JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG

WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL RICHARD E GERSTEIN JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG. THIS BLOG IS DEDICATED TO JUSTICE BUILDING RUMOR, HUMOR, AND A DISCUSSION ABOUT AND BETWEEN THE JUDGES, LAWYERS AND THE DEDICATED SUPPORT STAFF, CLERKS, COURT REPORTERS, AND CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS WHO LABOR IN THE WORLD OF MIAMI'S CRIMINAL JUSTICE. POST YOUR COMMENTS, OR SEND RUMPOLE A PRIVATE EMAIL AT HOWARDROARK21@GMAIL.COM. Winner of the prestigious Cushing Left Anterior Descending Artery Award.

Friday, October 20, 2006

MONEY FOR NOTHING

JULIE KAY OF THE DAILY BUSINESS REVIEW EMAILED US ONE OF HER GREAT STORIES. HERE IS PART OF IT:

The defense attorneys for the brothers convicted of masterminding the largest bank fraud in Miami history could have to pay back the $757,000 they were paid in legal fees.Federal prosecutors are claiming that money used to pay Ed Shohat and Bruce Lehr was tainted, coming from the sale of a Manhattan condominium that was part of the fraud. In court papers, the attorneys deny that the funds used to pay them were tainted. Shohat worked for Eduardo Orlansky for three years, while Lehr represented Hector Orlansky for 18 months. Both attorneys worked through a 4-month trial and four weeks of jury deliberations. They also paid for several medical experts to testify about the health of their clients.

The Orlanskys, who face 30 years in prison, were convicted in August of massive fraud in their operation of E.S. Bankest, a Miami factoring company. The Orlanskys created fictitious checks, invoices and companies to inflate the value of account receivables by hundreds of millions of dollars to support the fraud targeting Portugal’s Espirito Santo Bank. The nine-year scam allowed the Orlanskys to illegally obtain $167 million from the bank and its clients. E.S. Bankest was a joint venture of the bank and Bankest Capital, which was formed by the Orlanskys.

Experts say it’s highly unusual for the government to seek payback of attorney fees, particularly in nondrug cases, and this may be a first for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami. “This is very rare,” said Miami attorney Scott Srebnick, who is also fighting forfeiture claims on behalf of his client, former Hamilton Bank Chairman Eduardo A. Masferrer.

Lehr declined to comment on the issue. Shohat did not return calls for comment.

Rumpole says: We'd be speechless too if we had to return a three quarters of a million bucks. Ouch.

READ THE WHOLE STORY HERE:

STORY.

See You In Court firmly holding on to our disorderly intox fees.

40 comments:

Anonymous said...

What's that thing about it being worse to have it and have it taken away, then to never have had it in the first place?

Anonymous said...

that website is just way too funny,

http://www.glumbert.com/media/
tonguetwister

Anonymous said...

Rumor has it that there is a new Ford GT in town. It's black, it's beautiful, and it roars.

Anonymous said...

The Miami Herald on Friday endorsed Judge Suarez and Judge Cortinas for retention which I agree with.

The Herald quoted as its source for help in deciding weather to support retention The Statewide Florida Bar poll which shows Judge Suarez and Judge Cortinas getting great reviews. (see below link to Fla Bar results.

http://www3.flabar.org/TFB/TFBResources.nsf/Attachments/77FBBFA091D60F52852571ED004B209D/$FILE/2006%20Statewide%20Merit%20Retention.pdf?OpenElement

Now what I cant understand is how they can endose and manipulate the actual results of the poll ti mislead the voters that Leslie Rotheberg got good poll ratings?

To understand what I mean you have to look at how the bar requested results (1.) Have Considerable Knowledge and (2.) Have limited knowledge.

Under the most important poll of those lawyers who have considerable knowledge of the Judges here is how it rated for Judge Rothenberg:

Retain 364 say YES
NOT retain 189 said NO

That is over 34% do not retain, compared to 12% for Judge Suarez.

The Miami Herald is playing politics over at the oped section. Rothenberg received the worst say NO on that poll and the Herald mixed the results with lawyers who had no knowledge of her and reduced her percentage to 28% saying NO to retention which is still horrible results.

When you have so many lawyers who are saying NO to you compared to your fellow appeal Judges.....

Anonymous said...

I'm hoping that the experienced members of this blog can offer some advice:

I'm a young lawyer who has only been practicing for 2 years. Although I've learned much in that time, I still feel that, no matter how well I think I've prepped a case, there's something that I've missed or issues that I haven't addressed.

I'm constantly frustrated b/c I feel as if I could always do better or that I'm not doing as good a job as my colleagues. Is it normal to feel this way? Is there any advice you can give?

