when he practiced at Akerman...
3d DCA Watch -- Blue Meanie Fishing Expedition Edition
Posted on August 12, 2009Hi kids! I'm jazzed up today, and not just because it's that sacred of days when the Resplendently Robed Ones do their thang, as the youngsters say.Speaking of death panels, I know I've had more than a few down at the 3d, but I'm much too demure and professional to name names so you all will have to employ your vivid imaginations on that one...
The Eleventh Circuit Goes Iqbal-Crazy!
Posted on August 11, 2009Iqbal Iqbal Iqbal.I'm already sick to death of this opinion, and the mania over it has not yet even started.As I have written before, Iqbal is the standard of review legal equivalent of flatbread -- inert, tasteless, yet somehow incredibly trendy and inexplicably popular...
When Law Professors Litigate.
Posted on August 11, 2009Ever think back and wonder how some of your law professors might do in the courtroom?I don't mean the former practitioners who are adjuncts or who have recently switched careers, but the old-timers, the eccentrics deeply steeped in academia who believe at any one time that they are the smartest guy in the room, and who wear that self-knowledge along with their eccentricities like a crown...
Melanie!
Posted on August 10, 2009I was going to stop my post right there, it works for me.Ok ok, here's what I was going to say --I don't know all that much about the merits of Charlie's lawsuit against WPLG, but he has a very good lawyer:Perez, 46, now plans to add a retaliation charge to his complaint, his attorney Melanie E...
Is Bob Zarco Really That Rich?
Posted on August 10, 2009A tipster pointed me to Survivor producer Mark Burnett's new reality show, How'd You Get So Rich, starring the irrepressible Joan Rivers.You can watch the entire first episode here.The show features three rags-to-riches stories, where Joan visits their homes, looks at all their fancy stuff, and basically cracks a lot of jokes...
Beth Reinhard Undermines Own Premise.
Posted on August 08, 2009I like Beth, and think she's been a good addition to the Herald's political coverage.But in today's column she blows it big-time.She starts with an exceedingly tired Broder-like premise -- there are two sides to every issue, and the truth lies somewhere in between: Conjuring the ghosts of the 2000 presidential election, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs this week compared the protesters crashing town hall meetings on healthcare around the country to the ``Brooks Brothers Brigade in Florida...
Spiritus Mundi.
Posted on August 07, 2009So let's see -- computer monsters attack your awful "Twitter," that wise Latina was confirmed, and Judge Gold will be holding a telephonic hearing this morning in the UBS case.Wait a minute, I have one more:Should securities laws govern the sale of condo-hotel units?Jared Beck thinks so:"These were not simple real-estate purchases," said Jared Beck, an attorney in Miami who is working on dozens of suits against condo-hotel developers...
What's So Gay About It -- The Return of George L. Metcalfe!
Posted on August 07, 2009Hi kids!Anybody remember George Metcalfe?He's the Leesburg lawyer who generated some significant commentary on this blog when he wrote a demure, entirely uncontroversial letter that was published in the Florida Bar News back in May.That letter had some pretty vanilla statements like this:Ultimately, nothing is as repulsive and emasculating to adolescent boys as being recruited for gay sex...
Bowman Brown Recounts Stanford Anecdote For Last Person in Miami Unaware of Story
Posted on August 06, 2009I suppose there is a small possibility somebody somewhere has not yet heard Bowman Brown recount his nearly perfect Gore Vidal-level anecdote regarding R. Allen Stanford.For example, maybe somebody living under a rock (highway underpass?), or somebody who just came out of a coma, or a recently-freed prisoner from a notorious French penal colony, somebody like that...
3d DCA Watch -- Promises Promises Edition
Posted on August 05, 2009Kids, it's that time again -- admit it, it feels like Christmas comes every Wednesday -- when the resplendently robed ones appear to communicate with the faithful masses, the ham and schleppers, the poets and the dreamers, and all four of the sons from Passover...
Hit Me With Your Marine Hose!
Posted on August 05, 2009MDLs are fun.They keep lawyers busy, usually there are interesting and sophisticated legal issues, and the judge often takes interest in and sometimes even ownership of the cases.I see Judge Graham has certified a class in the marine hose antitrust cases in a thoughtful, well-reasoned order...
"Szechuan Dumplings, After the Deal Has Been Done"
Posted on August 04, 2009Oy this Alan Kluger, what a goyisher-cupp:"This incident further reinforces our suspicion of the deceptive practices and lengths the defendants will go to misrepresent themselves. It's not enough that they've tried to steal our signature dishes, but now they appear to be trying to update their menu with new ideas from our kitchen,'' says Alan Kluger, attorney for Mr...
Tom Julin Represents Milt Hirsch Accuser.
Posted on August 04, 2009Over at Rump's place, they have been discussing for days this whole Milt Hirsch brouhaha.It's sorta like the criminal defense bar's version of the endless Mr. Clucky coverage -- it's catnip to those JBB lawyers.I've stayed away from the story, mostly because I have nothing to add as a civil litigator beyond that I know and respect Milton, plus the dude really knows how to rock a full beard...
I've Got Nothing.
Posted on August 03, 2009Hi folks!I don't know about you, but I'm a bit bored today.Sure I could point out Vanessa Blum's well-written profile of Steve Zack.BTW, did you know Steve does a Claude Pepper impression?Hmm, maybe I should say, is there anyone out there who doesn't know Steve does a Claude Pepper impression?Oh hail, perhaps the right question is -- does anyone even know who Claude Pepper is?Like Steve, I do a killer George Raft impression, but for some reason the youngsters at the Bar functions just don't get into it like they used to...
SFL Friday -- Your Roseanne Hitler Weekend Roundup
Posted on July 31, 2009Well kids, we're here again -- the end of another work week, this time filled with pay cuts and job losses. And even some BigFirm anxiety (except for you, Greenberg Gal).Still, as always, there are silver linings.For example, I understand a position may have opened up within the legal department at Goldman Sachs...
Hooray South Florida -- We Set A New Low-Water Mark!
Posted on July 31, 2009Hmm, I don't recall learning in law school how to hire somebody who paid somebody at a hospital for PI leads and then cutting that person a percentage of any fees generated, but you know how crazy kids are today: A Miami man was charged Thursday with buying confidential patient records from a Jackson Memorial Hospital employee over the past two years, and selling them to a lawyer suspected of soliciting the patients to file personal-injury claims...
"Dismiss All Charges"
Posted on July 30, 2009Carlos Loumiet gets one big monkey completely off his back:Mr. Loumiet added: "I am very glad that this weight has been lifted and I can now move on, putting my full energies on my family, my practice and my work as chair of the New America Alliance, a national association for leading Latinos in U...
Do You Get Excited By Noncompetes?
Posted on July 30, 2009I know I do.That's why I enjoyed this new 11th Circuit opinion that wades into the sometimes-murky waters of enforceability of noncompetes in Florida:In 1996, Florida adopted Fla. Stat. § 542.335, which "contains a comprehensiveframework for analyzing, evaluating and enforcing restrictive covenants containedin employment contracts...
3d DCA Watch -- The Seven Percent Solution Edition
Posted on July 29, 2009Yes, yes and yes -- it's Wednesday!Assembled masses, we are joined together on this sacred day in mutual love and respect for our beneficent judicial overlords, who weekly speak to us in hushed tones, muted phrases, and furtive glances, employing that oldest and simplest means of lawyer seduction -- free coffee...
Scotty Was Right!
Posted on July 29, 2009I love it when science catches up to science fiction, especially when it involves Star Trek:Oxford scientists have created a transparent form of aluminium by bombarding the metal with the world?s most powerful soft X-ray laser. 'Transparent aluminium' previously only existed in science fiction, featuring in the movie Star Trek IV, but the real material is an exotic new state of matter with implications for planetary science and nuclear fusion...
PACER Surfing With Pleasure P!
Posted on July 28, 2009You all know how much I love music.That's why I found this case involving hot young R&B hearthrob Marcus Cooper a/ka/ "Pleasure P" so interesting.Cooper, a Miami native and former member of the raunchy local group Pretty Ricky, has struck out on his own and from the reviews on Amazon, he's got a pretty bright future...
Honey, Could You Scrub My Metadata?
Posted on July 28, 2009I don't know about you, but I am sick to death of hearing about "metadata."Note to prominent BigLaw attorney I chatted with the other day at Gordon Biersch -- there is nothing more boring than a metadata war story.Seriously, tell me about your brilliant cross-examination, your last mediation, your car, your kids, your house, your vacation -- anything...
Special New Policy on Makin' Things Up -- Today Only!
Posted on July 27, 2009Hi folks, it's Monday (again).I was moved yesterday by this heartfelt tribute.So, in honor of the American Soldier, I'm gonna quit makin' things up.You know, that felt pretty good.Ok, I'm done.Speaking of heartfelt tributes, John Pacenti reviews Judge Moreno, and says he's funny, entertaining, and informative, but that G-Force is still better family fare...
What Did You Do During Your "Gap Period"?
Posted on July 27, 2009Sheesh, I didn't even know I had a "gap period," but the 11th ruled today that FedEx employees cannot proceed on a class-wide basis for failing to be paid during their "gap period."A fairly standard opinion, though I think they went off the rails a bit on the quantum meruit ruling...
SFL Friday -- Southern Nights (and Grouts) Edition
Posted on July 24, 2009Hi kids, yes it's Friday and yes I'm packing it in early. In fact, I'm taking the whole day off.I hope you all get to sneak out early today too.Did you all see this 11th Circuit opinion released yesterday on "late" discovery and amending the pleadings?First of all, I love the name -- Southern Grouts...
Your Friday Afternoon Kidney-Selling Rabbi Send-Off
Posted on July 24, 2009Kidney-selling Rabbis?Oy, oy, and triple-oy.And I thought Turistas was far-fetched.Well I doublechecked and as far as I know, I am not in violation of any trial orders, pleading deadlines, or discovery rules.Yet.Before I go, I want to say thank you to Lew Freeman for that great shin-dig the other day -- it was Titanic, buddy...
Is Iqbal the New Twombly?
Posted on July 23, 2009Remember when Twombly came out in late 2006 and it showed up in just about every motion to dismiss?Twombly, Twombly, Twombly.Everywhere you went, people were talking about "Twombly."You had to pretend to know something about it at judicial functions, there were teleconferences on it, and associates billed incessantly to copy and paste the part of the brief that dealt with it over and over and over again...
Calling It Quits.
Posted on July 23, 2009Oooh, tough loss for Jack Scarola, a mucho-fine trial lawyer:A Fort Lauderdale, Fla., jury on Wednesday ordered accounting giant Ernst & Young to pay $10.2 million on a negligent auditing claim, rejecting a request for $400 million on more serious allegations...
3d DCA Watch -- The Written Utterances Have Arrived Edition!
Posted on July 22, 2009Hi kids, can you believe it's only Wednesday?The good news is the written utterances have arrived!!Oh boy I'm so excited let me repeat -- the written utterances have arrived!!!In fact, I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad...
Nick Nanton Is A Celebrity Lawyer.
Posted on July 22, 2009Alana Roberts confirms and expands on the Akerman pay cuts we talked about Monday:One source said the cuts may not affect all of the firm?s associates in the same way over time.?The associates who are performing on a very high level probably won?t at the end of the day receive pay cuts...
Less Awful Days Are Here Again!
Posted on July 21, 2009That's the lede in this solid article on South Florida lawyers starting to make deals again, by the always intrepid Julie Kay:Jim Meyer, a partner at Harper Meyer in Miami, said it feels like ``the dam has burst.''''The first few months of the year, everyone seemed to be in a holding pattern,'' he said...
Animal Rights -- Doggone Funny?
Posted on July 20, 2009I was reading this story about Jason Wandner's efforts to save Mercedes, a Broward pit bull that is about to be euthanized for killing a neighborhood cat under Broward County's strict new one-strike law:Supporters argue the new law helps save more innocent animals from being killed in future attacks...
Pay Cuts At Akerman?
Posted on July 20, 2009Heard something about 10 percent along the line.Thanks to the tipsters, I appreciate it!
Good News For New Lawyers -- You Can Help Others!
Posted on July 17, 2009Are you really sure you want to go to law school?That's the message of incoming dean Patricia White of the UM School of Law, in this interesting DBR article on the future of the profession:Issues affecting the legal industry are serious enough that White wrote incoming first-year law students encouraging them to defer admission for a year, partly because a larger than expected number of deposits arrived from students who plan to attend this fall because of the recession...
SFL Friday -- Happy Nazi Gnomes Edition.
Posted on July 17, 2009It's pretty much well-known that I adore Nazi gnomes.That's why I was thrilled to see this nice gentleman from Nuremberg and his noncontroversial garden gnome that just happens to be performing the Hitler salute.Seriously, what better way to highlight your gardenias and perennials than a gleaming golden gnome paying tribute to Der Fuhrer?Oh well, sorry I was busy today performing Important Legal Stuff, but I am now heading out for a glorious weekend filled with wet hot American windsurfing...
We Choose The Moon!
Posted on July 16, 2009Isn't everybody tired of the law already?Watching the Sotomayor confirmation hearings have left me with a major case of the law blahs.It's like watching an intelligent woman have to repeatedly explain basic legal concepts to complete idiots, over and over and over again...
3d DCA Watch -- Judge Schwartz "Feels Unbound" Edition
Posted on July 15, 2009Hi kids, anyone notice it's hot as hail out there?I was going to leave for some early mid-week windsurfing, but then I realized today is that day, yes the exulted day, the only day when the written utterances emerge nearly unscathed from the fortified Concrete Bunker of Justice, that day of all days when the resplendently robed ones issue their guidance, their counsel, hail even their opinions, yes coffee-swillers hold on to your seats as we embark on a twisty-turvy nonstop emotional journey through the feelings of the judicial mind, in this week's totally effusive edition of 3d DCA Watch:Manzano v...
Alan Kluger: "Meet Me At Midnight At Mr. Chow's"
Posted on July 15, 2009So, anybody watch Senator Lindsey Graham yesterday afternoon -- what a d*%k.Just in terms of cross-examination technique, what did you all think?Graham's a pretty talented trial lawyer, yet here he is pulling out one of the lamest tricks in the book -- pretending to "forget" where he put the "wise Latina" quote so that he could ask Judge Sotomayor -- twice -- to repeat it from memory!Then he's all over the map, moving from abortion to the death penalty in a seemingly random way...
Good Oral Argument Tip -- Try Not To Lie.
Posted on July 14, 2009Don't you hate it when a witness lies under oath?Actually I enjoy it, at least when I am cross-examining the little weasel.The CIA, which knows a thing or two about lying, came up with this nifty list of how to determine if someone is lying:The goal is to find ?clusters?? of deceptive behavior...
John Yoo To Appeal To Judge Bybee?
Posted on July 14, 2009Just two torture memo dudes, reliving the good times:A federal jury in Miami convicted Padilla and two others of conspiring to murder, kidnap and maim people in a foreign country, along with two counts of providing material support to terrorists. He was sentenced to 17 years and four months in prison, a lighter sentence than prosecutors had pushed for...
Steven Marks Defends Integrity of Nicaraguan Legal System (and also Co-Counsel).
Posted on July 13, 2009Hi kids, how was your weekend?The details of mine were quite inconsequential, really.Very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen year old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet...
SFL Friday -- Wet, Hot and Delightfully Dangerous
Posted on July 10, 2009Ahh, nothing beats Miami in the summertime -- the heat, the rain, the bugs.Note: wash, rinse, repeat.A kind reader (he's a pretty good attorney, too) passed along an interesting motion filed a few weeks ago in Palm Beach state court to require defense counsel to wear appropriate shoes...
Men With Broken Hearts
Posted on July 10, 2009So have you all read the Florida Bar complaint against Hank Adorno yet?It's dated June 5, 2009, and deals with Hank and his firm's role in settling the now-ancient Miami fire fee class action on an individual basis, which we previously covered here, here, and here (well, sorta)...
Jeff Kaplan New Math: One Soundbite, Two "Moral Compasses."
Posted on July 09, 2009Jeff Kaplan explains the nature of sin in one easy soundbite:?The moral compass of people who commit those kinds of crimes is something that my partners and I will never understand,? says Jeffrey Kaplan. ?You either have a moral compass, or you don?t...
Death By A Thousand Small Cuts?
Posted on July 08, 2009The spiral continues as the WSJ takes a look at how small and mid-sized firms are taking away business from the BigLaw dinosaurs: John Quinn, a founder of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, LLP, a 400-lawyer business-litigation firm based in Los Angeles, acknowledges there's been something of a switch to small firms...
3d DCA Watch -- A "Very Substantial," "Totally Precluded" Edition
Posted on July 08, 2009Well, frankly I'm surprised that the 3d DCA would even consider issuing rulings so soon after the death of Fred Travalena, I mean Michael Jackson.Judgment during times of national calamity can be clouded by grief, and even coffee-swilling, dispassionate jurists need time to digest such an enormity before returning to the important business of dispensing PCAs like candy corns on Halloween...
Are There Any Lawyers Left in Town?
Posted on July 07, 2009Did anybody else watch Manhattan on TCM last night?And another thing -- where is everybody? Judges are on vacation, lawyers are gone for the hills, everything is getting rescheduled or postponed.So let's talk Walkman.I remember when the Walkman first came out, some 30 years ago this week...
Finally, Good News About GrayRobinson!
Posted on July 06, 2009Hi kids, it's Monday all over again -- hope you had a nice three-day weekend, celebrating the violent, bloody birth of our nation -- plus hot dogs and fireworks!Did you catch this story by Alana Roberts on more cuts at Ruden?I like this part best:The attorney said talk at the firm is that Ruden is $4 million to $6 million behind its budget goals for the year...
Bowman Brown and the Lawyer "Across the Street"
Posted on July 05, 2009Remember when Bowman Brown repeatedly shared his "brush with Stanford" anecdote? We covered it here, here, here, here, and here.This is what we wrote back in March 2009:But it is such a great story. To borrow from Gore Vidal for a moment, the art of a good lawyer war story is to craft something that manages to burnish your own skills and competence at some other lawyer or judge's expense...
There is No Such Thing as Bad Press
Posted on July 02, 2009It's one thing for a firm to announce that it is cutting associate pay, or withholding partner compensation, but when you lose The Bearded One, that's news.You can no longer see his smiling visage here. You have to hire this Firm.Begging the question - unless you're Bilzin - why is no one talking about this?NB: You have to admit, The Dude's beard is remarkable, considering he pulls it off and we are a few years removed from the 70s...
Breaking News - Al Malnik is Not Your Father!
Posted on July 02, 2009But you knew that.Just like you never thought for one moment that Al Malnik was the biological father of Michael Jackson's children. Or gave a rat's ass, for that matter.But in an apparent effort to capture that long since expired 15 minutes, Al has publicly denied that which needed no denial...
11th Circuit Affirms Halliburton Dismissal on Political Question Grounds
Posted on July 01, 2009Hi kids -- why have you not started your vacation yet?For those of you who read this crappy blog to get some update on, you know, legal matters, here is an interesting 11th Circuit opinion that affirms a Georgia district court decision to dismiss a negligence action against Halliburton on political question grounds:At issue today is whether the district court erred in dismissing the plaintiff?snegligence suit arising out of an accident in which her husband, a sergeant in theUnited States Army, was severely injured in May 2004 while serving as an armedescort for a large military convoy traveling through a war zone in Iraq...
3d DCA Watch -- Yep.
Posted on July 01, 2009Well folks you can just feel the long holiday weekend coming on, as even our beloved judicial beasts of burden, who -- admit it -- toil and sweat in the Fortified Concrete Bunker of Justice basically for your own personal amusement, are starting to wind down and plan their departures to North Carolina or North Dakota or North Korea or wherever Florida appellate judges go to escape the unbearably massive pressure of releasing a couple of opinions once a week...
Layoff Success Story, Guest Blogging -- Oh Hail, Who Cares Anymore?
Posted on June 30, 2009Hi kids, it's a dreary Tuesday and, for me, especially dreary due to the unexpected loss of Fred Travalena.First Ed, then Farrah, then the Queen of Pop, and now this:Fred Travalena, the master impressionist and singer whose broad repertoire of voices ranged from Jack Nicholson to Sammy Davis Jr...
"Turn Your Heartache Right Into Joy"
Posted on June 30, 2009Well there's a rose in the fisted gloveAnd the eagle flies with the doveAnd if you can't be with the one you love honey.....Can you believe Mark Sanford actually pulled out the "I did not sleep with that woman" defense:Sanford also said that he "crossed the lines" with a handful of other women during 20 years of marriage, but not as far as he did with his mistress...
Bye Bye Havana Club.
Posted on June 29, 2009Remember when you were growing up and cigars, poker, and Dean Martin were all considered "uncool"?Pretty much the only folks smoking them were decrepit old guys like Buddy Young Jr. and maybe George Burns.Funny, but old.Then the 90s happened and suddenly everyone was a poker ace, loved cigars, and thought Dean Martin was the King of Cool...
Ponder the Joys of Club Gitmo at the Four Seasons
Posted on June 29, 2009Hey all you armchair warriors who think the untried, never-charged, indefinite detainees have it way too easy at Club Gitmo, come and join us as we show them how tough we really are: Brigadier General Rafael O?Ferrall Deputy Commanding General Joint Task Force Guantanamo Guantanamo Bay , Cuba ? Guantanamo Today? Tuesday, the Seventh of July Two Thousand and Nine from 6:00 - 8:00 PM The Miami Ballroom at The Four Seasons Tower Sixth Floor 1441 Brickell Avenue Miami , Florida Admission Complimentary Please R...
SFL Friday -- So, Did Anyone Die Recently?
Posted on June 26, 2009Hi kids, since I'm a blogger I suppose I have to comment on all the dead folks who have died recently. That would include Ed McMahon (his performance as a slimy, lecherous boss in Fun With Dick and Jane was a keeper), Farrah Fawcett (who can forget her in a robe that just won't stay on, a bed, and a horny robot in Saturn 3), and of course Michael Jackson...
Song For The Courthouse Nightbox
Posted on June 25, 2009I received a rather abrupt "Dear SFL" letter from one of my nearest and dearest true loves, the courthouse nightbox:Severe cuts recently made to the Clerk's Budgets by the Florida Legislature have required significant reductions in personnel.As a result, effective July 6th, the Clerk's office will no longer be providing additional hours for filing pleadings...
Should Any South Florida Lawyer Charge More Than $1000 An Hour?
Posted on June 25, 2009Hey, what a surprise -- they've printed all the love notes between SC Governor Sanford and his Argentinian mistress!I particularly like this one:??please sleep soundly knowing that despite the best efforts of my head my heart cries out for you, your voice, your body, the touch of your lips, the touch of your finger tips and an even deeper connection to your soul...
3d DCA Watch -- Holistically Fiscing The Public Edition
Posted on June 24, 2009Do you ever open up your office window on a late Wednesday morning and just scream "HOORAY!!!" because you know the 3d DCA has released another set of brilliant opinions?I don't know about you, but I'm swooning this morning as the latest missives are released from the fortified concrete bunker of justice, where coffee-swilling robed ones frolic amid apodictic affirmances, at the only place in America where you can both obtain a reversal and also see an FIU football game, yes it's our one and only, patented 3d DCA Watch:Eastern Atlantic v...
Are You A Rude Lawyer?
Posted on June 24, 2009What a crazy morning, how about you?Note to hipster ahead of me in line at the Starbucks by the Courthouse on Flagler this morning -- you do not look "cool" in your ironic fedora, particularly when you are ordering a mocha frappachino. Man up, dude...
Rosemary Usher Jones, RIP
Posted on June 24, 2009The Herald is reporting the death of Judge Rosemary Usher Jones. Rosemary Holmes Usher Jones, a former Miami-Dade County Circuit Court judge in the juvenile and civil divisions, died Tuesday of cancer. She was 80.The longtime Coral Gables resident had been living at East Ridge Retirement Village, Cutler Bay, for several years...
More Things I Love About Miami
Posted on June 23, 2009So I saw Judge Seitz and Raoul Cantero chatting briefly at lunch today, no doubt busily dissecting SexyLexus and the various noncomments about the story that appear in Vanessa Blum's excellent front-pager today in the DBR.What makes me most happy about this story is that you guys have really spiced up the DBR comments section...
