A long time ago in a galaxy far far away there was a scandal in Miami over court appointments and payments and lawyers bills. Most prosecutors and PDs now in practice were in diapers, or not even a twinkle in their parent's eyes. There was no Starbucks outside of Seattle. We beeped each other from payphones, and sideburns were cool.
The scandal back then unfolded like this. There was no "Wheel". Yes it was so long ago the wheel had not yet been invented. To get a court appointment, a lawyer would grovel in chambers with a Judge, or seeing a Judge at a party, press two dozen business cards into his or her hands. The Judge could appoint a lawyer as many times as they wanted. Judicial campaign contributions didn't hurt a lawyer's cause. Some judges just appointed the same two or three attorneys over and over again. It was a living. (Not for us).
The problem that arose back then is the same as the current one reported Tuesday in El Herald Here. The lawyers' bills did not hold up under scrutiny. Certain former judges were known, when their bills in various cases were matched up, to bill over 30 hours in a day- Einstein's theory of the relativity of time not withstanding.
And then there was the old multiple case windfall scam and it went like this. A defendant was charged with robbing six convenience stores and was charged with six separate robberies. We all know how those cases are resolved- a global plea to two years and five years probation back then, especially if the defendant had a drug problem. And in those days, rather than itemizing a bill, the lawyer could bill a set amount. So lets say the amount was $5,000 (we do not remember the exact billing levels but it was done by degree of crime.). Close out six cases at 5K each and make a cool $30,000 back when that bought you more than a weekend in NYC. 30K was some real scratch.
Outrage erupted. We do not remember anyone being criminally charged. The investigation was an outgrowth of the infamous Court Broom investigation (where janitorial firms were charging the county excessive amounts to buy brooms to sweep the courthouse in the evenings. Not really, but if you do not know what Court Broom was, please stop reading our blog. There is space in Mr. Markus's universe for you).
The wheel was created, and judicial campaign contributions plummeted. Defense attorneys did not need to be nice to judges who we really didn't like because now they did not control how much money we made.
Life moved on and some twenty to twenty five years later we have another potential scandal. Well, this is how we view that- the Godfather answers all questions. These things happen from time to time and then it blows over. (If anyone can send us the exact scene on You Tube where Clemenza says that we would be much obliged).
Do not get too exercised about this. There are very very good lawyers who have excellent reputations and we owe them the fairness of letting this play out before we rush to judgement or call Georgia for Biden.
18 comments:
Dis is bullsheeeeet.
Deese are great lawyers and deeese judges are dee worst and I vould represent all deese defendants and I vould bill more and dey would pay me because I work harder den all deese proseeecutors and I tink dis is bulsheeeet and I vill also defend deeese lawyers. Plus I do not like deese Judge Tuneees.
Boy do I remember that system. Judges just went out of their way to appoint people that would not go to trial so the judge could go home early. Former judge Manny Crespo, a really nice guy almost got arrested for Grandtheft. He was billing more than 24 hours in a day.
Keep in mind under the old system, the county had to pay the attorneys fees. Now you know why former assistant county attorney Jason Bloch Is so disliked by me and many others. He used to complain about everything.
Now with the new system and independent committee decides who is competent to handle different levels of cases. Nobody’s making any real money anymore except those doing death penalty cases. Those folks can bill over and over and over but, now the death penalty is hard to get so there’s not many of those cases to hand out.
Hmmmm.
Rumpole, your wish is granted. Clemenza explains to Michael:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_5IZ3CZ248
I was not in diapers and I remember Court Broom well. There were many people charged. Harvey Shenberg. Roy Gelber. Arthur Luongo. Phil Davis. Many others implicated. One lawyer was caught billing $800 an hour on some cases. It was a huge scandal. Look up the old Miami Herald articles. Long time ago.
These bottom feeders must go.