Thanks in advance.

Anonymous said...

The constant thinking that you've missed something is one of the keys to thorough preparation. Don't sweat it - everyone goes through it - the x factor never stops.

Anonymous said...

Work on your self esteem and suck it up!

Anonymous said...

evil govt trying to take money away from good defense attys

sad

Anonymous said...

From reading the article it seems
as if the lawyers should have known
this would happen when they agreed
to take the case.

I'm not saying that the money should be taken from them, because
ofcourse I'm sure it was a legitimate fee for that type of case. My point is only that Judge
Jordan had already told them the money may be confiscated later if
it was proven fraud was involved.

Anonymous said...

to 12:28
evil government? your a turd.
if their is a protective order or a restraining order attatched to an indictment, you can't take those fees as a criminal defense atty without risk of forefiture. it's not like they are getting indicted.

Anonymous said...

To the atty with 2 yrs experience asking for advice: Look at the case from the other side. If you were the opponent, how would you prepare and what would you do. Also, when you prepare whether a big or small case, analyze and outline the whole case on one piece of paper. If you cannot outline the case, the witnesses and the evidence, you don't know the whole case.

Anonymous said...

thanks for calling me a turd. very original.

Anonymous said...

to 8:10 ; new lawyer kindly and politely asking for help. Look you sniveling whiny woman if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen. If you lose a case get back up on the bike and move on to the next file.There is no crying in felony court and if you still in mm court at sao or pd after 2 years you stink and should go into another area of law. If you never worked at sao or pd it will be very difficult to get trial experience and you shouldn't use real clients as guinea pigs. stop your whining and work harder-for some people it takes years to become a good trial lawyer.Now shut up and get me another beer from the fridge. Love dad.

Anonymous said...

Thanks to those of you who responded to my earlier post and provided constructive advice/moral support.

To the idiot who posted at 7:06, are you a lawyer? Nah, you couldn't be... lawyers know how to use commas and punctuation in their writing.

Here's some advice for you: LEARN HOW TO PUNCTUATE YOUR SENTENCES. Dickface.

Love, Mom

Anonymous said...

To 9:44 Mom: You apparently lack sufficient intellectual sophistication to understand earlier post so I will spell it out for you. Seeking anonymous advice from people with whom you have no way of knowing their level of experience or skill is NOT THE WAY to improve your skills in the arena of trying felony cases. Presumably that is the advice you were seeking and not, after 2 years, how to try a possession of cannabis, petit theft, battery or DUI case. Hopefully I dissuaded you from seeking advice in the manner in which you are doing it. That was the sarcastic disrespectful intent. It got your attention. Now here are ten things to do IF YOU REALLY WANT TO LEARN HOW TO TRY CASES, AND honey you damn well better believe that I know how to try a case; you have no idea. 1. Pre trial preparation for a felony case requires the taking of depositions of critical witnesses likely to be called by the state at trial. 2. Diligent efforts to make sure you have all discovery permissible under 3.220 and motions to compel if necessary, particularly important if you ever are appointed to take over a 3 year old murder case where you are the 5th attorney and the file is 2500 pages - as an example. How is the punctuation?. 3.Legal research leading to pre-trial motions particularly if there is Williams rule evidence--90.404, confessions, searches and motions in limine. If you want to improve your issue perception and really dedicate yourself to improving your trial skills the following are strongly recommended and would be a total cost of less than $500. 1. Have West's Florida Criminal Laws with you whenever you do a trial - it has jury instructions, evidence code and FLA. rules of criminal procedure and is the Bible for trials. Also recommended: Mauet's Fundamentals of Trial Techniques, literature on predicate questions for evidence admissibility, Ehrlenbach's Criminal Cases notebook and Ehrhard's Evidence, a small book on Trial Objections and a small book with the evidence code if you don't want to carry West's around.4. Write a memorandum of law, even if brief, accompanying your pre-trial motion. This is required in federal court and nothing will get a prosecutor's attention more than case law on point. Prosecutors hate to research and respond to motions so much that they have a separate research division which most asas defer to and most asas are either not allowed to or won't even attempt to respond to a constitutional argument.5. Read books written by and about former and current trial lawyers - particularly helpful are areas where transcripts from actual trials are included. 6. Start to learn about DNA, fingerprints, etc. 7. Read the FLW at least 1 hour per month. If you do not, at a minimum every 6 months go through the FLW to check on new case law on DNA, confessions, 4th amendment, HFO, Ryce etc., you are Not a trial lawyer. 8. Watch court TV which has now replaced watching more experienced lawyers in court which is still highly recommended. 9. Have a trial notebook prepared. This can be anywhere from prior recommendation of 1 page for a simple case to dozens of pages for a complicated case. All depositions should be summarized, questions for voir dire drafted - each case WILL be different, any special jury instructions requested, copies of case law, evidence issues likely to come up, evidence likely to be introduced- checklist if necessary, list of things not to forget to do. Ex. remember to cross witness A on X and witness B on Y and argue the conflict in closing. 10.Work harder than your opponent - 95% of trial success is pre-trial preparation- and never compromise ethics or commit felonies to win a case. After you have been in Miami several years you will understand and appreciate the last comment. The import of this gratuitous unsolicited advice is that you cannot rely on sao or pd to teach you how to be a trial lawyer-they just give you a heavy caseload which provides you the opportunity to do trials. If you encounter judges, supervisors, colleagues who are willing to give constructive critcism and the time to train you should be grateful- not bitter or hypersensitive or thing attorney A is an arrogant ass because told you that should know some of the case law about DNA if you have a case where you will be offering or opposing DNA. A library of case law accumulations is implicit in some of the advice given here. For instance - the law of confessions is constantly being updated. I hope these suggestions were helpful. This blog should be a place for peaceful coexistence, exchange of ideas, education. However many of my contributions have been to criticize the backbiting, envy, jealousy and hatred too often exhibited on this blog. The author has prepared over 100 felony cases for trial. This is good advice- if you follow 1/3 of it you will greatly improve your comfort level before a jury and your skill level. Good luck!