Neil, God!
Posted on June 23, 2009Well that about does it for me and AM radio.I'm still processing the news that Neil will be off the air in South Florida.Anyone who grew up here in the 70s and had any sense of humor at all listened to Neil, and what a run it was. Talk radio had a bunch of freaks back then -- Neil, Steve Kane, Alan Burke, Bill Calder, Hank Goldberg, Larry King, I could go on -- but Neil was the funniest, and the best...
Steel Hector = South Florida's Woodstock?
Posted on June 23, 2009Hi kids!Let's give big props and thanks to Guest Blogger for so ably stepping up, stepping in and holding down the fort while I attended to Important Legal Matters.Not only is that kid a tremendous lawyer -- he's a darn good blogger!I think I handled the Important Legal Stuff pretty well myself, though there's always room for improvement...
Rumors of Our Demise are Greatly Exaggerated
Posted on June 22, 2009I don't know about you, but I am sick and tired of the constant analysis of the law business and the portrayal that because law firms are making cuts and changing strategies, the legal system as we know it will cease to exist. Okay, Okay: I know its not that extreme, and I realize we present an easy target for bashing and that folks - including our clients, behind our backs - may quietly cheer our collective need to tighten the belt and reassess...
Yes, Virginia, there is a S.E.C.
Posted on June 22, 2009The Securities and Exchange Commission, at least in the Southern District of Florida, is comprised of an incredibly talented group of smart, aggressive experienced lawyers who for the last two decades, have worked tirelessly to rid South Florida of financial crime...
Drunk Blogging, Financial Fraud, and Mayer Brown
Posted on June 20, 2009You have to think that once SFL takes a break from various important legal stuff and checks his blog on the blackberry, the title to this post will cause him to pucker. That's pretty funny, and I'll drink to me, since I'm the only one to date who gets to give The Big Man grief, posting on his blog...
Pressure
Posted on June 19, 2009Did anyone ever tell Sinatra to "clean up his act?" I have to be free to be me. How am I going to carry the torch, if I have to "clean up my act?" Have you read the comments on this blog lately? Ok well, short notice, so give the people what they want...
SFL Friday -- Welcome, Guest Blogger!
Posted on June 19, 2009Well kids, my day job has decided to intrude upon the part of my practice I like best -- foolin' around with you knuckleheads.So as I prepare for and hopefully execute flawlessly various Important Legal Stuff over the next few days, I will leave you in the steady hands of Guest Blogger, probably until around sometime Monday, when I can get back to focusing on what really matters...
GrayRobinson And You Guessed It.
Posted on June 18, 2009As I've said before, I stand ready and willing to write up a great GrayRobinson story if one of you Brickell shmarties will send me some material.In the meantime I see Billy Shields writes up the School Board selection yesterday of GrayRobinson partner Walter Harvey to serve as General Counsel:Miami-Dade School Board member Renier Diaz de la Portilla quit his job at GrayRobinson, clearing the way for him to cast the decisive vote today in appointing his former partner Walter Harvey as the school system?s general counsel...
Barry Mukamal Update!
Posted on June 18, 2009Face it, you guys can't go more than a few hours without thinking about Barry Mukamal.I know I can't.Sometimes it's almost like a weird kismet, I can be walking down the street or having lunch at the Bankers Club, not planning at all to think about Barry, when suddenly -- BOOM -- there he is!True story -- one time I even thought of Barry while I was windsurfing...
3d DCA Watch -- My Buns Have No Seeds Edition
Posted on June 17, 2009Hi kids, so I officially received my seventeen-thousandth email about the "sexting" controversy over at the Miami office of White & Case.From Carvalho to the former Mayor of Detroit, how many times before canoodlers learn that your hand-held device is going to get you in trouble?BTW, if you are still using that dinosaur blackberry and have not yet switched to the Palm Pre, you canoodlers need to upgrade your dating game hardware pronto...
DBR Takes A Look At Caperton Disqualification Issues
Posted on June 17, 2009This is an interesting look by Jordana Mishory on the impact of the recent Supreme Court ruling on judicial disqualification and how it may play out in Florida judicial elections:Campaign watchers say the state?s $500 cap on judicial campaign contributions means it?s next to impossible to buy the type of influence alleged in the U...
MDL Panel Creates Giant Sucking Sound.
Posted on June 16, 2009Yes kids, those civil litigators all in quiet mourning today are lamenting the huge loss of business due to the MDL Panel's surprise decision to export dozens of Chinese Drywall cases pending in the SD FL to -- of all places -- Louisiana:Coral Gables attorney Ervin Gonzalez, who has filed about 20 drywall cases, said the consolidated litigation will allow plaintiff attorneys to share information and avoid costly duplicative court costs...
Glenn Garvin, Fake US Attorney
Posted on June 16, 2009Our friend Glenn continues to pretend he's a lawyer, except now he's a top-notch US Attorney taking pot shots at the prosecutorial record of Patrick Fitzgerald, one of the more celebrated US attorneys in the country.There's so much straw men hackery to unpack in Glenn's op-ed that it could take literally days and valuable billable hours, but let's just examine the main claim -- that Peter Lance wrote a good book that exposes Patrick Fitzgerald as a bumbling, inept and dishonest AUSA...
"Sorry, No Person Found."
Posted on June 15, 2009I decided to do a little Pacer-surfing with some of the muckety-mucks who make up the 2009 SuperLawyers of Florida.I didn't get very far, however.First I looked at the cases being handled in the SD FL by Weil Gotshal's Ed Soto.Here's what the trusty CM/ECF spit out:(tumbleweed slowly blows across computer screen...
Comment Contest!
Posted on June 15, 2009Has anyone else noticed that the DBR is now publishing online comments to their articles in the dead-tree edition?For example, in today's paper under the "Comments From Web" section there is a stock photo of Judge Zloch next to some fairly lame comments from "Catholic Lawyer" who notes that "Sure, Judge Zloch may be a pain, but to go after him for being a Catholic?"He also includes this bon mot: "Oh ya...
Are You A SuperLawyer?
Posted on June 15, 2009Hi kids, what a glorious weekend, huh?This morning I decided to bike into work and took the Venetian Causeway across the pond -- a great ride.Along the way I saw this really helpful yet totally abandoned Transit Service Center, which according to the posted sign has hours from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm...
SFL Friday -- "You Got To Shake It Baby, You Got To Shake It Baby, You Got To Shake It"
Posted on June 12, 2009Ok, let's get the law stuff out of the way real quick.My friend Guest Blogger and now even the indomitable Billy Shields points out there are some cha-cha-cha-changes in the family division, with Judge Sandy Karlan now Chief Administrative Judge, and Judge Scott Bernstein the new Associate Administrative Judge...
Immune System of Bankruptcy Lawyer Further Imperiled by 11th Circuit Affirmance.
Posted on June 12, 2009It's not easy being "extremely Floridian."I like the lawyers at GrayRobinson, and I think they have a smart business model.So I'm ready to write something positive, if one of you shmarties over on Brickell would send me some good news.Instead, I have to report on this 11th Circuit opinion issued yesterday, which affirms a Middle District affirmance of a bankruptcy court sanctions order against attorney Peter Ginsberg of Peter R...
Relive The Good Old Days At FAWL Judicial Reception
Posted on June 11, 2009Remember the good old days of the Bush/Gore recount, when ill-informed, disingenuous hacks loudly denounced our own little Florida Supreme Court as a hotbed of liberal judicial activism?Oh, what fun times we had back then, mispronouncing the names of Justices, confusing live judges with dead ones, all on a huge national stage where only the nation's future was at stake!Well I for one plan to relive those happier times tonight at the FAWL cocktail reception honoring Chief Justice Quince...
Let's Talk Tom Lauria!
Posted on June 11, 2009The WSJ gives the love to Miami White & Case bankruptcy attorney Tom Lauria, who fought in vain to derail the Chrysler-Fiat sale:Judge D. Michael Lynn of the Northern District of Texas, who presided over the Mirant case, says Mr. Lauria "is, if anything, overly tenacious...
Don't Let It Bring You Down.
Posted on June 11, 2009Well, that was some spectacular event at the Epic in honor of Chief Justice Quince tonight. I know I saw many of you there, including my friend Randy Kroner, because it was packed. And what a great speech she gave about helping those at-risk kids who emerge from foster homes and need caring, loving mentors to help shepard them into young adulthood...
3d DCA Watch -- Apodictic All Over Again!
Posted on June 10, 2009Hi kids! The sun is shining, I have been windsurfing all morning, and the forecast looks good for a return to the waves later this afternoon.Hey, it's summer, right?So let's jump right in and see what the mostly wise white men think, you know, the resplendently robed swillers of coffee-on-high, who dispense mighty mighty justice in carefully controlled, episodic bursts from a purpose-built, retractable, heavily fortified concrete bunker, yes it's a completely apodictic edition of 3d DCA Watch:Jetbroadband v...
"I am not a demonstrative exhibit! I am a human being! I am a court reporter!"
Posted on June 09, 2009Did anyone else catch the spirited defense of the essential human nature of court reporters in the letters page of the Herald recently:I am appalled that the prosecutor in the Adam Kaufman murder case used a seated court reporter to demonstrate how Kaufman allegedly strangled his wife...
Federal District Judge Applicant List -- Some Familiar Names
Posted on June 09, 2009DOM breaks the list of district judge applicants:Jerald BagleyGerald CopeMary Barzee FloresDarrin GaylesRandee GolderJudith KorchinRobert LeeRobert LevensonPeter LopezPatricia LowryAna Maria MartinezCaroline Heck MillerMaria OrtizEmmanuel PerezRobin RosenbaumRobert Scola Jr...
SFL Monday -- Wash, Rinse, Repeat.
Posted on June 08, 2009Let's see, the roads are wet, it rained all weekend, and it's Monday again.Haven't we been here before?Well I hope you all had some quality time this weekend, before having some quality time this week, if this remarkable story about BigLaw from yesterday's NYT sounds at all familiar:Type-A partners, once glued to their BlackBerrys, suddenly have time fortheir spouses and their children; ladder-climbing junior lawyers linger overlunch...
Fun With Pseudonymous Blogging!
Posted on June 08, 2009Some of you lawyer wonk types of all stripes (like my friend swlip) are probably already aware of the contretemps involving former clerk to Justice Scalia and NRO legal expert Ed Whelan, who on Saturday "outted" a legal blogger posting under the name "publius" over at Obsidian Wings...
SFL Friday -- Tim and I, Down The Telegraph Road.
Posted on June 05, 2009Well Tim and I have been slightly delayed by inclement weather, but be assured that magnificent GT Gevalia machine will soon be in our grubby little hands. If we're a little late and a little wet at the Hyatt tonight now you know why.....Note to idiot outside au bon pain at lunchtime -- no one wants to hear you rail into your Bluetooth about whether or not some category of documents is responsive to a discovery request...
Summer's Here, Plebes!
Posted on June 05, 2009Friday morning -- what a great time for roadwork. Thank you Dade County!I woke up this morning with a lot of energy. So much so that reading Richard Cohen's dumb op-ed in today's Herald didn't even bother me that much.Dear Miami Herald: we know you syndicate the WP writer's group -- easily the worst collection of columnists on the planet (sorry Glenn!) -- but Richard's muddled musings were released to the intertubes on Tuesday (for free)...
Carver!
Posted on June 04, 2009A CSC junkie spotted the big man hunting down food near SE 1st Street yesterday near that weird little Spanish-language bookstore.Get off the dope, people!
Pacer Surfing Thursday!
Posted on June 04, 2009So did anybody file anything interesting lately?Let's take a look....Remember that Banco Santander/Madoff case that was filed with much fanfare back in January?Well from what I can tell the litigation hasn't progressed too far, even though it's in front of Judge Paul "Rocket Man" Huck...
3d DCA Watch -- Dreams Unwind, Love's A State of Mind Edition
Posted on June 03, 2009Hey, who knew Judge Sotomayor is such a fan of the Jews?I'm kvelling!Well I'm excited. Yes, today is the day the resplendent ones dispense their coffee-swilled signed, sealed, and entered goodies, where PCAs ring out from the hermetically sealed concrete bunker to the south like a bell through the night, like a bird in flight, like a cat in the dark, like a fine skylark...
MFR + JLO - BDOS = BDOI TKO?
Posted on June 03, 2009Billy Shields has a nice piece on the never-ending saga involving BDO Seidman and the new trial that commenced this week against BDO International, but he missed the money quote:''Confusion creeps in because of the similarity in names,'' Mark Raymond, a lawyer for Belgium-based BDO International, told jurors...
"Extremely Floridian" GrayRobinson Facing New Conflict Allegations
Posted on June 02, 2009Hey, does your firm still pay for that courthouse news roundup of new filings?Mine stopped, plus we fired 4 attorneys and 32 staffers, but let me tell you -- the Gevalia coffee is still delicious!Anyway, I just came across this one from the Tampa area, forwarded by a dedicated reader:Professional negligence and breach of fiduciary duty action claiming the defendants failed to settle an auto negligence claim against the plaintiff within the amount of available insurance coverage, resulting in a lawsuit with a verdict of $26 million...
"For Once, The Rich White Man Is In Control."
Posted on June 02, 2009Sorry folks I got caught up writing an 11th Circuit response brief, and missed all the fun yesterday.As I was working on the brief, I was reminded again of V.S. Naipaul's advice for young writers:"I didn't know how you seduced a woman, how you excited her and thought of her pleasure...
Oh Well -- He Still Is Dating Elle MacPherson.
Posted on June 01, 2009Hi kids, it's Monday and it will probably rain again!Poor Jeff Soffer. The Turnberry heir picked the wrong time to invest in the Las Vegas condo market, picked the wrong time to give half of his hotel to the Saudis in order to drop a half billion in renovations to the Fontainebleau, and even had to deny having an affair with Gwyneth Paltrow...
SFL Friday -- Before The Flood
Posted on May 29, 2009Didn't this week start with the weather all dark and rainy? Why does Friday feel like Monday?But that's ok, it's always windsurfing weather somewhere -- you just have to find it like. say, in China.But I hope you stay dry and do something productive and fun this weekend...
Are Ted Olsen And David Boies Just Better Than We Are?
Posted on May 29, 2009Via AL there is an interesting post at PrawfsBlawg on the new suit by Ted Olsen and David Boies that challenges Prop 8 on Constitutional grounds.I just read the complaint and think it's a total crapshoot, as the issues are framed as purely ones of Due Process and Equal Protection under the United States Constitution...
Pacer Surfing With SFL!
Posted on May 29, 2009Hi kids, in a continuing effort to bore me to tears, I have reviewed some recent civil case filings in our dainty little district, and found one that is mildly interesting.Indeed, the pretrial conference is set before Judge Ungaro at 11:30 this morning...
Keep Your Cards And Letters Coming!
Posted on May 28, 2009Well it sure is flattering to read some of your mail.Good thing I can see that what might be perceived by a more thin-skinned civil law blogger as a vicious or derogatory insult is in fact just a playful, perhaps flirtatious effort at getting to know me better...
Congrats John Shawde -- Don't Take Me Alive.
Posted on May 28, 2009So this morning I broke out my Keytar and pretended to be a rock star again:I'm a bookkeepers sonI don't want to shoot no oneWell I crossed my old man back in OregonDon't take me aliveGot a case of dynamiteI could hold out here all nightYes I crossed my old man back in OregonDon't take me aliveIt lasted for about 20 minutes or so and then I got a call from Jaime Bianchi...
3d DCA Watch -- Empathetic, Intellectually Mediocre Latina Judges Edition
Posted on May 27, 2009Hi kids -- are you sick to death yet of all the hacktacular Sotomayor coverage?Between Sotomayor and Jon and Kate all day, everyday, I'm about ready to pull a Papa Hemingway myself if this doesn't end soon.Have we returned to 2005 and entered Stupidville again?For example, did you know that if you graduated summa from Princeton and was EIC of the Yale Law Review, that makes you "intellectually mediocre"?Employing the laziest of stereotypes, it's a proven fact that if you are Hispanic and female you are by definition "temperamental and excitable" and possibly "Che Guevara in robes...
Ricci And Hemingway, Attorneys At Law?
Posted on May 27, 2009Did anyone take a look at the inside first page of the new June Florida Bar Journal?There's none other than Ed Ricci, standing shoulder to shoulder and arm-in-arm with Ernest Hemingway, someone who I thought at one point was in fact dead (not you, Ed)...
Oh Hail It's Tuesday.
Posted on May 26, 2009Hi online addicts!Welcome to your work week, folks.Well I hope you all had a restful and peaceful Memorial Day weekend, and at least paused for a moment to honor the many who have sacrificed so much in defense of our country.Somehow I windsurfed myself all the way out to Elliott Key yesterday, so I apologize for not getting a post up to mark the holiday...
Bill McCollum's (Non) Journey Through the Past
Posted on May 26, 2009It's dark and rainy and everybody seems to be working.Bah humbug.Oh this is exciting -- all you broker/dealer securities litigators may get a boost from this proposed FINRA revision: The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or Finra, is requesting comment on whether it should file a rule proposal with the Securities and Exchange Commission that could expand existing suitability obligations for brokers...
SFL Friday -- Wet Hot American Weekend.
Posted on May 22, 2009Well it's Memorial Day weekend and I am sure many of you have already left your offices for parts unknown, to the east, west, south and north somewhat, as someone famous once said.But it's almost summer, so that means movies, right?Like the Star Trek reboot, which in my view captured the tone, humor, and humanity of the original while injecting fresh blood and some real vitality back into the franchise...
PACER Surfing With SFL!
Posted on May 22, 2009You guys ever PACER surf?You know, go onto PACER and plug in some attorney's name or law firm or some defendant to see what they're up to here in the Southern District?No, me neither.But just for kicks I plugged in two of my favorite South Florida attorneys, Chris Carver and Hilarie Bass...
Overworked And Underpaid Thursday.
Posted on May 21, 2009Ever come into the office and just get hacked off?No particular reason, but you feel like all the crap -- cases, clients, colleagues, judges, opposing counsel, upcoming hearings, trips etc. -- builds up and you need an outlet for the hostility and aggression...
Rachlin Merges; Older Male Judges Discuss What Women Attorneys Are Wearing
Posted on May 21, 2009Many of us have hired these guys as experts over the years, and I see the firm is merging and changing its name:South Florida's eighth-largest accounting firm, Rachlin LLP, is merging with Marcum & Kliegman LLP, the largest accounting firm on New York?s Long Island...
When Is Trump Tower Not Trump Tower?
Posted on May 20, 2009When The Donald says it's not:Thirty buyers of Trump International units at 551 N. Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd. are suing the developers and Trump for allegedly misleading them into thinking the TV star's participation was a sure thing. Though sales contracts identify the project as the SB Fort Lauderdale Hotel & Condominium and state that Trump can withdraw from the licensing deal, the suit claims that marketing materials suggested Trump was on board as a developer...
3d DCA Watch -- It's A Carnival Out There.
Posted on May 20, 2009Well, I've walked these streetsin a spectacle of wealth and povertyin the diamond marketsthe scarlet welcome carpetthat they just rolled out for meAnd I've walked these streetsin the mad house asylumthey can bewhere a wild eyed misfit propheton a traffic island stoppedand he raved of saving me Oh trial courts, why do you torture the 3d DCA so?Whenever I edit briefs by an associate, I am reminded of that great line from V...
New Local Rule -- All South Florida Lawyers Must Have Something To Do With Chinese Drywall.
Posted on May 19, 2009If I hear the words "Chinese Drywall" one more time I will pull a Carver, or a Shumie, or something and heads will roll.For the love of God please don't send me things like this:Attorney C. David Durkee, partner with the Florida law firm Roberts & Durkee, announced the scheduling of a town hall meeting in Lake Worth, Fla...
Big Money!
Posted on May 19, 2009Since I see everyone and David O. Markus is commenting on Jeffrey Toobin's profile of Chief Justice Roberts, I might as well put my two crappy cents in.For us civil litigators, here's the part I found interesting:In one respect, Roberts?s series of prestigious jobs all amounted to doing the same thing for more than twenty years?reading and writing appellate briefs and, later, appellate decisions...
If A Tree Falls In The Forest......
Posted on May 19, 2009By Guest Blogger: George Berkeley was a smart man, or he took a lot of acid. He opined about objects ceasing to exist, once there was nobody around to perceive them. Or to give a crap. Which is sort of like what is happening to Paris Hilton. But like botox or saline, Chief Judge Moreno has intervened to delay, albeit briefly, the inevitable, ruling that there are enough issues in dispute for a trial to begin on June 8: The judge says one issue is whether Hilton was actually too busy or decided not to promote "Pledge This!" because she hated the movie...
Stuart Slotnick Wraps Up Another One.
Posted on May 18, 2009A commenter points us once again to Buchanan Ingersoll litigator Stuart Slotnick.You may recall Stuart planned to make Woody's relationship with Soon-Yi the focus of his client American Apparel's defense of Woody's $10 million privacy infringement claim...
Is Shareef Malnick Full of Crap?
Posted on May 18, 2009Well that was a fast weekend, wasn't it?Mine was uneventful, filled as it always is with windsurfing, Bolero, amateur photography, certain mixed drinks and of course careful study of the Book of Proverbs.Boy, that King Solomon sure was a shmartie, huh? For example, he said things that even apply to the practice of law, such as:Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity, than he that is perverse in his lips, and is a fool...
Marco Rubio Vows to Be An Unpopular Leader Who Will Emancipate Us From Medicare.
Posted on May 17, 2009Oh 20 percenters, how I love you so.Especially the South Florida variety, where the rhetoric skews both stupid and comic, often at the same time!Consider our lawyer friend Marco Rubio, who is challenging the sunny centrist Charlie Crist.According to one of Rubio's supporters, Charlie hasn't "manned up...
In The 1920s, Could You "Text Message" The Ice Deliveryman?
Posted on May 15, 2009I know how much Judge Silverman loves to preserve and celebrate our heritage, particularly as it relates to the courts and our rich South Florida judicial history.So he would know for sure, but I'm fairly certain that in the old days you could not text message your boss from the witness stand about your testimony:While the judge and attorneys conferred, a courtroom spectator passed a note to a defense attorney saying the witness, Sky Development chief operating officer Gavin Sussman, appeared to be text-messaging Sky chief executive Yizhak Toledano at the plaintiff table...
SFL Friday -- Open Up My Heart And Look Inside.
Posted on May 15, 2009Hi folks, well as usual Rumpy is correct -- today is in fact Friday. But that's good, right?Maybe it's all that talk earlier about "feminine tannins," but I've been in a romantic mood all day -- I hope you are too.Boy, you guys never send me enough juicy stuff about local lawyers, law firms, or cases, but you all love to send me links for a Friday afternoon post...
Mark Tobin Is Proud of His Bottles.
Posted on May 15, 2009Hi folks, lots of fun stories floating around today.First, as anyone working at a big firm knows, conflicts checks are a real hassle.Just ask my buddy and excellent lawyer extraordinare Pedro Martinez-Fraga:Martinez-Fraga asked to withdraw as counsel for the Chilean government in all four of the Miami cases after the conflict issue was raised by Berger Singerman attorneys Mitchell Berger of Fort Lauderdale and James Cunningham Jr...
SFL Fashion Watch -- Try To Look Like The Guy From Your IS Department.
Posted on May 14, 2009It's Friday, right?I mean, where the hail is everybody?I know Steve Zack is in South Africa (seriously) but what happened to everyone else?So let's talk fashion. To me, "Flagler Fashion" means a big red nose, a seat at the bar at Sally Russell's, two dry Gin Gibsons, and some various crumpled papers from several different cases loosely assembled in one old, beat-up redweld...
Welcome, "Guest Blogger"!
Posted on May 14, 2009Folks, below is a guest post from a well-regarded, talented and successful South Florida litigator, who has kindly submitted the following contribution for your Thursday afternoon entertainment:Guest Blogger, here. I know, I know: You are angry. "Why is HE a guest blogger!?!? I've been reading this blog since DAY ONE! This just isn't fair! What does HE have, that I don't have?" Calm down, calm down...
You've Got To Be Carefully Taught
Posted on May 14, 2009Hi kids, unbelievably swamped today, but digging out.Enjoy this version of an old ditty from "South Pacific." John finally starts singing about four and a half minutes in.See you after lunch.
