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.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

XMAS SLOWDOWN

We're officially in the Christmas slow down. County Court will be virtually nonexistent for the next two weeks and we are in a pattern where Christmas and New Years fall on Wednesdays, essentially wiping out the rest of the weeks for each of the holiday. We once got a verdict on 12/31/1999, but that was a rarity. Very few cases are being tried and Judges who can get coverage are taking the week off. 

Did you know? That Judges have no set amount of vacation days? As an independent branch of Government, the legislature cannot set how many days they must work. Any time a judge can cajole a colleague into covering their calendar, they can take the day off. And as well all know, any day a judge cannot cajole a colleague into covering their calendar, they can still take the day off. (Perhaps our last shot at the judiciary for the year. Maybe.)

Rumpole Practice Tip #7: Where to set your depos. You don't want to set your depos at the SAO because then some pesky prosecutor will sit in on the depo. And BTW, if you read their own rules for setting depos at their office, they reserve the right to set the time limit for your depo. They have no statutory authority to do this, but the SAO makes it a condition of scheduling one of their offices. So off you march to the PDs office, where the lines are long, the tempers short, the waiting rooms full of clients with no money, and no help from this nightmare in sight. What do you do? 

Did you know that the court administrators office (Motto: The agency you can't find...for a reason") has set aside rooms in our own REGJB that you can call and schedule (for as long as you want) to take your depos in? 
It's easy, convenient, no check in windows, no hassle, no hustle, just a room with no view to take your depos. 

This is the 3rd tip in a series of ten that we will be releasing on how to make your life and the practice of law more fun and easy. Coming next: bathrooms, booze, bagels and broads. 

See you in court next year. 




11 comments:

Trust Fund Fellow said...

Every December my trust sends me a check with 35% of the net profits. The remainder is added to the principal. This way, I get money every month and it grows! What a great thing to have. Anyway, about to cash a 116K check. Merry Xmas! Now about those new Ferraris.......

Anonymous said...

The fact that the legislature cannot set a judge's vacation days brings up a parallel and little known corollary: a judge cannot order the clerk of court to do anything absent a legislative mandate. In civil court, court orders routinely contain language that the clerk is ordered to do so and so forthwith. Unless the clerk is made a party to the lawsuit, these orders are meaningless. A new retired judge once told me this and said if the State constitution were strictly enforced, the court system would bog down.

Anonymous said...

This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,--
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.

Rumpole said...

Richard II. Act I. One of my favourite speaches.

Anonymous said...

Wow, rump knows how to copy and paste something on google search

Rumpole said...

I can quote most of the shakespeare histories from memory. You my brain addled reader, don't even know what "the histories" are.

Anonymous said...

I want to hear about the broads. Especially, the sexy raven-haired 1Ls.

Anonymous said...

and my life sucks because I don't. boo hoo

Anonymous said...

Who won your suicide pool?

Anonymous said...

Done for the year. Sitting in my backyard, staring at Biscayne Bay and getting loaded. God bless America.

Anonymous said...

The depo rooms at REGB have a view. The ones at the SAO, don't.