Anonymous said...

11:11......So, you've "prepared over 100 felony cases for trial." Big deal. ASAs and APD's do that in two years. You really think you had a right to be so snotty to the young lawyer seeking advice?

I say kudos to the young lawyer seeking information. You're already way ahead of many other young lawyers who think they know everything and have the attitude to boot.

My best advice? Keep an open mind, watch and listen. You can learn from anyone and everyone. The great ones never stop.

Anonymous said...

go jerk off in your robe asshole.

Anonymous said...

That was over 100 Life Felony, over 20 murder/manslaughter cases for trial; not carrying 20 sale of cocaine cases to court. I've worked at sao, pd and federal judge. What have you done.

Anonymous said...

are ellis rubin, roy black and abe laesar on their death beds? the tributes to them make it seem thier deaths are imminent. at least we are paying tribute to them before they go rather than after as has been the case in the past.

Anonymous said...

4:49 poster -- Thanks for your comment. A word of encouragement goes a long way in this business, and I appreciate your comments.

11:11 poster (aka Dad) -- Thanks for your comments as well. Believe it or not, this is the type of stuff I was looking for when I first posted. The advice is good, useful, and constructive.

Now, there's always a right way and wrong way to say things. Part of being a successful attorney is appealing to jurors, gaining their trust, and knowing how to credibly present your case. I may not have been practicing long, but I've learned that much.
The other thing I have learned it's that the courtroom is a much better place when lawyers treat each other with professionalism and courtesy; although you may have tried the number of cases you claim to have tried, you certainly haven't learned how to treat your colleagues with respect.

You may know how to try a case, but your social skills leave much to be desired. Your condescending tone and shitty, sexist remards received the response they deserved.

I may lack the "intellectual sophistication" but you, sir, lack class. Have a nice life and thanks for the advice.

Love, mom

Anonymous said...

Oh, and PS: You still can't write properly.

Love, mom

Anonymous said...

Hey mommasita !? Ill savee my ritten and punchuation for when it matters, not when im on blog. your attention to that type of nonsense lends credence to the inescapable conclusion that you should go work for a firm where it takes 10 years to prepare a case for settlement.

Anonymous said...

why can't anyone comment regarding the article and issue at hand?

Just a thought but it would sure make the blog more interesting.

Anonymous said...

Dear Mom: This is Dad responding. Your attempt to give me advice on how to argue to a jury is tantamount to a tee ball 5 year old giving a Yankee advice. That is how far away you are from ever approaching the skill and reputation I have achieved in 20 years. Opposing lawyers fear me.

Anonymous said...

The issue at hand is attorney fees in federal court. 3 decades of observation of federal court lead to the conclusion that the more money you make over there the more likely you will be indicted. Over 100 attorneys in federal court in the Southern District have been indicted in the last 15 years and many have gone to prison. If you are a private attorney going over there to say you should be careful is a tremendous understatement.

Anonymous said...

yep

Anonymous said...

Just ask Juan Elso, Sam Burstyn, Richard Martinez, etc.

Anonymous said...