3d DCA Watch -- Honorary George L. Metcalfe Edition
Posted on May 13, 2009Hi kids, before we begin our journey like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel, never ending or beginning, on an ever-spinning reel, as the images unwind, like the circles that you findin the judicial windmills of their minds, I want to talk about George L...
"A Certain Look In the Eye and An Easy Smile."
Posted on May 13, 2009Ever get an earworm?I've been endlessly replaying "Dogs" in my head all morning and can't seem to shake it. Must be the mood I'm in today.Speaking of old men, I understand a bunch of us geezers (plus Adam Rabin) will be sharing war stories about our many trial victories at the Hyatt on Friday...
11th Circuit Has Not Yet Overturned Liberty 6 Convictions
Posted on May 12, 2009So I checked the 11th Circuit website just to see if they have issued any orders yet overturning today's Liberty 6 convictions, but so far nothing.But I did see this interesting opinion issued today regarding a man from Togo who was seeking withholding of removal and for relief under the United Nations Convention Against Torture...
Pig Roasts For Everyone!
Posted on May 12, 2009Hi kids, it's a slow news day huh?Doesn't anyone have anything interesting to share with your humble South Florida civil law blogger?Sure I could regale you all with stories about a phone call I just had, or a letter I just wrote, or even a hearing I am getting ready for...
Leyza, Leyza, Leyza!!
Posted on May 12, 2009So a birdie who also happens to possess superb legal skills has advised that it's time for Leyza to finally leave the boardroom and face the music -- the "extremely Floridian" GrayRobinson was officially canned as receiver in connection with the Sun Capital brouhaha...
World Gone Mad -- Attorney Sanctioned For Cancelling Depo On "Pretext"
Posted on May 11, 2009Oh man what is the world coming to?Good thing this judge does not preside in South Florida, or business litigation in this town would grind to an immediate halt: A Southern District magistrate judge has sanctioned a lawyer who refused to attend a scheduled deposition in what the magistrate judge said "can only be construed as an attempt to gain leverage with respect to unrelated discovery issues...
SFL Monday -- Lew Freeman Wades Into It.
Posted on May 11, 2009So Reverend Cutie Reverend Cutie Reverend Cutie Reverend Cutie Reverend Cutie everyone!I'm hesitant to add to the massive amount of digital ink that has been spilled on this slightly overreported story, but I am quite sure the handsome South Beach canoodler is the perfect guy to carry the anti-celibacy message to the new Pope -- who recently restored the pre-Vatican II prayer for conversion of the Jews and also may or may not have been a former Nazi...
Why I Love The Miami Herald Letters Page
Posted on May 10, 2009What other major American newspaper would publish this:Liberals believe that yelling at someone is torture. Miami Herald editors, thank you for applying your intellect to advancing the discussion!Oh, and also, Happy Mother's Day!!
GrayRobinson Conflict of Interest?
Posted on May 08, 2009When I first read this story about a potential conflict of interest involving the "extremely Floridian" GrayRobinson that is being asserted by Proskauer Rose, my first reaction was:These firms still have South Florida offices?Wow, pretty neat!But can anyone make heads or tails out of it:GrayRobinson partner Leyza Blanco in Miami should not be appointed receiver of a Boca Raton health care company linked to an alleged $550 million hedge fund fraud because her firm has represented an affiliated company, one of the principals said in a court filing...
SFL Friday -- Is That My Mother On The Phone?
Posted on May 08, 2009Hi folks, what a week!For those of you clinging to every word of the unfolding GrayRobinson conflict saga, see this little gem (use your PACER account, cheapskates!).And dedicated readers know how much I love to follow politics, so I'm watching this one closely...
Unconditional Love
Posted on May 08, 2009I love Mother's Day. There's something especially pure and clarifying about celebrating motherhood. Who could be against it?Kids, go pick up the phone and call your mom, or celebrate her memory.Dads, stop screwing around on these here tubes and go get some flowers and a nice present for your special someone...
Tam Wilson To Retire.
Posted on May 07, 2009Billy Shields breaks it:Longtime Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Thomas ?Tam? Wilson Jr. has resigned, his judicial assistant said Thursday. He will step down in October.Wilson has been a judge for 19 years since he was appointed in 1990 and won three elections...
Bill Scherer Discovers Something About Republicans.
Posted on May 07, 2009Hint: If they are in Tallahassee, they do all sorts of weird things to trial lawyers.CORRECTION:Oops! I am advised that one of the gentlemen pictured above is not in fact prominent Broward trial lawyer and GOP macher Bill Scherer.My apologies.
Judge Carnes Keeps His Eye On The Sparrow
Posted on May 06, 2009Boy did we screw up the Everglades."Progress" and all that.In a well-written and thoughtful opinion released yesterday, Judge Carnes lays out the history of man's intervention in the region in two succinct paragraphs:For centuries, a broad, shallow sheet of fresh water that covered most ofSouth Florida flowed south from Lake Okeechobee to the Florida Bay...
3d DCA Watch -- Melanie Damian Still Rules Our World.
Posted on May 06, 2009Oy, let us begin our review of the written utterances of those resplendently robed, coffee-swilling judges who must impose their judgments upon us, yes those too-cool-for-school-mensches (hi all clerks who read the blog!!) who labor in the concrete bunker by that beautiful ribbon of highway, yes it is time to examine the exciting, spiritual, almost zeit-geist opinions of our favorite, dreaded Overlords:United Auto v...
Spinal Tap On Tap Tonight.
Posted on May 05, 2009How about that -- Judge Lenard finally removed the hold out juror from the Liberty 6 re-re-trial, thereby handing the defense a huge appellate issue in the event of a conviction.Everyone ready for a fourth go-round?But why focus on the negative -- it's Cinco de Mayo, folks, so after a scintillating day of almost excruciatingly numb drudgery, I'm getting ready to cut out for some early windsurfing and then over to the Gleason to see those silly men who love big bottoms, Spinal Tap...
Brent Buckman And His Old Pants.
Posted on May 05, 2009Sheesh, does anyone have any news of any interest?Does it count that I saw Ervin rockin' some hard-core aviators outside the courthouse on Flagler this morning?I even saw Frank Angones!Hey, I see that my friends over at China Law Blog (they're the guys who pretty much beat the crap out of me for the ABA's Best Regional Blawg last year) have included yours truly in the latest Blawg Review...
Yes Glenn, We Want You To Shut Up And Return To Your Igloo.
Posted on May 05, 2009Oy.I'd like to write about exciting South Florida civil legal news, such as the fact that Lew Freeman is investigating lap dancing receipts.But I see Glenn Garvin has graced us with another column, filled with high-larious insights never before seen on the intertubes...
J-E-T-S!!
Posted on May 04, 2009So I see that Bilzen lawyers Dan Heller and Glenn Waldman have opened up their own shop:Dan P. Heller and Glen H. Waldman, both former equity partners at Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod, have founded the firm of Heller Waldman, providing legal services in the areas of estate planning and litigation/arbitration...
Rinse, Wash, Repeat.
Posted on May 04, 2009Hi kids!Boy I remember when you could count the liberals in Miami on one hand -- Bob and Adele, Dante, Sandy (hi Gabrielle!), Arva, Claude, and yes, Bob Parks.Well Bob writes in and wants you to cross out choice of forum provisions when you check into Hedonism III:Upon arrival at the hotel, resort or cruise ship, a traveler should read the check-in documents closely...
SFL Splendid Isolation Friday
Posted on May 01, 2009There are some odd stories floating around today.First off, congrats to Adam Horowitz, who fought and won at Wounded Knee. A big win, buddy.But between swine flu and meningitis and guys walking around downtown in gloves and masks, I'm starting to get a little cranky...
Truly A Major-League City?
Posted on May 01, 2009Oh Miami, this is why we love you so:Nearly 3.1 miles, as opposed to exactly 3.1 miles, because the night before, apparently unbeknownst to Miami police and the city's public works department, Northeast Third Avenue between Third and Fourth Streets ''was stripped for resurfacing,'' race co-director Hans Huseby said...
Corporate Run -- I'm Outta Here.
Posted on April 30, 2009I want to send a big thanks to all the firms and businesses participating in this year's corporate run. We all know the economic environment is difficult but that is exactly why such time, energy, and money is needed, for such a good cause.Have fun, kiddies!
SFL Caption Contest!
Posted on April 30, 2009You kids seems to be in a captioning sort of mood, so give this one a try.BTW, this suit strikes me as ridiculous.Winner gets a bottle of S&S Diner's famous salad dressing!
These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things...
Posted on April 30, 2009They were all there last night, my mischpuka!You know, by virtue of my position I am obligated to attend pretty much all of these bar functions, which vary in quality and can be anywhere from painful to mildly pleasant depending on my mood and dry Gibson intake...
3d DCA Watch -- Trail of Tears Edition
Posted on April 29, 2009Hi kids!Blah blah blah that glorious time of the week, blah blah coffee-swilling, blah blah concrete bunker, blah blah blah resplendently robed, blah blah judicial utterances, blah here we go, blah blah our patented 3d DCA Watch:How nice, I see that our friendly 3d DCA took their act on the road and played a gig at St...
Happy Birthday, Israel!
Posted on April 29, 2009We pause for a moment to honor Israel's independence, 61 years strong, a few road bumps here and there, but still alive and kicking.Shalom!
Hooray -- It's Arbitration Fairness Day!
Posted on April 29, 2009Yawn.Rights shmights, I agree with Justice Thomas -- you and your whiny "right" to buy luxury items like a telephone or air conditioning -- what's wrong with you people? That's not what this country is about!As usual, I think Archie Bunker summed it up best:Archie Bunker: That ain't the American Way, buddy...
Macy's, Are You Happy Now??
Posted on April 28, 2009As my mischpucha know, I always have my camera ready.Here's a pic taken moments ago of the exciting grand opening celebration of the "Paul S. Walker Urbanscape."The buzz is electric, peoples.
"I'd Rather Not Answer That" = YES.
Posted on April 28, 2009The inestimable Julie Kay breaks news as usual regarding the shameful effort by prosecutors in Alex Acosta's office to trap uber-lawyer David O. Markus, which resulted in an explosive $600k sanctions order by Judge Gold:The three prosecutors themselves are appealing...
Limos for Everyone?
Posted on April 27, 2009Several in-the-know readers have passed along an incendiary anonymous memo making the rounds among administrators and trustees regarding financial mismanagement at the University of Miami.Thanks folks, but I'm not touching it -- it's even too hot for your humble crappy (lawsuit-averse) blogger...
Charlie Pickett and the Eggs!
Posted on April 27, 2009Welcome to Monday, peoples.Wow -- I had no idea Charlie Pickett now practices securities law in Palm Beach:Before Pickett, 55, was a lawyer at West Palm Beach's Casey Ciklin Lubitz Martens, he was a South Florida musical god. With his bands The Eggs and then The MC3, this guy from Dania injected a sweaty dose of rock-laced country and blues into the local '80s music scene...
Ode to Catherine Van Asselt
Posted on April 24, 2009You are South Florida's Lexis representativeSmart like a foxMuch prettier than Randy Kroner or Ed KnoxBut dear Catherine I must confessThat Westlaw costs less.
SFL Love Pyramid Friday
Posted on April 24, 2009Well kids, the weekend is nearly here and I'm excited about it.But first I have to get a few things done.Write nasty letter, check.Send out some bills, check.Get out of 4 p.m. conference call on some bullcrap excuse, check.Read Judge Posner's penetrating discussion of "lubricious sexual devices," check...
Just Lucky, I Guess.
Posted on April 24, 2009This from Alana Roberts in today's DBR:This is the second, high-profile Loumiet banking client that has been implicated in a fraud. Note -- Carlos was completely cleared of the first one.Still, I'm curious -- Bowman Brown, do you have anything to add to this story?
Note to Miami Herald -- Torture Is Not A "Partisan" Issue.
Posted on April 24, 2009Sorry but this stuff bugs the crap out of me:Yet liberal activists Thursday delivered 250,000 petitions to Attorney General Eric Holder demanding an independent prosecutor. Liberals in Congress are calling for a commission. And Obama himself all week refused to rule one out, saying that a bipartisan, independent panel would be the best option...
Judge Jay Bybee, Legal Scholar.
Posted on April 23, 2009Hi kids!This time I mean it literally.Kids who are at work today with your parents, this is what your parents do when they go to the office. They waste time and slack off in front of the computer -- just like you!Except when they are done, they type the following:"2...
My Day With Milton Hirsch.
Posted on April 23, 2009I like Milt Hirsch.Good lawyer, funny guy, he's gonna make a great judge.But Milt, seriously, please stop following me around. He's everywhere.Here he is with some other old white guys at the FACDL pro bono public defender event yesterday. I saw him again later at Stearns Weaver for the Bob Graham fundraiser for legal aid -- buy Senator Graham's new book on participatory democracy, btw...
3d DCA Watch -- Through A Glass, Obversely Edition
Posted on April 22, 2009Hi kiddies!Is it kismet, fate, or simple indigestion that I happened to glance at my DCBA Bulletin and, after reflecting on the full-color beauty that is my friend Timothy Ravitch (what, no color for Gisela Munoz?), noticed that the DCBA plans to honor Judge Schwartz with a Judicial Excellence Award...
Young Whippersnapper Writes Letter!
Posted on April 22, 2009That fresh-faced kid over at the Podhurst firm wrote a letter to the Herald: The April 19 story Famous architect Frank Gehry feuding with Miami Beach over New World Symphony project omitted the role of the New World Symphony's leadership in contributing to this problem...
You Are Needed Now.
Posted on April 22, 2009Oh boy, so it's Wednesday.Remember when musicians used to get up on stage and play? And they were pretty good musicians? And we were all entertained by this?Yep, those were the days.So I see my friends Rick Freedman and Carlos Martinez are holding a press conference at 11:30 this morning:On Wednesday, April 22, 2009 at 11:30 AM, Eleventh Judicial Circuit Public Defender Carlos Martinez will hold a joint Press Conference with Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (FACDL) - Miami Chapter President Rick Freedman to announce FACDL-Miami's participation in a Pro Bono Initiative...
Judge Seidlin Really Really Wants To Help People.
Posted on April 21, 2009Oh South Florida! Why do you bless us with so many endlessly entertaining state court judges?Is it the water? The mold? It must be something, but please baby don't ever let it stop.In our latest installment, the Herald takes a close look at former crybaby Anna Nichole Smith Judge Larry Seidlin:From 2003 to 2008, Kasler gave the Seidlins more than $400,000...
Glenn Garvin Lives in Tuckahoe And Thinks Dr. Arthur Harmon Makes Some Valid Points.
Posted on April 21, 2009I finally figured it out -- Glenn Garvin is stuck in Season Six of Maude.The Herald TV columnist-turned-editorialist inhabits a world that is straight out of that groundbreaking 70s sitcom, filled with "wacky" limousine liberals, hippies lurking under every bed, Feminazis and long-haired draft-dodgers who seek to impose their "batty" PC cultural values on the silent majority of decent, hardworking hard-hat Americans...
Catholic Federal Judges To Meet and Honor Judge P
Posted on April 21, 2009Our friends at the DBR note that the revived Catholic Lawyers Guild is set to honor Magistrate Judge Palermo after the annual Red Mass on Thursday:The reactivated Miami Catholic Lawyers Guild will recognize U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter R. Palermo on Thursday with the Lex Christi Lex Amoris award...
Victor Diaz Probably Doesn't Like "Dogs Playing Cards" Much Either.
Posted on April 20, 2009Hi kids!Is it me, or is Podhurst partner Victor Diaz looking better and better? The sharp clothes, the funky glasses, the man is just rockin' it lately.But you won't see him buying any Velvet Elvis oil paintings:Commissioner Victor Diaz, who has been outspoken in his desire to keep Gehry at all costs, said the city has mismanaged the project -- and mishandled the famed architect...
DCBA Clothing Drive Begins!
Posted on April 20, 2009I'm sure many of you already received this email, alerting us to a DCBA Young Lawyers Section clothing drive: DCBA Young Lawyers Section Professionalism Committee and the Horizons Committee in conjunction with 'Canes Closet & Hope Public Interest ResourceCenter at the University of Miami School of Law SEEK YOUR ASSISTANCE WITH A PROFESSIONAL CLOTHING DRIVEThe Professional Clothing Drive is a philanthropic event that coordinates the donation of work-appropriate clothing for men and women to local domestic violence shelters and other needy individualsApril 20, 2009 through May 01, 2009at the listed locations Hogan & Hartson LLP Mellon Financial Center1111 Brickell Avenue Suite 1900Miami, FL 33131 (firm lobby) Hughes, Hubbard & Reed LLPMiami Center201 S...
Holocaust Remembrance Day
Posted on April 20, 2009Well, today is Hitler's birthday and tomorrow is Holocaust Remembrance Day.Hey, facts are facts.It's certainly true that almost every religious or ethnic group has been the subject of both formal governmental and informal societal persecution at one point or another in world history...
Stuart Slotnick, My Hero.
Posted on April 17, 2009Remember when Buchanan Ingersoll had an Aventura and Miami office? You know, back when there were solvent banks and real estate clients and that kind of thing.Hey, what do you know? I guess technically they still do.Hi Jack Kessler and Richard Morgan!Listen Jack and Richard, I want you to talk to your New York partner Stuart Slotnick...
SFL Friday -- Walk Down That Lonesome Road
Posted on April 17, 2009Well it's Friday, folks, and I hope you all made it through the week.Unfortunately, we will be foregoing our usual Friday afternoon post due to the sudden and incomprehensible loss of former AUSA and White and Case attorney Beth Jarrett.Please note there will be a memorial service Sunday at 4 for Beth at the home of the family, 5400 LaGorce Drive, Miami Beach...
Freeloading Guardian Ad Litem Brags About Perks.
Posted on April 16, 2009So I hope everyone either got teabagged or teabagged somebody else yesterday, depending on your preference. Personally, I think a healthy public discussion of teabagging can only be a good thing.Meanwhile, here is freeloader Edward B. Kaplan boasting about all the perks of being a Guardian Ad Litem:Funds that may be cut are badly needed for Guardian ad Litem staff and office expenses...
Enough With Poor People Voting!
Posted on April 16, 2009I am so sick of watching poor people vote. Lord knows I saw more than my share of that during the 2008 election, what with Governor Crist extending the early voting and making it slightly easier for working people to get to the polls.And look what happened!That's why Alex Diaz de la Portilla's new proposal to eliminate their voting rights makes a lot of sense:Republican lawmakers, who control both houses of the Legislature, have proposed sweeping changes to the state?s election laws, including new procedures on registering voters, and requiring voters to use a provisional ballot if they move shortly before an election...
Herald Writes Mildly Interesting Editorial.
Posted on April 15, 2009I usually read Herald editorials purely for their comic and/or sleep-inducing values.So I was a bit surprised to see one today about our own federal blogger uber-lawyer:U.S. District Judge Alan Gold used that term, ''win at all costs,'' to describe the egregious misconduct of three U...
Beth Jarrett, RIP.
Posted on April 15, 2009Dedicated mother, loving wife, superlative attorney, generous philanthropist and friend to many, UM Law grad Beth Jarrett has tragically and suddenly passed away.The words of the opening prayer of the Yizkor service, chanted by Jews under conditions of persecution for many hundreds of years, seem particularly apt to me now...
3d DCA Watch -- An Unprofessional Bit of Gamesmanship Edition
Posted on April 15, 2009Hi folks, well it's tax day and I know like good little attorneys all of you have cut a nice check and applied for your first extension. See how easy that was!But not our busy resplendently robed scriveners to the south. Ensconced in their concrete bunker by the highway, they spend their days filled with laughter, love, and PCAs; their nights consumed with thoughts of the unburdened ones, those non-responsible persons in all of their non-responsible positions -- oh how liberating it must be to merely shape young minds and teach them how to read, or get a knot out of of someone's back...
Happy Anniversary, Judge Barkett!
Posted on April 14, 2009Did you know today is the fifteenth anniversary of the Senate's confirmation of Judge Barkett to the 11th Circuit? And she received her commission the next day.Her confirmation took more than six months, thanks to Senator Hatch and her perceived hostility to the death penalty...
Teabagging For Liberty!
Posted on April 14, 2009It's a slow legal news day, and I'm bored. What, you want to discuss Judge Gold's opinion on that stupid "enhanced" Cuban travel agency fee? Like you have to be Justice Cardozo to know the State of Florida can't have its own foreign policy.(psst, someone tell Representative David Rivera...
They Write Letters.....
Posted on April 14, 2009This time it's the dynamic duo, Judges Cindy Lederman and Jeri Beth Cohen, and they apparently think it's a bad idea to further defund the Guardian Ad Litem program: If Florida House budget proposal 2009 passes, the most vulnerable children are at risk of losing their voice in court...
The "Right" To Purchase Something From Somebody.
Posted on April 13, 2009For Justice Thomas, that is about all it boils down to:?Today there is much focus on our rights,? Justice Thomas said. ?Indeed, I think there is a proliferation of rights.??I am often surprised by the virtual nobility that seems to be accorded those with grievances,? he said...
Teachers, Masseurs And Other Non-Responsible Positions.
Posted on April 13, 2009Careful readers know I adore Judge Schwartz.And it's not just the ticky-tacky, gloriously large nature of his opinions, it's what he says sometimes too!Here he is patiently explaining the proposed rule change so that convicted felons can't ever become lawyers, ever:?We just felt it was inappropriate to have convicted felons barred from being on the Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission and being teachers and masseurs, and a whole slew of what would seem to be non-responsible positions, and not have it impossible to be a felon for a lawyer,? said Third District Court of Appeal Senior Judge Alan Schwartz, who chaired the 15-member commission...
(Such An) Easy Question.
Posted on April 13, 2009Hi folks, so you all have a nice weekend?Hey, what do you know -- Fort Lauderdale attorney James S. Haliczer, managing partner at an 11-attorney firm, thinks big firms are too expensive and don't deliver value compared to smaller firms:In the frothiest days of the bubble, mega-firms with rates approaching $1,000 an hour were common...
SFL Good Good Friday.
Posted on April 10, 2009Hi kids, well that was some week, huh?I definitely plan on having some fun and blowing off some steam this weekend, how about you?Before we discuss weekend plans, let me ask you -- is there any utility at all to being "linked" on LinkedIn or Plaxo?Seriously, it's nice to receive dozens of emails from friends and colleagues asking me to link to them, but what exactly is the point? If I want to call or email Hilarie Bass or Marty Steinberg I pretty much know how to do it easily...
Judicial Spanking Week Continues!
Posted on April 09, 2009Huge and well-deserved victory for our own David O. Markus as Judge Gold drops a bomb on Alex Acosta's office:The judge reprimanded the two trial prosecutors, saying that along with Drug Enforcement Administration agent Christopher Wells, they ?acted vexatiously and in bad faith? in prosecuting Dr...
Has Tom Tew Embraced His Inner Lou Costello?
Posted on April 09, 2009I don't know, I'm starting to get sick of writing about the law all the time. Are you folks getting sick of reading about it?A friend passed along Judge Tjoflat's recent spankdown of Judge Cooke the other day. My reaction -- why be so personal? You don't agree with her ruling, fine, but no one needs to go overboard or embarrass anyone, particularly when you are in a position of power as an appellate court...
3d DCA Watch -- So Let It Be Written, So Let It Be Done Edition
Posted on April 08, 2009Hi folks, it's yet another joyous Pesach and SFL intends to cut out early and enjoy the bitter herbs, the honey, and the haroset smeared lovingly all over something truly wonderful.After that I may even go have a nice Seder!But alas, our resplendently robed judicial chosen ones have been busy, swilling their coffee and sharpening their pens, and today they have released their written messages to the world, in the form of "opinions," and so let us begin our journey through that topsy-turvy world that we call 3d DCA Watch:BDO Seidman v...
Harold Koh Is A Scary Transnationalist.
Posted on April 08, 2009University of Miami Law Professor Michael Froomkin runs a fun and highly informative blog, and has been covering this weird attack by NRO's Ed Whelan and others on Obama's State Department nominee and Yale Law Dean Harold Koh.As I commented there, what's so squirmy about these attacks is they are one of degree, or emphasis, and therefore cannot be easily refuted...
Three-Quarters of All Americans Are Real Smart.
Posted on April 07, 2009Hey, did you know that Justice O'Connor spoke to Florida legislators today? And she said something about civics being important and something that should be taught in public schools blah blah blah.Agreed -- but let's start with teachers and books!Anyhoo, she also said this about the insightful people that inhabit the Herald letters page:Far more Americans can name the judges on American Idol than can name the three branches of government, retired U...
Former SSD Lawyer Likes to Eat, Also Fight Foreclosures.
Posted on April 07, 2009Consider the career trajectory of former SSD corporate associate Raquel James.Here she is in 2006, assisting Abbott Labs in a huge $3.7 billion acquisition:Global law firm Squire, Sanders & Dempsey L.L.P. is serving as Florida counsel for Abbott Laboratories in its pending multibillion-dollar acquisition of Kos Pharmaceuticals...
Catch Me Now (I'm Falling)
Posted on April 07, 2009Heading to court folks, be back in a bit.The Face is on.
Exclusive -- Bowman Brown Discusses Stanford Case and Lew Freeman References Titanic.
Posted on April 06, 2009Hold the presses, people.In a surprise move, Bowman Brown has agreed to discuss the Stanford case in the media:?This thing has gotten so many hydra-like heads,? said Bowman Brown, an international banking attorney with Shutts & Bowen in Miami who represents Stanford clients...
Business Monday Takes Look At Local Law Firms -- It Ain't Pretty.
Posted on April 06, 2009Ok ok, several of you have asked for my thoughts on this Business Monday look at local law firms and how they are faring during these tough economic times.Here's what I took away from the story:1. Emily Blunt is cute as a button and really shines in The Great Buck Howard; and2...
SFL Friday -- Living In The Past Edition
Posted on April 03, 2009I see from an earlier comment thread that you folks are in a nostalgic sort of mood.Hey that's alright -- turns out it's ok to grow old after all:Turns out the older set may even have an advantage. Whereas early love activates brain regions thought to be responsible for those can't-stop-thinking-about-you love pangs, more mature passion lights up areas where the "bonding" or "cuddle" hormone oxytocin is active...
We're All Pinkos Now.
Posted on April 03, 2009You know I am so sick of these liberal activist judges, imposing their "east coast" values, inspired by Hollyweird and Barbara Streisand, why don't they go back to their Ivory Towers and have lunch with Teddy Kennedy and Ward Churchill all day already...
Scott Dimond Likes to Get It Right The First Time.
Posted on April 02, 2009Well it's a pretty damning statement about our toxic American politic when the Dean of frickin' Yale Law School can't get himself confirmed for a job in the Obama Administration. Right right I know he wants to apply Sharia law in American courts and all, and he looks all foreign and everything...
Herman Russomanno Is Delighted.
Posted on April 01, 2009How many times can one guy be delighted in a single soundbite:Rivkind, Sotolongo and Wingate drew up the fee-splitting arrangement in February 2008, about a month after Wingate dropped his case portfolio, according to Stettin?s order.?I conclude that it is a secret, self-serving and illegal arrangement intended as a means of evading this court?s order concerning Wingate?s claim to fees and costs from files which he abandoned,? Stettin wrote in an order issued late Monday...
3d DCA Watch -- April Fools, Sausage-Making, and Judge Schwartz Edition
Posted on April 01, 2009Hi kids, it's another Wednesday and that means we have hit judicial gold, the jackpot, for this is the day that written utterances are slowly released from the concrete bunker by the highway, yes that heart-stopping moment when your life suddenly has meaning -- real meaning -- and all things are immediately right with the world...
Four Kluger Peretz Partners Fly To.....Akerman?
Posted on March 31, 2009It's old news now to read of departures at Kluger & [partner to be named later], but to hear of four high-level lawyers heading to Akerman -- which has had its own shakeups recently -- is a fresh twist:Akerman Senterfitt today announced the continued expansion of its Litigation and Bankruptcy practices, as Dee Dee Fischer, Andrew Gold, Jason Oletsky and Brett Marks have joined the firm as shareholders in the Fort Lauderdale office...
SFL Monday -- Michael Hanzman to Rule Ft. Lauderdale, Too.
Posted on March 30, 2009Hi kids, well it's that day again.We've previously discussed how recent criticism regarding the composition of the Federal JNC may impact Michael Hanzman's long road to a federal judgeship, and here we see his name in the mix again in this excellent John Pacenti column:Even before a call for official applications, some prominent names are swirling in the Miami legal community to replace U...
SFL Friday -- Multitasking The Weekend Away.
Posted on March 27, 2009Kids, close your other seven browsers, stop updating your online profile, mute the conference call you are barely listening to, and stop text-messaging your kids for a moment.It turns out that multitasking may not be a good thing:[A]ccording to David E...
An Accountability Moment.
Posted on March 27, 2009In David's trial: Two federal prosecutors in Miami are being reassigned for their roles in the secret tape recording of a defense attorney and his investigator in a criminal case.Court documents show that prosecutor Karen Gilbert voluntarily stepped down as chief of the Miami U...
UM Names New Law Dean; Kluger Breaks Up With Peretz
Posted on March 26, 2009DBR reports:Patricia White, a visiting taxation professor at the Georgetown University Law Center and former law school dean at Arizona State University, has been chosen as the new dean at the University of Miami School of Law.The position was offered after interviews with a search committee and UM president Donna Shalala...
Who Is Bowman Brown's Mystery Man?
Posted on March 26, 2009Remember when Bowman Brown nearly had his own Teevee show, appearing all over the media and sharing that now-apocryphal "brush with Stanford" anecdote? I love the anecdote personally, but even I started to wonder when I turned on iCarly and dang it! -- there he was again...
3d DCA Watch -- PCAs And Crickets Edition.
Posted on March 25, 2009Hi kids, oh yes the sun is shining, the wind is up, and our busy judicial scriveners to the south have been toiling in their hermetically sealed concrete bunker of justice, listening to the faint noises of both highway traffic and appellate advocacy as they work they way through their overloaded docket...
What's For Dessert?
Posted on March 25, 2009So let's get the important stuff out of the way -- an Akerman birdie reported that none other than the big man himself was spotted heading into state court on Flagler yesterday shortly before lunchtime.Oh man, God help the poor sap he had for lunch.What else? Did anyone else find this story a little odd: Joel Jacobi, the Bal Harbour council member who tried to fight off allegations that he did not live in the village when he ran for reelection two years ago, resigned Monday...
Does Anyone Fact-Check Glenn Garvin?
Posted on March 24, 2009I know they probably don't have many fact-checkers left over there, but still.I mean, it's one thing when the burning issue is whether it was Danielle Brisebois or Soleil Moon Frye who starred in the revival of Hair that played at the old Konover Hotel back when it was owned by Abe Hirshfeld...
SFL Monday Monday.
Posted on March 23, 2009It's cold, rainy, dreary, and wet, everywhere I look there are toxic assets -- and I haven't even left my house yet.Welcome to Monday.Let's see, I like happy endings, don't you?Here's one for the Carlton Fields white collar trial team of Mike Pasano, Paul Calli, and Marissel Descalzo, who represented attorney Luisa Inclan Bird:A jury found Puerto Rico's former governor not guilty Friday on all nine counts including conspiracy, money laundering and lying to the FBI, concluding his monthlong corruption trial...
Are You Friends Yet With Miami-Dade's Ballpark?
Posted on March 22, 2009Hi folks, hope you all are having a great weekend.I had to emerge from my weekend reveille to comment on how Miami-Dade's Ballpark has joined that annoying Facebook thingy where you have to list 25 random things about yourself:Each alpha user annoyingly asked 25 friends to write 25 random things, too, and each of these friends' friends annoyingly asked 25 more, and so on, until this week, when the viral loop catapulted into the bizarro realm: 25 Random Things About Me, by Miami-Dade's Ballpark...
Tod Aronovitz Is A Mensch.
Posted on March 20, 2009So I thought the Federation reception was pretty good for this type of event.Lots of judges, some very touching speeches (Judge Gerstein introduced his family and longtime staff, to much applause), and Randy Kroner.What more can you ask for?Did you all catch this moving story about Tod Aronovitz' fight for justice for Leonard Krys:On Nov...
SFL Friday -- Sun and Fun Edition
Posted on March 20, 2009Well kids, another week is ending -- hooray!And what did we learn?That well-meaning populist outrage can lead to crappy legislation.That some little pointless war is having its 6th birthday (they are so cute at that age!).That there is some very kinky stuff going on inside the CIA...
Judicial Receptions Are For Lovers.
Posted on March 19, 2009So who else is going to the Federation Judicial Reception tonight:This year?s Judicial Reception will recognize three outstanding legal professionals in Miami, including the Honorable Joseph P. Farina, who will receive the Community Service Award; the Honorable Norman S...
Florida Supreme Court Upholds Lobbyist Restrictions
Posted on March 19, 2009Hi folks, I've been busy meditating so I have the requisite mental energy to listen to a lot of boring lawyer war stories later today, but a dedicated reader passes along this Florida Supreme Court opinion released today that upholds the statute regulating lobbyists...
"I Am Not Paying Any Money For Anything."
Posted on March 18, 2009Boy oh boy what a disaster is unfolding in Judge Gold's courtroom, in the aftermath of the acquital of Dr. Ali Shaygan by uber-trial mensch David O. Markus:U.S. District Judge Alan S. Gold, who held two days of hearings this week on the matter, said there were "flagrant violations" of basic rules by prosecutors and indicated he would likely order the U...
3d DCA Watch -- Rubber Biscuits and Wish Sandwiches Edition
Posted on March 18, 2009Thank you Judge Salter!You know, some weeks it ain't easy to write 3d DCA Watch. No offense to the judges, but it's hard sometimes to work with material like this:In the case before us, the record reflects that Diaz presented sufficient evidence to submit to the jury the issue of whether Impex Logistics was Diaz?s ?joint employer? or his ?single employer...
Contracts Are Sacrosanct (Except When They're Not).
Posted on March 18, 2009I have to laugh when I hear things like this, from everyone's favorite reverse-Howard Beale, CNBC's Rick Santelli:"If there were contracts in place that when the government came in to put the money in AIG, they didn't take care of these issues -- a card played is a card played, as reprehensible as it is...
Kiss the Blarney Stone, You Plebes!
Posted on March 17, 2009So as I do every St. Patty's Day, my day began in the normal fashion -- an early morning viewing of the 1985 lost classic "Troll," while sipping a stiff Irish coffee, followed by a Murphy's/naturebee double shot chaser.Oh it's gonna be a good day.I then did a few edits to Judge Zloch's memo to Chief Judge Moreno, pdfed it on over to the courthouse, and then jumped in the hot tub for an extended bath...
All Judge Zloch, All the Time.
Posted on March 17, 2009Yes, this time it's about jurors and the intertubes:Last week, a juror in a big federal drug trial in Florida admitted to the judge that he had been doing research on the case on the Internet, directly violating the judge?s instructions and centuries of legal rules...
Shake Up At Kluger Peretz?
Posted on March 16, 2009Alana Roberts reports:At least six transactional attorneys have left Miami-based Kluger Peretz Kaplan & Berlin, and sources say two of the firm?s name partners may leave after a 22-year association as the firm reorganizes to focus on litigation.Five transactional attorneys have left the firm, and one will leave the firm ? known for its litigation and bankruptcy work ? next week...
SFL Monday -- Be A Hero, Just For One Day.
Posted on March 16, 2009Hi everybody -- take a deep breath, it's Monday!Those of you looking for work, take note: R. Allen Stanford needs a good civil litigator. Not sure how you'll get paid, though.(Bowman Brown, you need not apply.)Did you all catch this story on Julio Robaina, who tried to inject some flexibility into a bill before the Florida Legislature that would prohibit contingency fees paid to outside lawyers retained by the AG's office?BTW, a similar amendment to the federal omnibus spending bill proposed by John Cornyn was roundly defeated...
The "Quiet One" Speaks!
Posted on March 15, 2009Hey, who knew Justice David George Harrison Souter was such a shmartie: Talking about the importance of teaching history and the humanities in general, Souter displayed a warmth and wit that is at odds with his image as a Spartan, taciturn New Englander...
SFL Friday -- "I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This!" Edition
Posted on March 13, 2009Some of you old-timers may recognize that as the punchline to an old Bob Newhart routine, but hey it's Friday and seems to fit, so what the hail.I'm sure everyone by now has gone over to David's site to wish him congratulations on a huge victory -- what a win...
A Tale of Two Dimonds.
Posted on March 13, 2009See if you can spot the differences.....I count at least three!
Alex Acosta to FIU Law?
Posted on March 13, 2009John Pacenti breaks down the opposition to Acosta's appointment, based on his inadequate supervision of Bradley Scholzman, and his intervention in Ohio election law right before the 2004 election.I previously reviewed the Scholzman matter here.Regardless of your views on this, you gotta love being a member of the press and going to Marva Wiley, President of the Gwen S...
Kids Say the Darndest Things!
Posted on March 12, 2009Where's Art Linkletter when you need him: In between learning their ABC's and 123's, the 4-year-olds in Iris Dasilvia's Tamarac preschool recently got a lesson in D-R-U-Gs.One preschooler apparently pulled a small plastic bag out of his book bag last Friday, and inside was his brother's marijuana stash...
Important Twitter Policy Announcement.
Posted on March 12, 2009Hi kids, sorry to pull a Badluck Schleprock on you all but did you know that advertisers know all about your little Crackberry messaging and intertube surfing habits: Smartphones, like the iPhone and BlackBerry Curve, are the latest and potentially most extensive way for advertisers to aim ads at certain consumers...
Fortune Doesn't Like Steven Marks That Much.
Posted on March 12, 2009Roger Parloff, senior editor at Fortune Magazine, has penned this odd ode to Podhurst lawyer Steven Marks:The good news is that a Moscow judge adjourned Tuesday's scheduled pretrial hearing in Russia's dubious $22.5 billion suit against the Bank of New York Mellon to allow the parties to pursue settlement talks...
Judge Perry to the Supremes?
Posted on March 11, 2009Or so a well-placed friend says.Finally, a pick that makes some sense. You can read the background on the nominations and Judge Perry here:In the next week or so, Gov. Charlie Crist faces one of the toughest political decisions of his tenure as governor: A Supreme Court appointment that pits conservatives in his own party against a minority community Crist is courting...
3d DCA Watch -- Alliterally Apodictic Edition
Posted on March 11, 2009Yeah!!It's Wednesday, folks, that sanctified day of the week when so many good things happen to so many people, yes that one glorified day when all things judicial occur on a little website to the south, that epiphanic moment where all of us lawyers can bathe in the judicial stew that our resplendently-robed brethren to the south have been cooking, oh hail you know the drill...
Think Positive, You Plebes!
Posted on March 10, 2009So let's see big-firmers, Morgan Lewis lays off 55 lawyers and 161 staffers, and White & Case drops 200 lawyers and 200 staffers.I've gotten some feedback locally, but feel free to comment or shoot me an email.Folks, it's time to bone up on personal bankruptcy and labor law -- there's always a growth market somewhere, right?Meanwhile, the courts and clerks of court are battlin' it out over the scraps given to us by the Florida legislature...
Norm Kent Explains Why He Smokes Pot (Legally!)
Posted on March 10, 2009I really enjoyed this Norm Kent piece on the stupidity of our nation's policy toward marijuana possession:As a California patient, I am empowered to acquire cannabis lawfully at medical dispensaries. Under the California Health and Safety Code, I am also entitled to grow up to six plants of my own in my little apartment on the bay...
"I Certainly Was in the Right."
Posted on March 09, 2009Sorry, had a brief Pink Floyd moment there for a second.Well it's Monday, time to get back on the wheel and run rabbit run.....Sheesh, I'm tired already.I see the Herald's owner plans to cut another 1600 jobs. Can I make a few suggestions?Meanwhile, all your anonymous posters got a slight victory as the Maryland Supreme Court imposed some reasonable limitations on a plaintiff's ability to obtain poster information in the defamation context (thanks to a friend for the link!):The New Jersey appellate court in Dendrite, Int?l...
"What Are We Missing"?
Posted on March 06, 2009I did a post over at David's fine blog regarding this great John Pacenti article on the lack of women on the newly appointed Federal Judicial Nominating Commission.But I want to amplify it a bit here, from the comfort of my own crappy soapbox.I give Lisa Lehner a lot of credit...
SFL Friday -- Too Much Monkey Business Edition
Posted on March 06, 2009Hi kids, it's Friday!Does it worry any of you that the FDIC -- which insures our bank deposits -- needs to extend its credit line with the Treasury from $30 billion to $500 billion? Bear in mind that the FDIC has never borrowed any money in the past and now may need a half-trillion by 2010...
Clause Wiping Out All Public Equity in Marlins Deal Just A "Technicality."
Posted on February 27, 2009Alberto Mora Profile Is A Must-Read.
Posted on February 26, 2009UM Law grad and former Greenberg attorney Alberto Mora gets the love in this great profile:Though he now lives in a red-brick mini-mansion down a silent, frostbitten cul-de-sac in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., Alberto Mora is at heart a Miami Cuban...
Note to Justice Alito: Leave Our Cultural Icons Alone!
Posted on February 26, 2009Holy hail, what's this:Last year Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. won praise for quoting Bob Dylan in an opinion (a dissent, actually, in Spring Communications Co. v. APCC Services.) Not to be outdone, apparently, Justice Samuel Alito Jr. today quoted at length from John Lennon...
Water Fountain Ceremony A Success!
Posted on February 25, 2009So it was a large and enthusiastic crowd gathered yesterday evening for the water fountain ceremony at the Courthouse:At a ceremony Tuesday, the Dade County Bar Association formally apologized for the two fountains -- stark reminders that the courthouse was once segregated, and that racism was woven into Miami-Dade's legal roots...
3d DCA Watch --Special Fortune Cookie Edition
Posted on February 25, 2009Hi kiddies, well that was some speech last night, huh?Well it was, right up until -- oh god -- that Jindal guy came on my teevee and said he wants to give back all the taxpayer-funded New Orleans reconstruction money, or something like that.Anyways, our coffee-swilling judicial scribes have been busy...
Did I Mention That Crook Almost Hired Me?
Posted on February 25, 2009Can anyone politely ask Bowman Brown to shush up already over his now legendary near-miss almost representation of R. Allen Stanford:?He came to town referred by a prominent Texas law firm in the late ?80s, early ?90s,? said Bowman Brown, an international banking attorney with Shutts & Bowen...
We Are All Doomed.
Posted on February 24, 2009Hey, get to the state courthouse much?Sure you do -- if you are a foreclosure mill:From mid-2006 to mid-2007, about 35,000 civil cases were filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, according to the Office of State Courts Administrators, or OSCA. The number shot up to 65,000 the next year, and Bailey said the increase is attributable to the spike in foreclosures...
Glenn Garvin, Financial Wizard.
Posted on February 24, 2009Hi kids, I hope you have all bought or downloaded Van Morrison's latest -- a remarkable live performance of his first (and perhaps finest) record, Astral Weeks. It's number 4 in music at Amazon and for good reason. Give it a listen.Okay, we already reported on the Herald's latest idea of a cost-cutting measure -- having its reliably conservative TV critic, Glenn Garvin, write a weekly column on the editorial page...
Time to Dust Off Those Stanford War Stories!
Posted on February 23, 2009Boy, it's funny how everyone in town now swears they always knew R. Allen Stanford was a crook.Hail, the lady pouring my cafecito this morning went on and on about how she always thought the guy was bad news.Now comes Shutts attorney Bowman Brown, who shares this delightful war story about the good old days:During the 1980s, Stanford came calling at the office of Miami attorney Bowman Brown, a respected banking lawyer with the Shutts & Bowen law firm...
Mondays Are for Slumdogs and Mitch Widom
Posted on February 23, 2009Hi folks, how was your weekend?Mine was unexceptional -- windsurfing, food, wine, and Oscars. Yawn.Don't forget to contribute to Mitch Widom's big fundraiser -- 2009 LexisNexis® Law Firm Challenge ? for the 14th Annual Mellon United National Bank Keymorada Invitational Tournament...
Hector Chichoni (Sung to the Tune of "Hey Bo Diddley")
Posted on February 23, 2009Forget the gloom and doom swirling around the twin Bilzin headlines breaking today, and let's talk some good news instead:Hector A. Chichoni, attorney at Epstein Becker & Green, has been appointed national immigration counsel by ALTA, the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association...
SFL Friday -- Cursed Technology Edition
Posted on February 20, 2009Let's try to put things in perspective before we windsurf over to the glorious South Beach Wine & Food Festival, which is always a blast (even if ticket sales are down and they are losing sponsors due to the crumbling economy):Let's see -- it's raining rats at the Palm Beach County courthouse; even Blackwater(!) had to lay off some workers; we can't afford to build more prisons and may have to let some prisoners go free; and -- believe it or not -- but we will all have to pitch in and buy Maurice Jay Kutner's law office an answering machine:Maurice Jay Kutner and Anthony Sabatino, listed in court records as Louise Sage Stanford?s lawyers in the Florida case, also were unavailable for comment late yesterday...
Finally -- A Banker I Can Believe In!
Posted on February 20, 2009So I hope you all were at Uncle Miltie's judicial fundraiser last night. I thought it was a good showing for a good guy who will make a more than good judge.To be honest, I was getting a little sick of continually posting pics of Milton Drysdale or Mr...
Admiralty Lawyers Politely Discuss Professionalism Before Judge Stettin.
Posted on February 19, 2009DBR reporter Billy Shields does a nice job capturing the feel of this fun hearing before Judge Stettin yesterday:?I?m not going to give this man a nickel,? the judge said. Wingate ?went behind my back.?An angry Stettin repeatedly told Rivkind at the hearing...
Guest Blogging At David's Shop.
Posted on February 19, 2009Hey, I'm a guest blogger!David's got some kind of "big case," so he let your humble crappy servant fool around a little bit over at his very fine blog.Thanks, and good luck David!!You can see the results here.
Dwayne Wade Sues Some Lawyers Over STD.
Posted on February 19, 2009Hey Dwayne, I like you and all, but suing the lawyers representing your wife seems a bit much:?They were out to wreck his reputation,? Wade?s attorney Joseph Power Jr. said. ?What they put in that pleading is totally false. We?re suing to prevent people from wrecking his reputation and that?s what they did and that?s what they?re doing...
One Less Deep Pocket
Posted on February 19, 2009I see Judge Huck refused to enjoin Santander from contacting their Madoff-affected clients and offering individual resolutions:About 70 percent of Banco Santander SA customers offered compensation for losses linked to Bernard Madoff have decided to accept it, lawyers for Spain?s biggest bank told a Miami court...
3d DCA Watch -- Couldn't Stand the Weather Edition
Posted on February 18, 2009Hi kiddies, is it that time already?You know, that glorious moment of the week when the judiciary floodgates open, when the mighty storm systems of justice batter the hapless defenses of all you ham-and-schleppers seeking cover on Flagler Street -- yes get ready for some righteous rage, some Old Testament fury, because our resplendently robed scribes are swilling their coffee like a Category 5 Hurricane this week, oh man oh holy hail, oh...
Elected Judges and Campaign Contributions: The Public's Just Not Into You.
Posted on February 18, 2009Wow, are you all following the case of the West Virginia Supreme Court judge who was elected with $3 million in campaign contributions from a coal mining executive who had a case pending before their Supreme Court? And the judge he helped elect promptly delivered the deciding vote that overturned a $50 million jury verdict against the coal company?USA Today covered the story on its front page yesterday...
Bankers Behaving Badly, South Florida Edition.
Posted on February 18, 2009Geez, I don't know who's worse -- Mr. Drysdale, or Mr. Mooney? Or maybe it's our own Miami Center's R. Allen Stanford:At the heart of the investigation are CDs issued by Stanford International Bank, which claims to have 30,000 clients in 131 countries...
An Actual Court Hearing!
Posted on February 17, 2009What do you know -- I'm going to Court this morning! And that means lots of lawyers on the other side, a judge, a court reporter, and a courtroom.If I'm lucky maybe there'll even be some law involved. It's state court, so who knows?Congrats to the DBR for their new redesign -- I was at the unveiling at the Havana Club last Tuesday, and I like it alot...