Memo to young federal attorneys. Your short term short sighted desire for your name in the papers and complaining about the treatment of the world's largest drug traffickers is the best indicator that in the long term you too will be indicted. Ask yourself, DM, is a 100000 car and million dollar home worth federal prison. ask sam burstyn or juan elso.

Anonymous said...

DM, meaning David Markus, doesn't drive a 100,000 car, nor live in a million dollar home, and his fees in his recent "high profile case" didn't come from his clients. Sorry to confuse you with the facts.

Juan Elso was indicted for picking up cash (over 250,000) from a clients house (who was indicted for drug trafficking) and then claiming it was a fee.

Sam Burstyn was indicted for loaning $500,000 to a client who was indicted in a multimillion dollar marijuana conspiracy.

Lawyers who do things like that sometimes wind up indicted.

Many lawyers have taken on high profile federal cases, and like David, taken legitamate fees from third parties and remained free from indictment.

David is well respected, except by you obviously, in the federal courts.

His meticulous research into the source of his fees in this case is something we should all respect, and use as a resource for other attorneys who often are too scared to represent drug defendants in federal courts.

Anonymous said...

To the young lawyer: I other piece of advice I should've given you. Don't let the naysayers get you down.

To the cocky lawyer who has "prepared" over 100 life felonies: We're all really impressed. And, wow, you worked for a federal judge. Big frickin' deal. All of the truly accomplished people I know don't need to anonymously brag about how many cases they've tried or beat up on a young lawyer seeking advice to feel like men. I suggest you seek professional help, before you implode.

PS---if you recognize that you're the equivalent of a "Yankee" (which I somehow doubt) and the young lawyer a "5 year old tee-baller," why the hell are abusing him? What the hell is wrong with you? Can't hang with the big dogs? I don't see A-ROD abusing kids asking him for advice.

Anonymous said...

To 9:05. Please identify yourself so I can properly and personally respond to your attack.

Anonymous said...

Nice spin tannebaum, and the baby killer you defended until they found out you didn't have enough experience was just caught up in a little too much corporal punishment.

Anonymous said...

9:05 is right. they create their own blogs, go on court tv and other shows as much as possible, have long bios put on the blog. Just in the last week Black, Rubin and Laesar have literally posted their resumes. There was a time when black was on tv every week , and weintraub and a dozen others. get your facts right 905.

Anonymous said...

Say what you will about me, but its shameful that fellow lawyers, whether they be prosecutors or criminal defense lawyers, creep out on this blog under the cowardness of anonymity and say that other lawyers better watch it or "you too will be indicted."

Funny, there were co-defendant's in David's case, but only David gets hit here. Hmmmmm.

The jealousy, hate and spitefulness in the criminal bar, on both sides, in this town is pitiful.

Fortunately, many prosecutors, public defenders, and private attorneys rise above some of the pettiness that rears its ugly head here.

With my soul intact, good night.

Anonymous said...

I never even knew about this blog until I was told that some things were said about me on it and since then I check in on it. Unfortunately I have had to anonymously attack my attackers. It is indeed sad that the harder you work and more you mind your own business the more enemies you make. Young lawyers beware-don't worry about being good lawyers and your cases- hang out in the halls and cafeteria and build petty alliances to attack someone because they are professional. The blog is run by and its biggest proponents are approximately 20 attorneys and judges who delight in gossip and character assassination. If you want to have an idea who Rumpole is go to the au bon pain at about 8-845 a.m.It the table with all the cool guys, average age 50, and almost always one judge present getting his ass kissed. Absolutely pathetic.

Anonymous said...

9:29.....you obviously missed the point of my post. Roy and Abe didn't post their resumes or bragging about their accomplishments to impress anyone (let alone a young lawyer). They also didn't (and never would) attack a young lawyer seeking help. Anyone who would do that is PATHETIC. And, no, I'm not impressed.

Anonymous said...

Brian
STOP THE WHINING.

Anonymous said...

Hillary Clinton's Republican challenger is getting personal and it's not pretty: He says the senator used to be ugly - and speculates she got "millions of dollars" in plastic surgery.
"You ever see a picture of her back then? Whew," said John Spencer of Clinton's younger days.

"I don't know why Bill married her," he said of the Clintons, who celebrated their 31st anniversary this month.

Anonymous said...

I want to throw up when I read anything good about Ellis Rubin.

He only takes cases for the publicity. Once the press leaves, the PD gets the case.

Does he ever try a case?

If so, what has he won?

Anonymous said...

FAKE ELLIS RUBIN SAID: It is fitting to share to whoever posted the bio of me to remember that my ethics are so pure that I saved my own ass and let my kid get disbarred for something I did in a personal injury case.