Monday Morning Pop Quiz!
Posted on February 16, 2009Ok kiddies here we go --Steve Zack is elected President of the ABA. Describe your feelings about this.....now:Vaguely happy.....and a little verklempt?Oh darn I was never good at these things!In other news, I hear that Curtis Mase is looking to represent Buffalo airplane crash victims (not that there's anything wrong with that), Herald TV critic Glenn Garvin is not that great a First Amendment legal scholar, at least according to his own newspaper, and privatization of essential governmental functions is always a good idea, except when it's not:Florida is coping with the effects of a failed and expensive food-privatization venture of former Gov...
SFL Mixed Messages Friday the 13th Valentine's Day Edition!
Posted on February 13, 2009Sheesh what a week. I hope you all survived. However, if you're in a morbid Friday the 13th frame of mind you can see a partial list of those attorneys that didn't here (thanks so much for the downer, Brian!).Hey, did you know that according to National Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, all you fired lawyers and staffers are now a greater threat to our national security than good old fashioned Muslim terrorists? Well, he did kinda said that...
Fun With New Math!
Posted on February 13, 2009Boy, February is always a bad time to be at a big firm, what with collection issues, reviews etc. but it's especially bad this year, huh? You can add Mike Casey's Epstein Becker to the list of firms that fired lawyers yesterday:Here is a summary of jobs lost yesterday: Bryan Cave: 58 lawyers and 76 staffers Cozen O?Connor: 61 staffers Dechert: 19 lawyers DLA Piper: 80 lawyers and 100 staffers Epstein Becker & Green: 23 lawyers and 30 staffers Faegre & Benson: 29 lawyers Goodwin Procter: 38 lawyers and 36 staffers Holland & Knight: 70 lawyers and 173 staffersIn other fun math news, I see how the planned expenditure of Miami-Dade taxes to build that spiffy new Marlins stadium will total $1...
Bloody Thursday at Holland & Knight?
Posted on February 12, 2009Ok ok I don't have anything solid, but many of you are reporting doom and gloom over at H&K today, particularly among younger lawyers.To my many H&K friends I say good luck to you all.If I hear more I will let you know.
Judge Joel Brown Elected New Chief Judge.
Posted on February 12, 2009We're not too sure this is a job to envy given the dire economic circumstances, but congrats are in order to new Chief Judge Joel Brown.Good luck Judge -- you're gonna need it.
I Wish I Knew How to Quit You, Roberto Martinez!
Posted on February 12, 2009So, how many of you woke up this morning and found out you were a Super Lawyer? Ahhh, that packet is so cute!I'm shocked -- shocked -- to learn that the County did not negotiate a very good deal to spend hundreds of millions of tax dollars building a new stadium for the Marlins:''It's probably not the best deal that has ever been worked out between a community and a team,'' Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez said after his State of the County speech on Tuesday...
3d DCA Watch -- Life on Mars And Alvin Davis Edition
Posted on February 11, 2009Hi kiddies, it's that time of the week when our merry band of beloved jurists dispense their short stories of justice, that glorious day when the resplendently robed scribes by the highway swill their coffee, deny their writs, and occasionally wreak havoc with our entire system of equitable jurisprudence, as they do so in this action-packed edition of 3d DCA Watch:Extraordinary Title v...
Donate to Project Pinstripe, You Plebes!
Posted on February 11, 2009A loyal tipster advises that everyone's favorite downtown clothier, Steve Cassidy of the Tom James Company, is actually doing a good thing that doesn't even involve you buying a new suit.He's collecting suits, shirts, and ties for Project Pinstripe of South Florida, which will benefit 50 young men from The Boys and Girls Club...
Big Firm Follies -- Both Sides Now.
Posted on February 10, 2009It was nice seeing someone intelligent behind the Presidential podium last night, attempting to answer difficult questions with some sense of context, history, reality, and informed judgment. Whether any of it will work, however, is another matter.....
Glenn Garvin, Legal Scholar.
Posted on February 10, 2009Forget 2012, the apocalypse is now:Continuing its slide into self-parody, the Miami Herald's lovable right-wing TV critic, Glenn Garvin, is now also a legal scholar.In the first of his biweekly opinion columns, he wades into the 11th Circuit's Vamos a Cuba opinion, and naturally gets everything pretty much totally wrong:Librarians may imagine themselves high priests, beyond the control of mere mortals, but the School Board correctly recognized them for what they are: public employees, accountable to the people who pay their salaries...
Rick Ross, YouTube, and the Carol City Gang.
Posted on February 09, 2009TSG has posted a fun transcript involving our own fake tough guy rapper, Rick Ross:The rapper Rick Ross would have his fans believe that he made millions trafficking cocaine while running with one of Miami's violent street gangs. Of course, that claim took a hit recently with the disclosure that Ross (real name: William Leonard Roberts) actually once worked as a corrections officer, news that was met with derision in hip-hop circles...
Monday Morning Long Distance Runaround Edition
Posted on February 09, 2009Thomas J. Rebull assures Herald readers that despite the nationwide search for the Civilian Investigative Panel's executive director, it is quite possible someone from South Florida is somehow competent enough to handle the job:The search beyond South Florida simply means that the CIP wants to make sure that it finds the best person for this community...
SFL Friday -- Last Day for Turtlenecks Edition
Posted on February 06, 2009Hi kids, well that was a nice event last night for the judges, huh? David writes it up -- sans Barfield -- here.Choice choices, me I'm heading out early, gonna try to hit Equinox and work up a sweat before I get ready for my weekend. How about you?We still have one more day of sweater weather, so let's try to enjoy it before summer sets in again...
Judge Carnes Fiddles; Meanwhile, Our Schools.....
Posted on February 06, 2009Oy -- I could have guessed the result when I saw that Judge Carnes authored the Vamos a Cuba decision reversing Judge Gold's reasonable and measured ruling:In a 2-1 decision, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta said the board did not breach the First Amendment, and ordered a Miami federal judge to lift a preliminary injunction that had allowed Vamos a Cuba to be checked out from school libraries...
Off to the FBA Judicial Reception.
Posted on February 05, 2009Well I'm just about done for the day and soon I'll be heading over to the Hyatt to hobnob with many of you and also Brett Barfield.Actually, I believe the ticket contractually obligates you to mingle with Brett.I kid I kid -- Brett's a great guy (darn adhesion contracts!)...
Fun With Bernie Madoff!
Posted on February 05, 2009Hey kids, see if you're enough of a South Florida macher to have lost your shirt investing with Bernie Madoff:Madoff Trustee's List of the Firm's Customers Publish at Scribd or explore others: Court Filings Business & Legal alixpartners bernard madoff Holy crap -- this dude ripped off Sandy Koufax...
Tom Cardwell Fights For the Poor and Underprivileged!
Posted on February 05, 2009There's no greater victim in this whole economic meltdown than the poor and beleaguered bailout bank exec, especially now that noted Black Socialist Muslim Barack Obama wants to limit their pay to a measly half million.Sheesh, that guy's a failure already!Fortunately, those downtrodden and penniless bankers have a friend in Akerman attorney J...
3d DCA Watch -- Time To Wallow In the Mire Edition
Posted on February 04, 2009Hi kiddies it's a cool clear Wednesday and inside the concrete bunker by the highway our favorite judicial scribes are gathering around the coffee-maker, wearing an extra layer and wool socks beneath their resplendent robes, issuing PCAs like little kindlings thrown onto a fire...
Grand Slammin' It With Jeremy Alters and Bruce Rogow.
Posted on February 04, 2009So there I was yesterday, waiting patiently with the unwashed masses for my free Grand Slam breakfast over at the Denny's on Biscayne Boulevard and 36th street, when who walks in but Jeremy Alters and his entire Design District firm, including new special counsel Bruce Rogow:"Hey guys, hold on a minute -- what are you doing? There's a long line here, you can't just walk in and jump over everybody else...
Cry Me A River.
Posted on February 04, 2009Poor Gonzo can't get a job:Guess it's tough out there, even if you were the former Attorney General for the United States.I'd still take our beloved newbs over this knothead any day of the week.
WIllie Gary -- The New Doctor Detroit??
Posted on February 03, 2009The always-flamboyant Willie Gary spread his "Wings of Justice" far and wide and landed improbably in front of cameras in the beautiful city of Detroit:Gary, a Florida lawyer whom the Miami Herald says has built a fortune by winning cases worth hundreds of millions of dollars, said he came to Detroit at Kilpatrick?s request...
The Revolution's Here, Baby!
Posted on February 03, 2009Call out the instigatorsBecause there's something in the airI don't know about you, but when I was in law school I wanted to change the world. Oh yeah, I was going to bring down the houses of corruption and fight tirelessly for our rights and for truth, justice and the American Way...
BREAKING -- Suntrust and One Biscayne On Lockdown
Posted on February 03, 2009Robbers apparently hit the Citibank downtown and ran into the Suntrust building.Anyone with more info let me know.Please stay safe, folks.UPDATE -- The Herald reports it as the City National Bank at One Biscayne.EVEN LATER UPDATE: The DBR fills in some details (but hey, you did hear it here first) --City National Bank?s branch in the One Biscayne Tower was robbed in the morning...
All Brucey Monday Mashup.
Posted on February 02, 2009'Morning, folks!So Bruce rocked, the commercials sucked, and jurors like to ask questions.What else is new?Still, that was fun.I'm shocked -- shocked -- to hear that Joe Francis and his lawyers are having some kind of problem.In sad news, we say farewell to Irving Cypen, RIP my friend...
News Flash: Miami Lawyers Not That Civil?
Posted on February 02, 2009Miami refugee lawyer Carl Schwait explains that the grass is always greener in Gainesville:He started at the firm 19 years ago today after he and wife, Anna Schwait, a professor of nursing at the University of Florida, decided he should leave his practice and resign from the city commission to get away from South Florida; at the time, it was ahead of a mass migration away from the area...
Downtown Takes Another Blow
Posted on February 02, 2009Bye-bye to all the beautiful women professionals I see rushing to work in the morning:Macy's will close its Florida headquarters in Miami and eliminate 600 jobs. The Cincinnati-based retailer (NYSE: M), which operates Macy's and Bloomingdale's department stores, announced restructuring of its central operations on Monday...
Merger Mania?
Posted on January 30, 2009Interesting story by Alana Roberts on the uptick in mergers, particularly at the midsize firm level:As law firm merger activity has accelerated nationally, South Florida firms have gotten into the dealmaking.Fort Lauderdale-based litigation firm Gordon Hargrove & James got together with San Francisco-based business law firm Sedgwick Detert Moran & Arnold after the latter firm targeted the Southeast for expansion...
SFL Friday -- Turtlenecks and Calvados Edition!
Posted on January 30, 2009Hi kids, well it's almost that time, I'm starting to get a little antsy to start the weekend, how about you?A few items I wanted to highlight before I go -- overthinking your putt will screw you up, there is apparently some kind of sporting event this weekend, and good 'ole Normie Kent, who has been fighting the good fight for as long as I can remember, has a new blog...
Never Give A Sucker An Even Break!
Posted on January 29, 2009Well I sure hope everyone is watching that great PBS documentary series on comedy in America, Make 'Em Laugh, which was on again last night. If you want insight into the anti-authoritarian, mostly Jewish outsider perspective that motivates us to make a lawyer or judge joke on this crappy blog every so often, take a look at this well-produced anthology...
3d DCA Watch -- The Not-So-Innocent, Elvis, and Judge Schwartz Edition
Posted on January 28, 2009Hi kiddies, it's a chock-filled, action-packed 3d DCA Watch this week, so without further adieu let's jump right in and see what our resplendently robed coffee swillers to the south are up to:Well, whaddaya know? In a single week the 3d decided to issue opinions on the enforceability of consumer arbitration clauses; the economic loss rule and fiduciary duty claims; and the standards for disqualification of a judge...
3d DCA Watch Addendum -- Judge Salter Makes Giant Boo-Boo.
Posted on January 28, 2009Everyone knows we love Judge Salter around here, but several readers have alerted me to this whopper, in finding that a class rep is not "adequate" because it (a small company with limited assets) could not shoulder the costs of class notice:While the class?s attorney?s fees may be contingent, the costs of mailouts, administration of opt-outs, establishment of a web site, expert witness fees, document production, and transcripts, for example, generally fall in significant part on the class representatives...
A People's Investiture.
Posted on January 28, 2009What a remarkable reception this afternoon for Carlos J. Martinez, our first elected Hispanic Public Defender in United States history. From pumping gas at an Exxon station to Miami-Dade College and on to law school and more.Great idea to hold it at the Freedom Tower, where Carlos and his parents first arrived to find freedom and opportunity in this country...
JPK To Helm Greenberg Traurig?
Posted on January 27, 2009I kid I kid -- he joined a small firm, remember?Actually, it's Cesar giving way to Richard Rosenbaum: Greenberg Traurig's Cesar Alvarez, who has presided over a more than four-fold increase in the Miami-based law firm's ranks since becoming chief executive 12 years ago, will hand over the reins to President Richard A...
Hy Shapiro Raises Interesting Legal Question.
Posted on January 27, 2009Let's say you're a nice young Miami Beach arms dealer, interested in shipping huge amounts of ancient Chinese munitions, stored in dubious conditions in Albania for decades, to our fightin' boys in Afghanistan.Oh -- you also want to grossly overcharge American taxpayers in the process, and still have time to take in a nice dinner at Barton G before nightfall...
That's Why I Love Miami....
Posted on January 26, 2009My inner Philosopher-King got slightly annoyed by this WP opinion piece by sitting 4th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, in which he both denies that the 4th Circuit is ideologically very conservative, yet pleads that the status quo on that bench stay the same forever:Ideological fervor is law's great antithesis...
Be A Mentor, You Plebes!
Posted on January 23, 2009Even if it's just tutoring everyone's favorite newb on the finer points of our practice, it's a good thing to be a mentor to somebody else.So as we reach the end of National Mentoring Month, take a moment to reflect on who you are helping to become a better attorney -- an associate, an intern, a clerk...
SFL Friday -- Nicolas Sarkozy And Me.
Posted on January 23, 2009Ok, so it's a slow news day, legal news-wise, and I had little to offer besides thoughts on mentoring young lawyers, drunk Brits, teenagers and porn, and of course Alan Rolnick.In other words, it's pretty much been a regular Friday.Yet I was saved by an alert reader, who forwarded this fascinating story on how French President Nicolas Sarkozy is on a fabulous new diet: In the past 10 months, Julie Imperiali, a former dancer and gymnast, has helped Mr Sarkozy to lose almost 4kg (8...
Alvin Davis On Firing "A Couple," "Some," and "A Few People."
Posted on January 22, 2009Intrepid reporter Julie Kay delivers this deliciously rich language from Alvin in describing layoffs at SSD:Alvin Davis, managing partner of Squire Sanders' Miami office, said on Friday that nine employees in Miami were laid off at the firm on Thursday, including "a couple runners, some staffers and a few people in accounting...
Judicial Hot Potato in MBC Litigation -- Kendall Coffey Miraculously Available For Comment.
Posted on January 22, 2009What's with Judges Cooke and Huck recusing themselves from the Mutual Benefits prosecution?Last week, federal prosecutors unsealed an additional 30-page indictment charging Mutual Benefits? founders and legal advisers with conspiracy, fraud and money laundering...
3d DCA Watch -- Nail Polish, Elephants And Judge Schwartz
Posted on January 21, 2009Hi kiddies, it's a cold clear Wednesday, and to be honest I'm still basking in the afterglow. Boy that was fun, huh?But then I received a nasty letter from opposing counsel that got me pretty steamed so yes, reality is starting to seep back in.Hail, at this rate I may be all Carvered-up again before this day is done...
"You Got to Admit, It's Getting Better (It Can't Get Much Worse)."
Posted on January 20, 2009Hi kiddies, well it's the big day so I'm gonna try to stay positive. For example, I'm not going to mention John Pacenti's solid coverage of this report on Alex Acosta's supervision of "good American" Bradley Schlozman.First, some fun background on Scholzman:"Bradley J...
Brad, Have You Ever Seen "Back To School"?
Posted on January 20, 2009Yes it's true I am a little giddy today.This article on an "affair" dating service founded by a lawyer had this unintentionally hilarious quote:In addition to being operated by a lawyer, Ashley Madison is also used by lawyers, the New York Post reports...
Awesome!
Posted on January 20, 2009That sure was some inaugural ceremony.Is it just me, or was anyone else surprised by how well Justice Kogan played the violin?Well done, Your Honor!
Help Out on MLK Day -- Take An Associate to Lunch!
Posted on January 19, 2009Let me say it up front -- I love Melanie Damian (Chris, you're ok, too).I even like Pete Valori.And that's why I want everyone reading this blog to take this associate of theirs out to lunch:Even though Russell Landy, 26, has a good job as an associate at Damian & Valori, a downtown Miami law firm, he notices a new frugality creeping into his spending decisions...
Gerry Richman Writes Letter To DBR Containing 112-Word Sentence.
Posted on January 16, 2009But who's counting, anyway:That single fact instead lies buried on the inside second page where it is given no prominence and may not be seen by many readers: There could not possibly be a ?conspiracy? involving The Florida Bar, its president and myself who is proudly a partner of The Bar president, because the vote of the Board of Governors appealing the recommendation by the referee in William Abramson?s third disciplinary proceeding that he again be publicly reprimanded be appealed to seek a harsher and more appropriate discipline of a 91-day suspension took place with all members of the Palm Beach County representatives to the Board of Governors including my partner, Jay White, recusing themselves...
Mellon Bank Now Run By Gang of Blithering Simians.
Posted on January 16, 2009Gerry Katcher, a dear friend of SFL and a guy who has provided loans to most of us in town at some point or another (and we paid it all back -- mostly), just got unceremoniously dumped by a group of heartless chimps: At 82, Gerald Katcher liked to say he planned to keep running Miami's Mellon United National Bank ``until I die -- and for a few months afterward...
SFL Friday -- MLK Weekend Edition
Posted on January 16, 2009Well kiddies, it's been an eventful week, and I'm about to head out. First I'll stop by the Bank of America, then maybe Citibank and then head over to Circuit City....I'm grabbing my wetsuit though because indications are that it may be a little chilly for serious windsurfing...
Joe Klock 3.0 -- Suing Insurance Companies At a Small Firm?
Posted on January 15, 2009But where will he park his corporate jet:Prominent South Florida litigator Joseph Klock Jr. is leaving the Miami office of Epstein Becker & Green after two years to join the Coral Gables firm of Rasco Reininger Perez Esquenazi & Vigil as a name partner today...
Senator Charlie Crist?
Posted on January 15, 2009Poor Charlie, he's always being told he has to run for something. First it's honorary pig roast captain, then it's Veep to McCain (that turned out well!), now it's Senator:National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn (Texas) on Wednesday said efforts are ongoing to persuade Florida Gov...
3d DCA Watch -- Absurd and Absurder Results Edition
Posted on January 14, 2009Hi kids, it's a cool and clear South Florida morning so let's jump right in and see what those laughable, lovable, resplendently robed coffee-swillers are up to this week:Central Motor v. Shaw:The statutes and case law on offers of judgment sure are screwed up, aren't they?Tell you what -- this opinion won't help...
Exhibit A For Why Lawyers Should Never Write Letters to the Miami Herald
Posted on January 14, 2009Because intelligent observations such as these by Raquel Rodriguez on the Frank Jimenez appointment mess will be printed right next to this:Providing former President Jimmy Carter with a forum to present his prejudiced and inaccurate views is the equivalent of letting Osama bin Laden write an Other Views column about the U...
Miam Heat: If We Sue Them, They Will Come.
Posted on January 13, 2009The Miami Heat is facing hard times, with sports fans unable to pony up the dough to buy tickets the way they used to: Cash-strapped fans are buying fewer tickets, and spending less when they do go to a game. Homestead resident Bob Pozza, who works for an appliance manufacturer, and his son Joe, 15, are attending fewer Heat games this year...
We're All Contract Lawyers in India (Or Will Be Soon).
Posted on January 13, 2009Hi folks, time for a little actual news about our biz -- intrepid reporter Julie Kay takes a look at the growing trend of hiring lawyers on an hourly or contract basis:As law firms downsize, laid-off attorneys and new law school graduates unable to find jobs have been turning to an option they may never have imagined at law school: becoming contract attorneys ? hired guns for $35 an hour...
Paralegals Should Fight Crime and Perform SEC Regulatory Oversight.
Posted on January 12, 2009Also should be able to index and file properly, according to Fort Lauderdale attorney Mark Tepper:Securities Fraud Attorney Mark A. Tepper urged paralegals to "pay attention" to identify ponzi schemes like the latest alleged scam by Bernie Madoff. "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is," he says...
Kendall Coffey Thinks Corruption May Extend Beyond Confines of Palm Beach County.
Posted on January 12, 2009Hi folks! Yes, it's Monday, might as well get used to it.Does Kendall Coffey have a microphone permanently affixed to his lapel?Perhaps that explains the treasure trove of quotes which seem to flow effortlessly from his lips. Here he is on the latest story about corruption charges in Palm Beach County:"It's certainly not believable to assume that the entirety of the state's corruption is concentrated in Palm Beach," said Kendall Coffey, a Miami lawyer and the former U...
SFL Friday -- Danny Ponce and Other Grey Foxes in Love
Posted on January 09, 2009It's a cool Friday, the seas are kicking, and I'm heading out of here early today. What about you?I see there was some kind of football game last night. So let me be the first to congratulate Utah for that exciting, winning season.Wait a minute -- was it the Gibsons speaking or did Coach Meyer actually thank Danny Ponce on national television after the win?Perhaps I wasn't dreaming -- it turns out two brains can manage to have deep, sustained love over time: A team from Stony Brook University in New York scanned the brains of couples who had been together for 20 years and compared them with those of new lovers...
Judge Seitz Props Up Dying South Florida Empire For One More Day.
Posted on January 08, 2009Now I wish I could give Brother Bill his great thrillI would set him in chains at the top of the hillThen send out for some pillars and Cecil B. DeMilleHe could die happily ever afterI love Judge Seitz. It's not just that deep, sonorous late-night FM-radio voice that resonates when she's speaking through the Court's sound system, it's the stuff she says and does too!Here she is very carefully -- and very slowly -- enunciating in her best, sober, and most serious fashion, the reasoning for her sentence of the de Céspedes brothers:Seitz said she had to be stern because she did not want Miami to crumble, as happened to the Roman Empire, because of a lack of ``civic virtue...
3d DCA Watch -- When Stars (Sleepily) Collide Edition
Posted on January 07, 2009Hi kiddies, it's our first 3d DCA Watch of the New Year and boy am I excited! I am sure our resplendently robed coffee-swillers to the south have been very very busy, toiling in that cold concrete courthouse by the highway just so all of us good boy and girl lawyers have something to ponder, nod, roll our eyes and/or laugh about each Wednesday...
L'Affaire Galleria Mall $36 Polo -- Resolved!
Posted on January 07, 2009This has to be one of my favorite South Florida judicial scandals of late:Last year, Fort Lauderdale attorney Lawrence ''Chris'' Roberts alleged that Seidlin solicited kickbacks in exchange for appointments as a special public defender on cases. Attorneys are paid $350 per case for such appointments...
Legal Recruiter Jorge Luna Writes Article Praising Jorge Luna
Posted on January 06, 2009Hi kids! It's only the first Tuesday of the New Year and I already got one really bad order from a federal judge.Oh well, the week's not over yet. Of course now we all have those meetings, depositions, lunch appointments, hearings etc. that we put off to the New Year coming in all at once...
Hooray -- Former Bush Aide Now Gets to Nominate Dade Judges!
Posted on January 06, 2009Hmm, I was reading this article from the DBR on the new 11th Circuit JNC members when something didn't seem quite right:Three new Miami-Dade judicial nominating commission members have been appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist.Rayfield McGhee of McGhee & Associates in Miami Gardens, GrayRobinson shareholder and Cuban American Bar Association president Marlene Quintana of Miami and Akerman Senterfitt associate Daniel Schwartz of Miami Beach were named to terms expiring in mid-2012...
Welcome Back, Plebes!
Posted on January 05, 2009So how was your New Year's break? Mine was the usual, I won't bore you with all the gin-soaked cinematic details, but let me say this -- never, ever agree to go to a yoga class with the sports-intensive Alan Fertel.That's all I'm gonna say about that...
2008 -- A Visual Look Back (These Are A Few of Our Favorite Things)
Posted on December 26, 2008Well kiddies it's been a fun ride, what with law firm layoffs, Madoff, the economies, homicidal Santas, and that whole real estate thing.You can get a feel for how crappy things have been by looking at the ABA's excellent list of Top Ten Legal Stories of 2008...
A Certifiable, 100 % Guaranteed Frank Jimenez-Free Post!
Posted on December 24, 2008"And so this is Christmas. And what have you done?"Let's see, what's happening.....Economic crisis not good.Jobless claims at 26-year high.Dolphins to somehow blow playoff chances.Frank Jimenez does a mitzvah.Shoot! I was almost there!Oh hail: A Miami man imprisoned more than a half-century ago for his help flying weapons to the Jews who fought to create Israel received a posthumous presidential pardon Tuesday...
3d DCA Watch - Lump of Coal Edition
Posted on December 24, 2008Tough times all around, and things do look bleak, but it's Christmas after all, so let's see what our coffee-swilling resplendantly robed ones to the South have stuffed into our legal stockings this Christmas Eve in a very special holiday edition of our patented 3d DCA Watch:Eww...
Miami Herald Frank Jimenez Editorial Watch
Posted on December 23, 2008Oh man am I sick of this story.Still, the news keeps coming.Let's see, we've had the St. Pete Times weigh in on the Frank Jimenez appointment mess.And now the Palm Beach Post:The worst kind of judicial politics may place an unqualified person on the Florida Supreme Court...
All Frank Jimenez, All the Time.
Posted on December 23, 2008I don't know, I feel like we're getting a little Frank Jimenez chronic here, and yet more news keeps breaking.Now it's this, in a fine story by Jordana Mishory:Late last week, as the controversy over Jimenez?s nomination simmered, the governor?s office moved up the planned interviews with the Supreme Court finalists from early January to today and Christmas Eve...
Raoul Cantero Writes Op-Ed Quoting Positive Comments About Raoul Cantero
Posted on December 23, 2008Isn't it cool that as we get ready to inaugurate a new President, we get to fight about the 2000 Florida recount and the Bush years all over again?Thank goodness I don't have to write another post about Frank Jimenez. I tell you, I was thisclose to pulling a Lew Freeman and launching myself from the top of Wachovia like a despondent Rose DeWitt Bukater hoping to escape the loveless clutches of the very dastardly Billy Zane...
Unshackled Lew Freeman Continues Rampage of Titanic/Madoff Metaphors
Posted on December 22, 2008a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Wb7gmBhM3z4/SU-UhWJCe6I/AAAAAAAABHQ/L-wuMlCa4I8/s1600-h/arts_disaster-movies_584.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="http://1...
Frank Jimenez to St. Pete Times -- I'm Not Returning Your Calls, Either!
Posted on December 22, 2008a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Wb7gmBhM3z4/SVAVECZl9DI/AAAAAAAABHo/SMxkLZf-tSk/s1600-h/Heatmiser.png"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4...
Judge Labarga Sorry About That Time He Publicly Vowed To Hold Ten-Year Grudge Against Combative Lawyer
Posted on December 22, 2008a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Wb7gmBhM3z4/SU_O8xB9E8I/AAAAAAAABHY/XpkAvUAH3aY/s1600-h/the-grudge.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 291px; height: 400px;" src="http://2...
SFL Friday -- Holiday Windsurfing Edition
Posted on December 19, 2008So there I was, my eyes locked and staring directly at Judge Altonaga, as I smiled slightly and prayed for a favorable ruling."You can have this table, SFL, we were just leaving.""Thanks Judge. Have a nice weekend."What -- you thought we were in court? I'm a civil litigator, don't be silly...
Rebekah Poston and Alvin Davis: Frank Jimenez Was A Good Worker.
Posted on December 19, 2008I mean why all the contretemps, what more do you need:Rebekah Poston, Jimenez's former boss at the law firm Steel Hector Davis in Miami, said that based on the work he did for her, Jimenez would be an excellent choice for the Supreme Court. ''He was a superb writer, superb researcher and his ethics were beyond reproach,'' she said...
Judge Cortiñas Channels His Inner Tears For Fears
Posted on December 18, 2008object width="425" height="344"param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0bqgy1mebh8amp;hl=enamp;fs=1"param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0bqgy1mebh8amp;hl=enamp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"/embed/objectbr /br /Rules shmules, who the hail cares -- a href="http://www...
Norm Powell Passionately Defends Property Rights!
Posted on December 18, 2008a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Wb7gmBhM3z4/SUqFceoqZLI/AAAAAAAABGw/IX9eltuBm4Y/s1600-h/diane_lane%40the_bigtown_01.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4...
Special Holiday 3d DCA Watch -- Bah Humbug Don't Bother Suing FPL Over Anything Edition
Posted on December 17, 2008a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Wb7gmBhM3z4/SUk1FFrfzbI/AAAAAAAABGg/9T864O-r0eE/s1600-h/Davis_AlvinB7.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 173px; height: 195px;" src="http://3...
"Thank God Almighty I'm Free At Last!!"
Posted on December 17, 2008a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Wb7gmBhM3z4/SUkL6jIFY2I/AAAAAAAABGY/mMSEILkmXrM/s1600-h/mlk-2.JPG"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 254px;" src="http://3...
The SS Madoff Sinks; Wake Lifts All Boats?
Posted on December 16, 2008John Pacenti of the DBR turns in a nice piece on the local lawyers and accountants salivating over the Madoff disaster:Mark Raymond, managing partner of Broad and Cassel?s Miami office, said he represents a number of clients who lost millions when Madoff?s house of cards collapsed...
Postcards From Europe (They Write Letters....)
Posted on December 15, 2008Joining the illustrious list of attorneys who for some reason write letters to the Miami Herald, we now have Alan Becker: Criticism of Gov. Charlie Crist's trip to Europe is unfair. There is a reason that I and other Florida business leaders travel, at our own expense, on Team Florida missions: They help create investment and jobs in Florida...
Foot of Pride Monday for Marc Dreier and Bernard Madoff -- WTF?
Posted on December 15, 2008Hi folks, it's another Monday morning in paradise. The Dolphins won, the stock market stinks, and I have a hearing in 20 minutes.How was your weekend?I've been thinking a lot about the implications of two astonishing frauds committed by well-respected, credible members of the business and legal community -- Marc Dreier (of Dreier LLP), and former NYSE chair Bernard Madoff...
SFL Friday -- Holiday Party Time!
Posted on December 12, 2008So folks the temperature is expected to drop over the weekend, but the weather otherwise looks fine. I'm off to a holiday party in a few and then gone for the weekend.If you want to pass on what's happening at your firm holiday-party wise, feel free to email me -- anonymity guaranteed...
Republican Plaintiff Lawyers Celebrate Crist's Marriage to Real Live Heterosexual Woman!
Posted on December 12, 2008Howdy folks, so are you on the guest list to the Gov's big "marriage" thingy?What's that, you won't say?Oh I get it -- don't ask, don't tell.Well the Herald leaked a few names anyway -- funny, they all happen to be hotshot Republican plaintiffs' lawyers: Roberto Martinez, Dean Colson, and Paul Huck, Jr...
Judge Fay: Your Voice Was Heard!
Posted on December 11, 2008Anyone at the recent Bench and Bar Conference remembers Judge Fay's rant on federal pay for the judiciary (in addition to his denunciation of "fat cat union bosses" who in his view destroyed the American automobile industry).Like the old Chris Rock joke about whoever you hate eventually becoming part of your family, it looks like the federal judicial pay raise and saving the auto industry along with all those fat cat union workers are now inextricably linked:If the $14 billion bailout plan for U...
Ervin Gonzalez Scores Another One!
Posted on December 11, 2008What do you all think -- this strikes me as a tough case: Officer "Oreo" Lorenzo, a highly decorated Police officer with the City of North Miami Beach Police Department, was driving westbound on Pines Boulevard in Pembroke Pines, Florida on July 2, 2004, when 18 year old Natasha Russo failed to stop at a stop sign and attempted to make a left turn eastbound on to Pines Boulevard, causing Officer Lorenzo to swerve to avoid a direct impact...
3d DCA Watch -- Supplemental Spankdown Edition
Posted on December 11, 2008I don't usually cover criminal or juvenile in 3d DCA Watch (Rumpy has the MIA criminal beat more than adequately covered) but this 3d DCA spankdown of Judge Langer transcends its limited genre:In B.M., we painstakingly elucidated the statutory parameters which bind the judges of the juvenile courts of this state in the detention of juveniles...
3d DCA Watch -- Judge Salter and Unchecked "Zealous Advocacy" Edition
Posted on December 10, 2008Hi kiddies, I'm in such shock over this opinion by the 3d released this morning that I'm gonna dispense with my coffee-swilling niceties and get right to it:Hernandez v. Gil:Wow, wow, and triple wow. Judge Salter decided in this opinion to simply unload on appellant and his present counsel, Alba Varela, and instruct us all on what it means to be a "zealous advocate" AND ALSO an officer of the court, AND ALSO a professional colleague to your opponent...
Sorry, Your Crappy Document Coding Project Has Been Outsourced to India
Posted on December 10, 2008Intrepid reporter Julie Kay files a well-researched and nuanced piece on big firms sending their document review and other legal work to India: The general consensus is that law firms and corporate counsel began outsourcing lower-level legal work to India -- and a small number to the Philippines -- about five years ago...
Teflon Class Action Up in Flames
Posted on December 09, 2008Hi folks, I'm back from court. I decided to draw back on my elaborately constructed straw man arguments and simply argue my case on the merits. Ok, I sprinkled in a little Carver Time for dramatic effect -- after all, I was in state court.Court took it under advisement, so we'll see...
My Straw Man's Better Than Your Straw Man
Posted on December 09, 2008So I'm preparing for a court hearing later this morning. My plan is to construct an elaborate straw man, a badly distorted reading of my opponent's position taken to an absurd extreme, so that I can then argue that every person of good will and fair conscience must agree that such an dramatically extreme position has to be rejected...
Rebalancing The Scales of Justice -- Get a Room, Liberty!
Posted on December 08, 2008This is an interesting WP story on the impact Obama will have in restoring some balance to the federal judiciary, especially at the appellate level:The federal judiciary is on the verge of a major shift when President-elect Barack Obama's nominees take control of several of the nation's most important appellate courts, legal scholars and political activists say...
Charlie Crist Sets Example, Spends Only $430k on European Vice-Presidential Victory Tour
Posted on December 08, 2008Yes it's Monday, I'm grumpy, plus I'm getting sick of this sub-70 weather.Ok, let me try this again -- how was your weekend?I love reading the papers nowadays. For example, there's this heartwarming story:In a nod to the increasingly desperate times faced by Florida citizens, Charlie Crist got the hail out of the state with his "ladyfriend" and nine really hunky bodyguards (two photographed above), and visited anti-American places like Spain, France and England...
SFL Friday -- From Fiefs to Surfs
Posted on December 05, 2008Well it's the end of the work week (for those of you who still have jobs, that is), and yet all is not bleak. Sales of booze are up, for example.And there's this good news -- White & Case to reorganize their firm:At the heart of the new structure is a power shift from the firm's 35 offices to 14 regional groups, reports the Am Law Daily...
DBR's Most Effective Lawyers 2008
Posted on December 05, 2008Ok so I was down at the Four Seasons enjoying the festivities this afternoon.A really nice luncheon, and a nicely put together event.I'm gonna save the snark for a change and just say congrats to all the finalists and winners:Appellate Law -- Tom EquelsBankruptcy -- Damien Marshall, Stuart SingerClass Action -- Gerry Richman, Manny Garcia-Linares, Gary BetenskyComplex Litigation -- Tom Equels (again!)Criminal Justice -- Tony Barnes, Steve Carlton, John KastrenakesInternational Law -- Stu Grossman, Seth Miles, John Thornton, Orlando do CampoLabor -- Ross B...
"With Over 30 Years Combined Experience....."
Posted on December 05, 2008"helping investors recover their losses...." or something like that.That was from a sponsorship spot I heard on NPR last night as I was listening to "All Things Considered."30 years? Ok, if you include that time when I was seven and Scotty helped me get back my lunch money that bully stole from me, so I guess technically it's accurate...
Off to the FAWL Judicial Luncheon
Posted on December 04, 2008See you all there! If anyone snaps any David Markus-style action photos, please send them my way.
Boca Attorney Alleged To Live In Own "Virtual World."
Posted on December 04, 2008Hi folks, this is one strange story: Six people have been charged with participating in a scheme to steal more than $40 million in settlement funds from class-action lawsuits. According to the indictment unsealed in Philadelphia by Acting U.S. Attorney Laurie Magid, the accused submitted numerous false and fraudulent claims in three class-action lawsuits - all of which were eventually settled - between 2001 and 2007...
3d DCA Watch -- Good Things Happen in Threes Edition
Posted on December 03, 2008Ahh to be young again, when my days were filled with wondrous yet pointless legal exercises, such as carefully reviewing an actual book to "shepardize" a case.Yes I was wide-eyed and reckless then. I would pull crazy stunts, like file serial petitions for a writ of common law cert over minor discovery orders, hoping against hope that -- just this one time -- the 3d would pluck my lucky petition from among the many crying out for instant attention and then order briefing -- Holy Hail yes briefing! -- on my desperate, nay pathetic, plea for immediate judicial intervention...
Car Talk With Jose Astigarraga!
Posted on December 03, 2008It's bad enough the CEOs of the big three American automakers have to travel from Detroit to DC in their own crappy cars and will therefore break down and need a lift somewhere near Akron, but now the always dapper Jose Astigarraga has taken to using disparaging American car metaphors to describe the plight of big firms:Jose Astigarraga, chairman of the 18-attorney litigation firm Astigarraga Davis in Miami, said the difference between boutiques and big law firms essentially boils down to the difference between driving a Lincoln Town Car and a Ferrari...
God Punishes Broward Voters By Giving Them The Courthouse They Deserve
Posted on December 02, 2008Everyone knows the Broward courthouse sucks. The stupid elevators, floors that don't match, bad parking, oh let's be honest -- it is just plain gross.What's even worser are some of the judges you encounter once you are inside. No wonder they are so surly sometimes -- would you want to go to work in that building every day?Still, those schmarty Broward voters rejected a bond issue in 2006 that would have built a regular courthouse instead of the dying, decaying rubble-like structure that presently houses all those prickly jurists...
Face Dances, Part 2
Posted on December 02, 2008Inquisitive reader 1:24 poses an interesting question in the thread to the preceding post:SFL are you really that worried your identity will be known if you post a picture of your beard? How about just the left side of your face?This is a somewhat sensitive topic...
The Dreamy and Always "Ideologically Compatible" Frank Jimenez.
Posted on December 02, 2008My fast-talking street urchin buddy and DCBA Prez Timmy Ravitch sent me only his 14th email this hour, and for some strange reason I decided to throw caution to the wind and actually open it.After recalling the terrible plight of the former comptroller of Nigeria who managed to procure $26...
Movember Month Success!
Posted on December 01, 2008Well thanks to all you big-hearted mensches who contributed to our Movember facial hair growth charity project. Alas, it is true I could not scale the heights of the Burt Landy handlebar mountain, but I'm proud to say we ranked # 1853 nationally and raised enough money to be invited to the big Movember gala, which we happily attended in New York...
Wet N' Wild South Florida Monday
Posted on December 01, 2008I tell you, you go away for some sublime windsurfing for a few days, and all hail breaks loose.Let's take a look at all the legal doings in the news today:Adam Trop takes the first post-Florida Supreme Court tobacco case to trial today in Broward circuit court...
Vote for SFL, You Plebes!!
Posted on December 01, 2008What do you know, our dopey little blogshop has somehow managed to make it onto the ABA Journal's 2008 Blawg 100. (Insert Groucho joke here.)You can see the full list here (actually, there are quite a few good blogs on it).Apparently, we're in the running for "Best Regional Blog," and you can vote for us here...
Facial Hair, Per Your Request
Posted on December 01, 2008It wasn't easy, but with some able assistance from a willing partner, a little mood music, and a few dry Gibsons I was able to capture the full splendor of my facial hair for charity project.Enjoy.(Ok ok I was kidding.)Late Update:Alrighty folks, please see above...
3d DCA Watch -- Special Ham-And-Egger Israeli Thanksgiving Day Edition!
Posted on November 26, 2008Hi kiddies, it's a glorious Wednesday and yet I am still here in the office. Why the hail is that?A better question -- why are you?Go home, spend some time with your spouse, children and/or significant other(s). Give thanks. Help someone else out. That's what it's all about anyways, right? I mean, haven't you all seen Scrooged?Still, there is no rest for the resplendently robed yet weary coffee-swillers down south, who toil silently in their prefab concrete courtroom bunker, dispensing PCAs like Thanksgiving turkeys at a Sarah Palin cookout, who must week after week feed the insatiable need for justice created by all you busy state court practitioners -- yes dear readers it's a very special Turkey Day edition of what those of us in the know like to call...
Why Not Me, Lord?
Posted on November 25, 2008Ok, tell me if this ever happened to any of you.A couple walk into your office. Apparently, the husband left his camera phone at McDonalds.Not a big deal, you say?True, but this little bugger had a few naughty pictures saved on his device.And now those photos are all over the intertubes, and his wife is more than slightly embarrassed...
BREAKING -- Judge Lederman Holds Gay Adoption Ban Unconstitutional
Posted on November 25, 2008Miami Herald story here: Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman Tuesday declared Florida's 50-year-old ban on gay adoptions unconstitutional -- a ruling state lawyers immediately said they would challenge.The ruling sets the stage for Frank Gill, a gay man from North Miami, to adopt two foster children he has raised since 2004...
Bad Idea Major Nelson -- Neil Shniderman Wanted to Keep Jeannie In Her Bottle
Posted on November 25, 2008I don't know Fort Lauderdale attorney Neil Shniderman and I have never had a case with him.After reading this recent opinion from the 4th DCA, I can safely say Mr. Shniderman did not grow up watching any sit-com TV.According to the opinion, the guy was not truthful about whether he had a critical signed guaranty in his office safe, and more or less misrepresented to the Court and opposing counsel by implying the existence of the document, when he knew the whole time the signed guaranty never existed...
Stormy Monday -- More BigFirm Layoffs; Possible Silver Lining?
Posted on November 24, 2008Every time I turn around I see more layoffs and terminations.I know a lot of you are lone wolf gunslingers, but for those who seek safety in numbers the lay of the land looks pretty rocky: Mayer Brown: 33 attorneys and 55 support staff gone.Brown Rudnick: 20 attorneys, 20 staff members and three paralegals gone...
SFL Saturday -- Bench and Bar Edition
Posted on November 22, 2008Anyways so I roll up to the Diplomat Hotel yesterday morning looking, as 'trane noted, resplendent in my Van Dyke and feeling good about our profession after the tremendous showing of support for Ben on Thursday.As I entered the Convention Area I spied a fit, older gentleman ordering a double at the hotel bar...
Tips To Help Spot SFL Tonight!
Posted on November 20, 2008So I hope to see you all tonight at the Ben Kuehne fundraiser.To enhance your chances of a successful meeting with your humble South Florida legal blogger, I offer the following tips:1. As many of you know, I am on an intense diet. Thus, do not expect me to be chowing down on the many delectable eats that will be offered, unless they are serving oysters, ginseng, and vitamin E...
Vioxx Lawyer Will Need Major Drugs To Get Through Holiday Party
Posted on November 19, 2008Look I know many of us are cutting back and watching our expenses as we get ready to do holiday lunches, holiday parties, and hand out holiday gifts. But this news from Vioxx lawyer Mark Lanier is simply a full frontal assault on my musical sensibilities:Yet another famous singer will perform at this year?s annual holiday party hosted by Houston personal injury lawyer Mark Lanier, and any tween guests are likely to be pleased...
3d DCA Watch -- Oops I Did It Again Judge(!) Edition
Posted on November 19, 2008Ok kiddies it's a fine cool hump day and like many of you, I have brought out my sweaters, vests, boots, scarves, hats, shawls, jackets, gloves, and firewood to celebrate South Florida's descent into sub-70 degree temperatures.As cool as it is this morning, however, there is an even colder wind blowing north from that heat-controlled, fortified concrete courtroom by the highway, as our resplendently robed judges swill hot coffee yet dispense cold justice, and this week the chilly winds of reversal are all blowing directly into an open window at 73 West Flagler...
More on Milton Ferrell
Posted on November 19, 2008I've already covered the tragic loss of Milton Ferrell, and our condolences go out to his many friends and family.Today's Herald story adds some heartbreaking dimension to his final days: The scene unfolding in the intensive-care unit was extraordinary...
More Smart Decisions By Our School Board
Posted on November 18, 2008So they spend good money to hire Murray Greenberg, he recommends they cut a deal, and they go ahead and fire her outright: Rejecting the advice of a special counsel, the Miami-Dade School Board on Tuesday voted to fire a School Board attorney who accepted a moving payment from the school system but never moved to Miami-Dade County...
Good Lord -- Unintended Positive Effects of The Recession
Posted on November 18, 2008Sure for us in the legal profession we can expect cheaper gifts and crappier wines, and no year-end bonuses this year.Things are not all bad, however. Specifically, columnist David Brooks has hit on one unabashedly positive effect of our bleak economic times:Recessions breed pessimism...
Gerry Richman Hates To Count Votes More Than Twice.
Posted on November 18, 2008Well I was regaled this morning by John the shoeshine guy, who filled my head outside the courthouse with stories of Sugar Mountain, with the barkers and the colored balloons.Actually he was telling me about his old outlaw days, before he found God, and how he used to help out all the high-priced lawyers, bankers, politicians, and muckety-mucks up therein DC-land, where dope, hope, and bloat all live in cozy three-part harmony...
News Flash: The Economy Sucks, The Market Sucks, But I Am Still Awesome.
Posted on November 18, 2008For whatever reason, the ABA wants to know what dear readers of this crappy little blog think about the job market and the state of the economy. I've already told them, but they apparently want to know what you think, too.You can fill out the survey here...
Scott Rothstein Gets the Love.
Posted on November 17, 2008I don't know who Scott's publicist is, but this Sun-Sentinel article is proof-positive that he or she should get an immediate raise:Columnist Michael Mayo provides some insight into lawyer Scott Rothstein, who's become influential in Broward -- and beyond...
AmLaw 200 Fired List
Posted on November 17, 2008There are other blogs documenting the atrocities in terms of layoff and terminations at our nation's biggest firms, but they're coming at such a dizzying pace it's instructive to see them all gathered in one place.Fortunately, you can see continuing coverage and a collection of recent articles on the largest firms here...
Milton Ferrell Jr., RIP
Posted on November 17, 2008Billy Shields reports that Milton Ferrell has passed on:Prominent Miami attorney Milton M. Ferrell Jr. has died from complications of mesothelioma, a form of cancer linked primarily to asbestos exposure, his firm confirmed today.Ferrell started his legal career in Miami in 1977 when he joined his father?s legal practice handling criminal defense work...
SFL Friday -- Mr. Blue Sky
Posted on November 14, 2008So it's a sunny Friday, I'm going to ignore that the Dow is down 245 this afternoon, and try to focus on the positive. Maybe I still have a slight post-election bounce, or maybe it was having the pleasure of seeing Gore Vidal speak to an overpacked house yesterday evening at the Miami Book Fair, but I can't help but feel things are due to get better, and that small steps are being taken in the right direction...
No Fireworks At White & Case Holiday Party; Why Not Cancel Christmas, Too?
Posted on November 14, 2008Sure it's one thing for White & Case to lay off associates and staffers because of our dire economic times, but this is too much:[T]he 2,400-lawyer international firm will be going ahead with the event at a midtown Manhattan restaurant, reports the Wall Street Journal Law Blog...
Jack Thompson Now Muckraking From Inside the GOP Governor's Convention
Posted on November 13, 2008Please please please let's not get all Jack-Thompson-chronic here, but I see Mr. Jack has taken out his pencil and pad and is now working the beat for conservative humanevents.com, reporting on the GOP Governor's convention going on at the Hotel Intercontinental this week...
Delurker Amnesty Day!
Posted on November 13, 2008Hi folks! Well I figured today would be a good day for all you dedicated readers who are also lurkers to come on out and say hi! Don't be bashful, we know you're out there -- trial judges, court staff, law clerks, fancy-schmancy reporters, big firmers, ham-and-schleppers, even a few robed coffee-swillers...
Republican Governors To Party Like It's 1955!
Posted on November 12, 2008So all those cute, sexy Republican Governors are in town for their convention, and they're meeting at the Hotel Intercontinental downtown.Wait, do they know the sordid history behind that building, the decades of bankruptcy, related litigation and all that misplaced, mislaid marble? Quick, call Judge Salter stat!Anyways, let's look in at their schedule:Post Welcome Reception LATE NIGHT PARTY (All Conference Attendees)Hosted by: BGR Holding & Dutko WorldwideLocation: The Havana Club at the Miami City Club200 S...
Andrew Smulian -- Knee Deep in the Hoopla
Posted on November 12, 2008I don't know, tell me what you think of this interview conducted by SFL fave and intrepid reporter Julie Kay of Akerman chairman Andrew Smulian.Check out these two responses:NLJ: How has the economy affected your law firm? Several sources said that three lawyers and five support staff were let go in your Miami office on Friday, including the co-chair of your distressed properties division, Tony Casareale, as well as of counsel Stu Cowitt...
3d DCA Watch -- Wait Wait Don't Tell Me -- What's the Right Standard of Review Again?
Posted on November 12, 2008Alrighty it's a fine, fit Wednesday and those fun-filled judges down by the con-creete highway have been busy busy busy, so let's jump right in and see what our favorite rogue bunch of robed coffee-swillers have been up to, yes it's that time of the week when mandates issue, reversals ensue, and PCAs sprout like Bic lighters at a Journey concert, oh hail baby it's time for 3d DCA Watch:RKR Motors v...
Judge Hulk Smashes Joe Cool Verdict; Herald Approves
Posted on November 11, 2008I almost never read Miami Herald editorials. They are usually banal, boring, and "measured" to the point of squeezing out anything remotely controversial or even interesting -- leaving only inoffensive and obvious truisms, poorly presented.But today I have to agree with the Herald, which strongly endorsed Judge Hulk's smashing of the Joe Cool verdict:Better late than never...
Armistice Day
Posted on November 11, 2008What Rump said.I would only add that the holiday originated as a celebration of peace and a remembrance of the dead, the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month when the nations of the world all laid down their arms, to never again engage in another war...
This Seems Like a Good Cause.
Posted on November 10, 2008I'm sure Mr. Markus will be all over this, but hey it's good to get the word out, don'tcha think?BTW I will be there, and will confirm my identity to those who ask politely, serve me a dry Gin Gibson (straight up), and commit to make a donation to our Movember facial hair growth charity fundraiser...
Obama and Judicial Appointments
Posted on November 10, 2008Well that was a restorative weekend, right? Great weather, the Dolphins won, Ted Ginn didn't suck, so already things seem to be getting a little better. And yes, the windsurfing was sublime.Here's an interesting article on the number of judicial appointments at the district and appellate level that Obama will likely be making in the near-term...
SFL Friday -- I'm Out of Here!
Posted on November 07, 2008Well kiddies, it's been an eventful week and I'm plum exhausted. In between all this electioneering stuff I had to throw a little law in there too, and you know how annoying that can be.So to recap --I harmonized with Ira Kurzban, and the good guy won...
For Alvin Davis Diehards Only
Posted on November 07, 2008I think the picture pretty much sums it up, I really have nothing more to add.
Oh No -- Here Come The Commies!
Posted on November 06, 2008I knew with well-known Indonesian Muslim/Palestinian/60s radical Obama in charge, we could expect a full-scale commie takeover of the Justice Department.And now it begins:David Ogden, who during the Clinton administration led DOJ's civil division and also served as chief of staff to Janet Reno, is leading the transition team for the department, reports the Washington Post...
Yes Virginia, They Still Write Letters.
Posted on November 06, 2008Yawn....I started to read the letter Roberto Martinez felt compelled to share with Herald readers, but then I got a bit sleepy.....Tuesday, democracy in America won. It is now time to come together and to give our full support to Barack Obama, a person of extraordinary qualities and skills...
3d DCA Watch -- Heads I Win, Tails You Lose Edition
Posted on November 05, 2008Oh yes it's our first post-election 3d DCA Watch, so let's dispense with all the usual niceties and get right to it -- there is a hunger across this nation, a desire for change, a demand that we live up to the ideals of this great country, yes we can 3d DCA yes we can!! (sorry got a little lost there)Ahem...
This One's For You, Ira!
Posted on November 05, 2008Ok ok, I have gotten a few fervent requests for this, so here you go.Frankly, Ira hitting that high part was what made our version so special:
"Black Man Given Nation's Worst Job"
Posted on November 05, 2008That's the headline this morning from The Onion, which goes on to report:As part of his duties, the black man will have to spend four to eight years cleaning up the messes other people left behind. The job comes with such intense scrutiny and so certain a guarantee of failure that only one other person even bothered applying for it...
Keep Your Fingers Crossed, People!
Posted on November 03, 2008So I understand a few of you lawyer-types will be out and about tomorrow. Let's hope you all did as Carlos Concepcion urged and have agreed to help out, either as poll workers or poll watchers.I hope to check in, and urge you all to do likewise right here, but either way we have an interesting day ahead of us tomorrow...
Jeff Kaplan in the News......In Singapore!
Posted on November 03, 2008I kid Jeff Kaplan, really I kid.I mean, press is press no matter how far-flung or obscure the cite:In the US, investors are starting to come 'out of the woodwork' after learning in quarterly statements that their Lehman investments are almost wiped out, said Mr Jeffrey Kaplan, a Miami lawyer who specialises in securities-arbitration claims...
Happy Halloween Friday
Posted on October 31, 2008Remember when law offices used to throw big Halloween parties? The staff would all dress up, there would be eyeball punch served by provocatively-clad witches and/or other assorted vixen, and everyone would get to see how goofy everyone else looks?Boy those days are gone...
SFL Friday -- Responding to Annoying Letters Edition
Posted on October 31, 2008Sheesh I'm all over the map today, how about you?It's been one hail of a week, I'm looking to blow off some steam, and I'm gonna try to get myself grounded, rested, and relaxed over the next few days.But first I have to respond to a nasty letter some whippersnapper at Hunton & Williams wrote me, you know how they can be sometimes! I may have to put on my Chris Carver game face for a few minutes, but usually I try to tone it all down by the time the missive leaves the desk...
For Hank Adorno Diehards Only
Posted on October 30, 2008Ok ok, by popular demand and in honor of our Movember charity fundraiser I offer all you Adorno/Ron McGill diehards your red meat.Enjoy!
Hank Adorno Not One of The "Lucky Seven."
Posted on October 30, 2008So let's see what's in the news today.How about that -- I read in the Herald that the CANF endorsed Barack Obama!Strike that, apparently the CANF's endorsement is not newsworthy enough for Herald readers, who prefer to read dopey letters about Obama's love for Yassar Arafat and other prominent Indonesians...
3d DCA Watch -- Clash of the Titans Edition
Posted on October 29, 2008Well kiddies it's that time again, that exulted moment of the week when our Judicial Gods deliver mammon to the supplicants, where dreams are made, hopes are dashed, and PCAs sprout like wild quinoa, yes it's straight from that cute little Courtroom By the Highway, a special Judicial Smackdown edition featuring two of our bestest and most spectacularly robed coffee-swillers, oh hail let's get right to it, it's 3d DCA Watch:Cooper Tire v...
Early Vote, You Plebes!
Posted on October 28, 2008Since most of you will be out "pollwatching" on election day anyways:In Miami-Dade, which has 764 polls, Democratic observers number about 450. They will focus on what key members call ''voter protection'' in minority, elderly and traditionally strong Democratic precincts...
Chief Judge Farina "Simply Tired Of All This Crap."
Posted on October 28, 2008I kid, Judge, I kid. Young gun Billy Shields breaks the real story:Chief Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Joseph P. Farina will not seek re-election when his term ends next year, court spokeswoman Eunice Sigler confirmed today.Farina will not be a candidate in January for the post he has held for more than a decade...
Inexplicably, They Still Write Letters.....
Posted on October 27, 2008You all know my opinion of the Herald's letters page. Yet sensible lawyers continue to write in, hoping against hope that something halfway intelligent gets printed amid the dreck and noise of that usually inane page.Our latest victim -- dashing Ervin Gonzalez, who heroically tilts at windmills, perhaps seeking to educate South Florida voters one small mind at a time:Voters should be careful when voting for constitutional amendments...
Antonio Ginatta Is One Smart Attorney.
Posted on October 27, 2008Good morning dear readers, and how was your weekend?Well it's a glorious Monday, the weather is cool and breezy, and -- waddya know -- Ted Ginn is a Miami Dolphin.Did any of you humpers get out there for the Herald Hunt? If you did, you got beat by Miami attorney Antonio Ginatta, who had to solve a ridiculously absurd final clue but who won nonetheless:This year's winner: a team of five Miami Central High School alumni in their mid-30s, some of whom flew in to town just for the Hunt...
SFL Friday -- Stayin' Alive
Posted on October 24, 2008It's Friday again, huh? I hope you all -- like myself -- have fabulous plans for the weekend.Speaking of fabulous plans, did any of you catch this BBC report on the salutary effects of Bee Gees music on cardiovascular health:US medics have found the Bee Gees' 1977 hit Stayin' Alive is an ideal beat to follow to perform chest compressions on a victim of a cardiac arrest...
They (Continue to) Write Letters, Part MDCLXVI
Posted on October 24, 2008Uber-consumer lawyer for Justice, Truth and the American Way David Deehl thinks insurance companies are not always upright corporate citizens. He also apparently thinks intelligent people read all the crazy letters that are published in the Herald:Consumer-justice attorneys, including myself, know that insurers routinely make low-ball offers and use frivolous defenses to delay consumer lawsuits headed for a jury...
Bye Bye Cefalo's
Posted on October 23, 2008Ok I'll admit it -- I owned one of those memberships at Cefalo's Wine Cellar. What can I say -- I liked the ambiance, the downstairs intimacy, and of course the beautiful hostesses and other assorted lovely people.Sure I had to hobnob with a few of you from time to time, but given enough carefully cultivated Italian Barbera, I sometimes actually enjoyed the experience...
Michael Work Talks to Hindus, Thinks World Should Stop Laughing At Us.
Posted on October 23, 2008You may have noticed well-known Muslin Barry Obama spoke at our Bicentennial Park earlier this week, and for some reason the Hindustan Times wanted to be there. Even stranger, they wanted to interview Miami Beach attorney Michael Work, who said some wild things about how nobody likes us anymore and Obama plans to make love to France...
3d DCA Watch -- Special Chris Carver Commemorative Edition
Posted on October 22, 2008This is turning out to be one hail of a week. I don't know what I did to deserve all this, but I have had semi-legitimate reasons to publish some of my favorite photos, and today brings us yet another one.So without any further precatory blather, let's get right into it, yes kiddies join us as we peer down south at those mystical coffee-swilling laborers by the cee-ment road, those robed wranglers who bring us so much wit, wisdom, and the occasional inscrutable PCA, yes it's this week's edition of 3d DCA Watch:Well, what do you know...
It's No-Shave Movember!
Posted on October 22, 2008Ok, so we know some of you are too busy, too lazy, or too disinterested to run in a 5k for charity or anything like that. I know, you are saving your physical energy for your new diet.Still, there are ways you can give back in these tough times. During November (or Movember), groups all over cyberspace start clean shaven and commit to growing beards or moustaches for at least a month...
Steel Cage Texas Glove Judicial Death Match?
Posted on October 22, 2008Let me tell you, I'm gonna miss Joan Fleischman. She was one of the most enjoyable parts of the Herald (I know that's not saying much), and she always found offbeat, interesting stories that gave texture and dimension to the crazy goings-on here in South Florida...
Matthew Staver Wants to Protect Marriages By Outlawing Some of Them
Posted on October 21, 2008I love Amendment 2. The world is going to hell in a handbasket and yet we're worrying about the "sanctity of marriage" again? Deck chairs, meet Titanic.First of all, anyone who's ever been married knows it's not so sacred -- if you do it right. I like the way Garry Shandling put it a few weeks ago on Bill Maher: I could care less about gay marriage, but I have a huge problem with gay divorce...
Dimond Kaplan Puts World On Notice of Something.
Posted on October 20, 2008Breaking news that everybody needs to immediately read. In your case, that means close down your other browsers and personal email accounts and click over to this important news bulletin: MIAMI, Oct 20, 2008 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- The securities law firm of Dimond Kaplan & Rothstein, P...
Note to Cesar Alvarez: You Are Now Officially Bumming Me Out.
Posted on October 20, 2008So I had a great weekend, how about you? Good friends, good times, intensive dieting followed by even more intensive windsurfing.But then I open up the paper on Sunday and there he is, on the front page, above the fold, spouting doom and gloom. Yes it's our favorite philosopher-king, Cesar Alvarez: Cesar L...
SFL Friday -- Clear Skies Ahead!
Posted on October 17, 2008Well it's Friday and I hope you all have glorious plans for the weekend. Some of you are receiving awards, some attending concerts, and a few of you are just plain goofing off.Me, I have a jam-packed schedule of intensive dieting and windsurfing ahead so I'm gonna duck out early and wish you all a fabulous weekend and a Happy Sukkot...
Posted Without Comment
Posted on October 17, 2008Oy:A Miami-Dade Circuit Judge has stepped down after he's charged with a misdemeanor count of indecent exposure.The State Attorney's Office claims Douglas Chumbley exposed himself on September 25th inside a University of Miami bathroom near a campus Starbucks...
Things Are Tough All Over
Posted on October 16, 2008Ok, so now I have to give the shoeshine guy at the courthouse a ten spot to get my shoes shined, the price of the remaining bottles of Malaccan gin is on the rise, and it's impossible for two to get out of La Loggia at lunchtime for under 50 bucks.I can accept all that...
Middle District To Overworked Wage-and-Hour Lawyers: You Are On Double-Secret Probation
Posted on October 16, 2008You think you're having a bad day? Try stepping into the shoes of these lawyers, when intrepid reporter Julie Kay calls and wants a comment on this story:A federal magistrate judge in Orlando, Fla., has recommended that three lawyers receive reprimands for failing to comply with court scheduling orders related to their high-volume overtime suit practices...
Michael Kreitzer Wants Plaintiffs To Be Diligent.
Posted on October 15, 2008Every so often I guess I have to write something about, you know, the law or the legal profession or something boring like the rules that actually govern what we do. I know I know -- snooze city. But it's the only way dear readers in big firms can justify their 4...
3d DCA Watch -- High Minded Retro Poetic Form Edition
Posted on October 15, 2008Well it's an idiot wind blowing down the backroads headin' south today, bringing with it 60s radicals, secret Muslims, and lots and lots of things to be afraid of and angry about starting at around 9 o'clock tonight, dont'cha know.But for just a brief shining moment, let's put our bickering and worries aside, throw caution to the wind, and peer south to the wizards by the highway, those freewheelin' robed hepcat coffee-swillers that rule our world, yes you know it, the good, the bad, and Judge Schwartz -- yes it's that time of the week again, where PCAs are born, born free, born to be you and me, ahhh hail enough already with all this bullcrap it's 3d DCA Watch:Hialeah Automotive v...
Disgraced Sheriff Ken Jenne To Receive Happy Ending After All
Posted on October 14, 2008Courtesy of Scott Rothstein's firm:''Let's just say he's making a damn good living,'' Rothstein said. ``And he's worth every penny.''Say no more, Scott, say no more, nudge nudge -- I know exactly what you mean.
Gunster Yoakley "Unhappy" Over Being Sued Again; Needs Some Alone Time.
Posted on October 14, 2008Come on, Gunster, don't be down -- turn that smile into a frown, you big galute:More than two dozen buyers trying to recover deposits on the failed Palladio Terrace condo have filed a $2.5 million lawsuit against the Gunster Yoakley law firm, claiming the firm failed to properly guard their cash when it served as the condo's escrow agent...
Stormy Monday: It's All Jimmy Carter's Fault.
Posted on October 13, 2008That's what "Mellon Financial Center" attorney John Lanzetta thinks:In the '70s, Democratic President Jimmy Carter started it off with his efforts at financial deregulation and his Community Reinvestment Act, which encouraged and pressured banks to make loans to those who were theretofore unbankable...
SFL Friday: Swinging Stocks, Crystal Balls and Trust Accounts
Posted on October 10, 2008Ahhh it's Friday. Sure the Dow's down 22 percent for the week, Hal Lewis thinks Robert Cooper is suing developers on a theory first advanced by Tommy Shaw on an old Styx album, but still....it's Friday.But then here comes intrepid reporter Julie Kay with some new worries:Following the failure of California's IndyMac and the very real potential of other bank collapses, lawyers have been flooding bar associations with questions about whether they would be responsible for client trust accounts if a bank fails...
They Write Letters...
Posted on October 10, 2008Oy, that sinking feeling in my stomach is not a rock-hard bagel; still I can always turn to the Miami Herald letters page for some comic relief. Let's see....What's this, uber-DUI lawyer extraordinaire Bobby Reiff, boldly stepping in the middle of the raging and deeply bitter dispute over beach clean up salaries:The Oct...
3d DCA Watch -- Somebody Did Something Good Edition
Posted on October 08, 2008Hi kiddies, well it's almost Kol Nidre and thus an appropriate time to do a little Teshuva, you know, take stock of what kind of lawyers we are, what kind of people we are -- as against what kind we want to be -- and how to bridge the gap between the two over the next year...
"America's Mayor" Michael Pizzi Declares Peace in Our Time!
Posted on October 08, 2008Using his piercing blue eyes and patented unique interpersonal skills, Michael Pizzi is now one step closer to world domination by seizing the Kingdom of Miami Lakes.Standing upon his bar top throne and surveying the faithful, Pizzi magnanimously imposed his first decree, declaring all weapons to be turned into plowshares, or something like that:"At the end of the day it feels good,'' Pizzi said from The Billiard Club, where he gave his victory speech from a bar top...
Lawyers Are On All Sides Of The Mortgage Meltdown
Posted on October 07, 2008I see UM grad Delaila Estefano has allegedly found a different angle on this whole mortgage fraud thing:Delaila Estefano, 35, and two men were charged last week with first-degree grand theft, organized fraud and using a fake ID.She was released after posting a $75,000 bond...
Carvalho: Texting That You "Love And Miss" Mistress Is A Personal Attack
Posted on October 07, 2008Boy, this is the story that keeps on giving. I really love the way Carvalho has handled the whole emails to his lover thing, because it shows the guy is not ready for prime-time and doesn't seem able to improvise and deal with a scandal effectively. That, plus I'm totally jealous -- Tania, please write us!Anyway, first he denies it, then he says maybe they're real, then he says he could retrieve his personal account emails if he wanted to but why would he, then he's sputtering about how writing love notes to a former Herald schools reporter is some kind of "personal attack...
Justice Roberts to Reduce Judicial Caseload By Eliminating Lawsuits
Posted on October 06, 2008Anyone remember state's rights?No, me neither. Now I guess the smart thing is to have federal appointees and goyisher kopfs in DC like Heckuva job Brownie deciding everything. At least that's what I understand Justice Roberts is planning on doing this term: Several conservative justices tied the case to earlier Supreme Court precedent that has preempted state-level cases when federal agencies are involved in oversight of an industry...
Dennis Stackhouse Latest Victim of "Batista Bomb"
Posted on October 06, 2008Let me tell you, "developer" Dennis Stackhouse is in a world of trouble. Sure he's got all kinds of shady dealings with various county pols, looming foreclosures and whatnot, but worse than all that -- he's got Dave Batista up in his grillhouse: His business is in tatters, he was dumped by his former partners with Miami-Dade County, and he's now being hounded by lenders and prosecutors...
SFL Friday, Or How to Make Love During A Recession.
Posted on October 03, 2008Don'tcha know, say it ain't so, Joe! Let's take a quick snapshot of our profession:McDermott hammered with a $4.3 million sanction for trial misconduct. And I thought only plaintiffs' lawyers were bad....Legal employment jobs down 15k from last year...
SFL Free Advice Friday: When Discussing Steve Chaykin, You Probably Should Avoid Metaphors About "Water"
Posted on October 03, 2008Just sayin':Five men have opted not to run against Florida Bar board of governors candidate Dori Foster-Morales, the only woman seeking the Miami-Dade seat, but one man will oppose her.Foster-Morales, a family law attorney and wife of former Miami-Dade County Commissioner Jimmy Morales, will face Miami plaintiff attorney John Ostrow in a race to be decided Nov...
"Off the Record" Emails -- What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Posted on October 02, 2008As if that crazy fire-fee case could not get any crazier, we have this:Lawyer Lorena Schwartz, clerk to Circuit Judge Jose Rodriguez, sent an e-mail Sept. 17 asking for advice on how plaintiffs seeking the fee settlement could strengthen their case. The e-mail went to lawyers representing the city ? not the lawyers in the class-action lawsuit who represent residents wrongly charged the fee...
3d DCA Watch -- Dog Bites Man Edition
Posted on October 01, 2008Hi kiddies, to be honest I'm a little sluggish this morning, I'm recovering from brisket overload -- too much Malaccan gin, women, and tashlich -- but I have summoned the energy to wade through the latest dispatch from our coffee-soaked, robe-wearing southern pontificators of all that is affirmable, yes dear readers it's that time again as we dive right in to this week's edition of 3d DCA Watch:Boy what a relief...
Charlie Crist: Pig Roasts Yes, Gay Adoption No.
Posted on October 01, 2008Big Charlie has "no second thoughts" about denying gay folks an opportunity to adopt children who have been through a TPR proceeding. The issue is coming to a head in Judge Cindy Lederman's courtroom this morning as Charlie Auslander goes to trial on behalf of a gay man seeking to adopt two children:On Wednesday, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman will begin a trial over Gill's petition to adopt the two half-siblings...
La Shana Tovah
Posted on September 29, 2008So tonight is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and for those dear readers who are observant I want to wish everyone a happy, healthy, and prosperous 5769. Here's to staying awake in Temple.
Lawyers Worry About the Silliest Things!
Posted on September 29, 2008Oh lawyers, always worrying about whether the id. is capitalized and other such picayune matters. Belts and suspenders, dotting i's and crossing t's and all that.But get this: apparently some of you are concerned that the election in November may not go off perfectly...
Kendall Coffey Reports On Something.
Posted on September 29, 2008On my way to the federal courthouse this morning, and who did I see? None other than camera-hound Kendall Coffey, doing a "stand up" with a TV crew outside the new federal courthouse. I wonder what he was reporting on?Oh well, always good to talk about something you know.
SFL Friday -- Sage Professional Advice: Don't Be a Di#k!
Posted on September 26, 2008Well, I wanna be your lover, baby,I don't wanna be your boss.Don't say I never warned youWhen your train gets lost.That's the Bard talking, but he was onto something. Money money money, hours, status, wants, needs, desires, love, children. And of course that sexy young thing at Offerdahl's...
The Turkey Vultures Are Back!
Posted on September 25, 2008I don't know about you, but all this gloom-and-doom talk is starting to get to me.First just yesterday I see JPK pacing slowly along Flagler, working his way toward La Loggia, silent and alone in his thoughts.Then this morning as I drove into work in my hermetically-sealed SFLmobile I came across nearly a dozen large turkey vultures, feasting on some fresh road kill...
BREAKING -- Jack Thompson Free To Start Life Anew in Federal Court
Posted on September 25, 2008I don't want our crappy little blog to get all Jack Thompsony-chronic-all-the-time, but I did see that hotshot reporter and boy mechanic Billy Shields is breaking word that Jack has been disbarred:The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday permanently disbarred crusading anti-porn lawyer Jack Thompson after years of review but left open a slim window of opportunity for reconsideration...
3d DCA Watch -- The One Involving Sarah Palin And An Undisclosed 11th Circuit Panel Judge
Posted on September 24, 2008Hi kiddies, yes it's that time again, when we hold our collective noses and pray, curse, clap, and peek at the weekly doings of our favorite little courthouse by the athletic field, yes without further adieu it's 3d DCA Watch:So we'll argue and we'll compromiseAnd realize that nothing's ever changedFor all our mutual experienceOur separate conclusions are the same...
Law Firm Retreats: Do They Suck?
Posted on September 23, 2008I'm been thinking of a few stories from law firm retreats I used to go when we were all swimmin' in dough and life was good good good.Upon reflection, nearly all of those stories involved copious amounts of liquor, sexual relations, and some form of inappropriate, embarrassing, odd, or downright sybaritic behavior on the part of a summer associate, junior partner or, ideally, some really old senior partner no one really liked anyway...
Billy Shears On The Kenny Nachwalter Disqualification
Posted on September 23, 2008It's ok Billy, even though I covered the story six days ago, I'm glad you finally got around to doing a piece on it. I guess the difference is that Billy actually, you know, did some digging and reporting and I just sat around in my wind surfing shorts and blogged about it...
They Write Letters....
Posted on September 22, 2008Here's a surprise -- former General Counsel to Jeb Bush Raquel Rodriguez thinks new Florida Supreme Court Justice Charles Canady is just fine:The Miami Herald confuses a conservative judicial philosophy with a conservative political philosophy. To be a conservative jurist means understanding that the executive and legislative branches make policy, and that the judicial branch interprets law...
SFL Friday -- It's The End of The World As We Know It
Posted on September 19, 2008And Norman Braman feels fine:''With a Wall Street Journal headline this morning saying it's the worst economy with no help in sight, how could anyone even think of spending these type of dollars for a for-profit business?''So now Judge Cohen gets to deliver the final blow, given that the Florida Supremes have finally ruled on that community redevelopment monies case from Escambia County...
Online Poker Players Are Dupes, Err, Were Duped.
Posted on September 18, 2008I know I know --- all of you hotshots are great drivers, great lovers, and great poker players. Plus nobody knows sports better than you.Well, now you can at least explain your online poker losses away. Listen bubbe, it was not a deficit in skill -- you are still the best ever! -- it just turns out you were a schmuck to play online in the first place:Allegations that a long-running cheating scheme bilked players on a leading Internet poker site have triggered an $85 million claim against a Canadian company whose employees allegedly manipulated the cyberspace card room?s software so that they could see their opponents? hole cards, msnbc...
Judge Blake Gets the Love
Posted on September 18, 2008Our own Judge Blake receives a glowing profile by the Boston Globe, focusing on his humorous, folksy style, unlike all those New England stiffs. Here's my favorite part:When he jousts with the stone-serious Fred Wyshak, the Boston federal prosecutor on loan to the locals, about sartorial choices Wyshak's made for this road trip, Blake says that since becoming a judge 14 years ago he can no longer afford the fancy suits...
3d DCA Watch -- The One Where Judge Cope's Law Clerk Outlawyers The Lawyers. Oh Yeah, and Kenny Nachwalter Gets Disqualified (Yawn).
Posted on September 17, 2008Ok kiddies, it's that time again so let's jump right in and see what our coffee-swilling, Technicolor-robed brethren down south have been up to in this topsy-turvy, action-packed edition of 3d DCA Watch:Skylake v. NMB Plaza:Whoah -- holy great-research-by-Judge-Cope's-clerk, Batman!This case has to do with a ten-year lease signed by landlord NMB Plaza, an LLC, which was repudiated for whatever reason by the landlord...
Crackberry Love: It's Either Me or Your Device, Baby!
Posted on September 16, 2008We've already discussed (here and here) the disgusting habit you overfed, undersexed office-dwellers have of bringing your device into the bedroom and the deleterious consequences that has on your love life. Now comes news that thirty-five percent of you simpering texters would even choose your "device" over your spouse:The study of 6,500 traveling executives says 35 percent of them would choose their PDA over their spouse...
Adorno Yoss Merges With Texas Firm Known for Friendly Mock Raids
Posted on September 16, 2008This is an interesting way for an immigration firm to drum up business:Under the new structure, Houston and San Antonio offices of Monty Partners are now officially occupied by Adorno?s newly formed immigration practice group. Before the deal, Adorno only had a Texas office in Dallas...
From "Saved By the Bell" to Supreme Court Law Clerk
Posted on September 15, 2008Ok, I'll admit, I'm not a big reader of People magazine. But I happened to be reading this week's edition, which featured something about lipsticks and pigs, when I came across a story about Carlos Lidsky's son and how he just got a job clerking for the United States Supreme Court...
Smart Florida Voter Probably Bought Condo "On Bay."
Posted on September 12, 2008We've been talking recently about what presumptions, if any, should be applied to the reasonable person in light of some interesting opinions from Judge Seitz and the Florida Supreme Court.I offer up Florida voter and Barefoot Bay resident Andy Lacasse and his thoughtful idea of a campaign yard sign as Exhibit A...
Mami! Who You Gonna Believe, Me or Those Lying Emails?
Posted on September 12, 2008How nice, our first scandal with the new Superintendent of Schools, and he hasn't even been hired yet! There are many elements to this story that are simply preposterous:School Board members, community leaders and reporters have received about two dozen e-mails that appear to have been sent from deLuzuriaga to Carvalho between July and September 2007...
All My Favorite Places, My City Had Been Pulled Down
Posted on September 11, 2008When I was young and foolish, some of us downtown lawyers would actually go eat on the Miami River. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it was true -- you used to be able to get a fresh snapper sandwich at a reasonable price, from a real fish joint. Weird, right? (Believe me, Bijan's does not count...
BREAKING - Scott Salomon Now Most "Not Evil Person" In Jail
Posted on September 10, 2008We always enjoy writing about Scott Salomon, but for those of you looking to refer him business a dedicated reader points out that he now has a new address:The NBC 6 Consumer Investigative Unit investigated an attorney accused of taking more than $1 million from clients without providing services, and that lawyer was in jail Tuesday night...
3d DCA Watch -- The One Where Judge Rothenberg Reveals The Secret to Prevailing on Summary Judgment in State Court
Posted on September 10, 2008Shhh, don't tell anyone about this week's edition of 3d DCA Watch, because this is the one where you can learn -- finally -- how to win on summary judgment in state court. Yes, all you ham-and-eggers on Flagler Street, now you can WIN WIN WIN beyond your wildest gin-soaked dreams! And you big-firmers can even bill some CLE time today by reading our crappy little blog...
BREAKING -- Judge Cohen Reveals What the Marlins' "Special Purpose" Is For!
Posted on September 09, 2008Excuse me, I've really got to start reading things more closely.It's not a "special purpose," it's apparently some kind of "public purpose":Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Jeri Beth Cohen ruled Tuesday that building a ballpark for the Florida Marlins serves a public purpose -- a significant victory for the team and local government in their quest to bring a new stadium to South Florida...
Judge Seitz, Maybe You Should Talk to the Florida Supreme Court
Posted on September 09, 2008In the wake of the eminently reasonable ruling by the Florida Supreme Court that appears to acknowledge that some people just don't read so good, the WSJ revisits Judge Seitz' Lochner Era-esq ruling on condo developers saying whatever the hail they want as long as the contract says otherwise:Last month, the U...
News Flash: Big Firm Associates Are Overpaid, Undersatisfied
Posted on September 08, 2008What a surprise -- Big Firm associates get paid a lot and are still unhappy:Start with the lack of knowledge that law students have about firms. Students can?t easily differentiate between prospective employers, so they rely too much on pay as an indicator of prestige...
SFL Friday -- Your Cheatin' Allele 334
Posted on September 05, 2008Wind, rain, riptides, impending massive hurricane -- it's perfect windsurfing weather yet again! And some of you want to move from this paradise?So I came across this interesting article on why men cheat. It's not low self-esteem, poor interpersonal relationship skills, or even just plain lust; you can tell your spouses it's that pesky allele 334 gene:[T]he findings by researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm suggest that there could be some scientific roots to some men?s tendency to stray...
BREAKING -- Akerman Jilted; Wolf Block Loves Suing Health Care Insurers Too Too Much
Posted on September 04, 2008It's an age-old story -- two firms meet at a bar convention, strike up a conversation, next thing you know they are planning a grand marriage and a honeymoon to the Cayman Islands.Then come the details, you like suing health care insurers on behalf of health care providers, I like defending them...
Mark Herron Thinks Florida Voters Are Highly Educated and Read Really Well; Florida Supreme Court Says "Huh"?
Posted on September 04, 2008It's nice when judges actually attempt to understand the actions of the typical voter or consumer. In striking down the unfunded property tax swap amendment (Amendment 5) yesterday, we had this exchange before the Florida Supreme Court:Leon County Circuit Court Judge John Cooper first ruled Amendment 5 unconstitutional because of that misleading implication...
3d DCA Watch -- A Little Splash'll Do Ya
Posted on September 03, 2008Yes kiddies it's that time of the week -- your favorite hump day activity -- so let us peer down south upon the wizened, robed coffee-stained brains that decide the governing law for us who merely toil in labor on Flagler Street, yes it is this week's edition of 3d DCA Watch:It's not easy being Pete Loblack...
Rockin' The Paradise
Posted on September 03, 2008You'll watch the RNC convention yesterday? I thought Conrad Bain was simply electrifying. Oh, it was that other old guy from Connecticut? Still a good speech.Stay tuned later this morning for our world famous, frequently imitated but never duplicated 3d DCA Watch...
Is She Really Going Out With Him?
Posted on September 02, 2008Wow. See what happens when you go windsurfing for a few days.And how was your Labor Day holiday?
SFL Friday -- Labor Day Edition
Posted on August 29, 2008So that was some speech last night, huh? I mean the power, the intensity, the enthusiasm, the stagecraft, I think good people from both sides of the aisle can agree that Senator Dick Durbin quite simply NAILED IT.Oh, you mean someone else spoke, too? He wasn't bad either, I guess...
BREAKING -- Charles Canady Newest Florida Supreme Court Justice
Posted on August 28, 2008Charles T. Canady gets the nod:Canady, 54, is Crist?s first appointment to the state?s high court. He will fill the vacancy left by Justice Raoul G. Cantero III, who resigned earlier this year. ?I consider this to be one of the most important decisions I will make as governor, because the Supreme Court justices make precedent-setting decisions that affect the lives of all Floridians for generations to come,? Crist said...
DMX Engages in Sexy Pillow Talk With Judge Schwartz
Posted on August 28, 2008They say the guy has a way with words, and he sure did show it at his bond hearing in front of Judge Schwartz yesterday:On Wednesday (August 27), X (real name: Earl Simmons) pleaded guilty to his Florida charges of attempted purchase of cocaine and marijuana and was sentenced to time served and a $483 court fine, lawyer Bradford Cohen told MTV News...
3d DCA Watch -- When Granny Gets Mad, Run for the Hills!
Posted on August 27, 2008Hi folks, it's that time of the week, so let's dive right in and see what our merry band of appellate judges to the south are up to in this week's edition of 3d DCA Watch:Weiss v. CourshonHooray! Judge Salter is back, he's sick of crappy pro se pleadings, and he's not afraid to say so in the utmost polite, classy and professional manner that stands in stark contrast to certain cranky more senior judges that shall remain nameless but which have last names that rhyme with "warts...
Congratulations Laurie!!
Posted on August 27, 2008Uber-appellate lawyer Laurie Waldman Ross has been appointed to the 3d DCA Judicial Nominating Commission.Hey, whaddaya know, sometimes they do get things right!
Vote, You Plebs!
Posted on August 26, 2008Being high-information consumers, and given that there are judges up for election today, I hope you all don't need to be reminded to vote.But remember to let your employees out early so they can get to the polling precinct, and maybe all you smart lawyers can even become part of the polling process for November to help make sure the election runs as smoothly as possible -- given the reality that the election is ultimately in the hands of Miami-Dade County officials...
Costly Arbitration Is Cheap and Efficient
Posted on August 26, 2008That seems to be the message from the continuing money pit that is the Americatel arbitration debacle:Americatel El Salvador won an arbitration against Compañía de Telecommunicaciones de El Salvador -- or CTE -- to allow greater access to the Salvadoran market...
Mike Tein Expounds on Sophisticated Ponzi Schemes, Eskimo Purchasing Patterns
Posted on August 25, 2008Our boy Mike made some more good press over the weekend. This time he is representing investors duped by the Latin America Ipod scheme. Here he is explaining how good of a con man the alleged perpetrator was:Attorney Michael Tein, representing one of Pimstein's largest investors, developer Victor Gonzalez, said his client lost more than $2 million...
Richard Williams Needs to Speak With His "Electronic Billing System" Manufacturer.
Posted on August 21, 2008I assume everyone saw the fire fee ruling by Judge Rodriguez, right? The DBR story is here. But the real meat is in the Court's order, which you can review here.In summary the Court reduced the requested multiplier (which was five) to two, and slashed attorney Richard Williams' lodestar by more than half, finding that many of the verified time entries were not supported by competent evidence...
3d DCA Watch -- Wishing and Hoping
Posted on August 21, 2008I just can't quit you, 3d DCA!Even though the cupboard has grown increasingly bare over the last few weeks, I turn instinctively to your significantly improved website each Wednesday, hoping for something -- anything -- that could be construed as mildly entertaining or even informative...
DMX Likes to Shop At NMB Wal-Mart, Apparently Is Also Handicapped.
Posted on August 20, 2008Well, that was fun!I guess now we have to go back to our practices, listen to other lawyers, judges, clients, witnesses, actually talk to people in business settings, you know, all that crap. If you all have any good stories about what your firms did during the storm, pass them on...
And I'm Not Missing A Thing. Watching The Full Moon Crossing The Range....
Posted on August 19, 2008Hi kiddies, well Tropical Storm Fay is upon us like some wet juicy French Kiss, shutting downtown office buildings completely, closing the courthouses, messing up depositions, court filings, travel plans, schools, you pretty much name it. She's like that!I hope you all are ridin' the storm out safe and sound, snuggled in and hunkered down...
Ed Moss and Metrorail. What Am I Missing Here?
Posted on August 15, 2008I guess those commie-loving Greenpeacers over at SHB want everyone to go to work in some kind of Ed Begley-styled vegetable car or, worse yet, by public transportation:Nearly 350 employees at Shook, Hardy & Bacon have signed up for bonuses under a program that encourages use of alternative transportation...
Scott Salomon Not "Evil" Or "Wicked," According to Scott Salomon
Posted on August 15, 2008They say all news is good news, so by that standard Scott Salomon, Coral Springs attorney and former lawyer for Backstreeter Nick Carter, must be thrilled:The state Supreme Court issued an emergency suspension. The Florida bar declared that Salomon "has caused and continues to cause great public harm...
Breaking -- Florida Supreme Court Nominees Announced! World Yawns.
Posted on August 14, 2008OK this list made me weep and not in a good way, but again all I can say is it could have been a whole lot worse:For Cantero's vacancy, the commission choose: Judge Charles Canady, 54, Lakeland, Second District Court of Appeal; Judge Kevin Emas, 50, Miami, 11th Judicial Circuit; Edward G...
3d DCA Watch -- You Say Apodictic, I Say Apoplectic, Let's Call The Whole Thing Off
Posted on August 13, 2008I was tempted to skip this week's Third DCA Watch simply because the pickings were so slim and because I'm bored out of my wits. Still, because I am dedicated to you, dear readers, I put in the long, hard slog and actually read this week's opinions.Four or so cafecitos later, amidst a dreary discussion of the standards and differences applicable to a petition for administration of a will and a petition to establish a lost or destroyed will in probate, I was jolted in my chair by this sterling example of legal writing from none other than Judge Shepherd:As to the former, it is apodictic that matters dehors the four corners of a complaint or petition may not be considered on a motion to dismiss...
Great Minds Etc.
Posted on August 13, 2008Hey it's weird how great minds sometimes come up with great ideas around the same time, isn't it? Like whoever independently came up with the idea of a lovable monster family sitcom, hence we had both The Munsters and The Addams Family.Reading today's paper brought to mind those wacky 1950s monsters with hearts of gold:Attorney General Michael Mukasey conceded Tuesday that high-ranking Justice Department officials failed to stop illegal hiring practices that favored conservatives over liberals because of what he described as a ''systemic'' problem within the department...
Less Gin, More Coffee?
Posted on August 12, 2008Sure we drink lots of coffee over here at SFL because we're bored, it makes us "edgy" at depositions, and because many judges and senior partners prattle on and we would fall asleep otherwise, but apparently it has other positive attributes as well:Probably the most important effects of caffeine are its ability to enhance mood and mental and physical performance...
Welcome, Contestants!
Posted on August 12, 2008And here they are. Some good, some bad, some in between:Applicants to replace Justice Raoul Cantero III include three judges from the 3rd District Court of Appeal in Miami: Angel Cortinas, Juan Ramirez Jr. and Leslie Rothenberg. Applications also arrived from Miami-Dade Circuit Judges Gisela Cardonne Ely, Kevin Emas and Israel Reyes...
They Write Letters
Posted on August 11, 2008Carlos Concepcion explains how you can be a hero:Why pay my employees to take time off from work to assist voters? Because poll workers do not work for political parties or candidates. They take an oath to leave their political opinions and partisan leanings at home...
Please Governor, Don't Pick A Whack Job. Is That Too Much To Ask?
Posted on August 08, 2008Now that Charlie Crist is getting everything in order in case new BFF John McCain decides to make him his number two, I'm starting to get a little worried about his Florida Supreme Court picks.Before Charlie made his swoon, I actually thought he's been a pretty good Governor...
SFL Friday -- Bring On the Pain.
Posted on August 08, 2008So it's Friday, the Dolphins start up tomorrow, and apparently we found an old Jets quarterback to save our team. Welcome back, Ray Lucas!Meanwhile, although our County can afford to hand over hundreds of millions in taxpayer money to the failing Marlins organization, we apparently can't afford a decent school system, court system, road system -- hail, with gas prices going through the roof it's apparently the perfect time to cut one of the few successful examples of mass transit in South Florida:If you take the shuttle to get to Miami Dolphins games, you?re going to have to find another way to get there...
Akerman Lawyers Ponder World Free of Milk, Other Partners
Posted on August 07, 2008The indignities keep on piling up. First, possibly forced to drink coffee using some type of non-dairy creamer! Oh the sorrow.Now this:Merger talks between Wolf Block and Florida-based Akerman Senterfitt have hit a snag, according to a statement Wednesday by leadership at the two firms...
3d DCA Watch -- "I'll Take A Recusal on Rye, Your Honor."
Posted on August 06, 2008Isn't state court a hoot? Motion practice can be like waiting in line at the old Corky's or Pumpernik's, lawyers and court reporters stuffed in and around the small hallways, fighting to be heard, listening for your number, hoping/praying the judge has read your brief or at a minimum has the file on her desk...
Welcome to 1905 -- Bakers' Right to Contract Protected!
Posted on August 05, 2008This is an old-fashioned Lochner-era beatdown:No matter how beautiful a condominium complex looks in the brochure, it might behoove any buyer to look at the fine print in the contract based on a ruling by a federal judge.The brochure showed a 56-story elliptical-shaped building on the water with a nearby marina...
"His Was A Life Well Lived."
Posted on August 04, 2008What a moving and deeply affecting service today at Temple Beth Sholom in loving memory of Steve Chaykin. Several hundred legal glitterati were in attendance to mourn, grieve, and celebrate the larger than life personality that was Steve. I saw judges, lawyers, lawmakers, and other leaders of our community, all in solidarity at the untimely passing of a great lawyer, father, brother, son, husband, and community leader...
Sue Me, Sue You Blues
Posted on August 04, 2008What's the cure for lawsuit blues? Sue your attorneys:Now filling dozens of boxes stacked in the dining room and garage of their suburban Boca Raton home, the legal fight has destroyed the Lansons' lives.Meryl Lanson wants to prove the legal system -- attorneys, judges and other professionals -- conspired against them...
Swingers and Alan Kluger -- SFL Friday
Posted on August 01, 2008So it's a slow news day, it's Friday and I'm bored. Is this thing on? Where the hail is everybody -- the roads are clear, the usual nutjobs at the circuit courthouse don't seem to be around, and I can almost walk down Flagler without having to see anybody that I dislike or think is a jerk...
ABA's List of 25 Greatest Legal Movies
Posted on August 01, 2008It's a snore-fest, but you can review their picks here.No "Devil's Advocate"? No "The Firm"? No "Liar Liar" or "All of Me"? Wait a minute -- no "The Fortune Cookie" or "I Love You Alice B. Toklas"?Now I'm getting steamed.
Celebrate Life
Posted on July 31, 2008It's precious and fragile and your good fortune can change in a New York minute.Steve Chaykin, RIP. The Aspen Daily News has a more complete account here.
3d DCA Watch -- The One In Which Judge Cope Becomes "Judicially Aware."
Posted on July 30, 2008Well if you thought last week's edition was a little thin, you better take a pass on this week. You have your usual one-noter cert opinion from Judge Schwartz, as well as an economic-loss rule snoozer from Judge Wells. (Dear Judge Wells, the economic loss rule is confusing enough, is it too much to ask for some background facts before affirming with a string citation? Then your opinion could be useful to practitioners down the road...
"I Don't Want a Piece of You, I Want the Whole Thing!"
Posted on July 30, 2008How about that? Scott Sheftall channels his inner Happy Gilmore: Scott Sheftall calls himself the ''ultimate Cinderella story'' at this week's U.S. Senior Open.A decent college golfer, Sheftall's best golf moments since then have come while on hand to see best friend Mark McCumber win two Doral titles and the 1988 Players Championship...
Smiles, Everyone, Smiles!
Posted on July 29, 2008Boy it's another crappy day in paradise. I open up the paper and learn that Michael Putney thinks the Marlins stadium giveaway is a ridiculous joke, then I read how our schools chief was just named National Superintendent of the Year but he's about to be fired for no good reason...
Sex, Lies, and Willie Gary?
Posted on July 28, 2008Once again I ask -- why can't I ever get a case like this? This time Michael Pike gets to have all the fun:West Palm lawyer Michael Pike included in his filing two X-rated homemade DVDs of Gary's single adult son, Kenneth, having sex with Nedd. The second DVD, according to Pike, was filmed a week after Nedd and Gary met in a Stuart Best Western, where Nedd claims he sexually assaulted her...
Late 3d DCA Watch -- Waiting For The Man
Posted on July 28, 2008Well, there's slim pickings in 3d DCA Watch, we probably should have just skipped the whole darn week. But let's take a looksy anyways at those wacky, wily bunch of robed troublemakers, yes it's 3d DCA Watch:United Auto v. Garrido:Wait a minute; do my eyes deceive me? Did United Auto actually win an appeal? On a writ no less? It does appear that way...
On The Road Again
Posted on July 24, 2008Hi folks! I'm traveling for the next few days, so I promise a belated 3d DCA Watch when I return, probably sometime over the weekend, weather permitting.Be good and play nice.
Note to Sandy Bohrer -- Tom Petty Was Right.
Posted on July 23, 2008The waiting is the hardest part:After an exhaustive genealogical search, Judge Cohen has been unable to conclude that she, too, is distantly related to Bob Martinez. Not only that, her efforts to get the parties to settle informally have been a bust...
Attractive Nuisance, Defined.
Posted on July 22, 2008Color me skeptical, but I find it hard to believe our MIA workers will use this technology strictly as intended, and that all scans will be completely random:As passengers step inside the machine, they extend their arms and legs for several seconds, as millimeter wave technology creates an image...
New Epstein Becker Florida Employment Law Blog
Posted on July 19, 2008I know there are a few dear readers who actually follow legal trends and whatnot, so for you obsessives (and you know who you are), there's a new, well-designed employment law blog from our Epstein Becker friends Richard D. Tuschman and Hector A. Chichoni...
Quoting Bob Dylan?
Posted on July 18, 2008Hey, maybe Richard Strafer is a ranter too:Quoting Bob Dylan and a legal treatise, attorneys for indicted Miami attorney Ben Kuehne and two co-defendants maintain the ?unprecedented? money laundering indictment is ideologically motivated by the Justice Department...
3d DCA Watch -- United Auto and the Pips
Posted on July 17, 2008Hi kiddies, in this action-packed edition, Judge Freeman easily justifies her business court, William K. Hill suffers a rare loss, and United Au