The ability of judges to select which attorneys were appointed was not all about corruption. There was an occasional humorous side to it, as well. When I was doing my tour of duty in juvenile court as a young ASA, I was assigned to the courtroom of Judge Seymour Gelber. We had a case come up in which the Public Defender had filed a conflict. Judge Gelber, in open court, was preparing to appoint a private attorney to represent the juvenile (no Regional Counsel back then). He went into a drawer on the bench, pulled out a stack of attorney business cards that were secured by a rubber band and began going through them. He stopped and said, "This is a serious case. He needs a real lawyer." He then put the stack of business cards back in the drawer and pulled out a second stack of business cards from which he selected the attorney to represent the juvenile.
They old system was rampant with fraud. The reason the overbilling lawyers were not charged is first, "everyone did it," not a legal excuse but it was an accepted practice, and two, each one of these bills was, in theory, reviewed by an auditor from the county and then paid. "Hey, if you are going to indict me, name the county as a co-defendant." I also remember that the appointing judges had to sign off on it but I am not 100% sure of this. The result was correct: no indictments but a new system that took out the bill padding and patronage.
The quote in this article that the attorney works from 330 am to 1030 pm is about all I need to hear to know that the billing is BS.
It's hard to put your kids through college on a Judge's salary
The attorney in the article should be arrested for fraud. Gives all the honest attorneys a bad name. He is also a grumpy old jerk in my personal opinion and not a very good defense lawyer
Anyone who knows this attorney knows he is the nicest guy in the world. Not a grumpy jerk. This must be a comment from the judge who heated him up.
Have some respect for your elders rumpole. Think about how this will make the lawyer feel before you allow such comments. And think how the comments could hurt him. You brag about how popular u are. He is presumed innocent. Did you forget that principle ? Egomaniac. Especially for a great guy why would u not give him a single benefit of the doubt. Especially given that he works as he’s as anyone.
What a f..ked up time we live in with social media. Enjoy it!
I have allowed comment WITHOUT allowing the name to be posted so as to protect the attorney's on line reputation as this plays out. Read the post. Read the comments. You don't think 50 people wrote about "harry schdmiplad" and about the case? I think I have done a good job walking the line here but I am open to suggestions. Email me.
I grew up in the justice building and know and like the lawyers who try death cases. There is no type of case that is more difficult to handle in my opinion. The jac pays about 120 dollars an an hour to defend these cases. This is about the same $ made as a personal trainer. Judge Tunis is a nasty lady and wanted to take the lawyer in question down and have him arrested and ruined. What a looser she is. Every self respecting criminal lawyer should stand behind the lawyer who has been unfairly attacked and hurt. I for one will lend my services to help him.
The Herald article about Barahona shows that the "wheel" is not working well. Take a look at the application to get on it, and be aware that the committee deciding who will be on the wheel consists of people who have been on it since the wheel's initiation. And also note that no one on that committee is a Board-certified Criminal Trial or Criminal Appellate lawyer.
Also note that Barahona should have gone to trial years ago, long before covid closed the courts.
And Judge Tunis was correct.
Judge Tunis was correct about what? To write an order which could possibly lead to a former colleagues disbarment. I agree that the committee is an utter disgrace as well. Gene Zenobi included.
"Every self respecting criminal lawyer should stand behind the lawyer who has been unfairly attacked and hurt. I for one will lend my services to help him."
If it were always up to criminal lawyers to decide the propriety of other criminal lawyers' conduct, then criminal lawyers would never be held accountable or punished for anything. The best way to protect themselves and their colleagues is to make sure no rules apply to them. So long as no lawyers ever get punished at all, there's no risk of the decent upstanding lawyers ever being punished unjustly.
"Judge Tunis was correct about what? To write an order which could possibly lead to a former colleagues disbarment."
If that "former colleague" is milking the public gravy train by claiming to work 96-hour days, is it some heartbreaking tragedy for him to get disbarred? Maybe he'll claim he has dementia and so that's why he has to review the same document 10 times over.
"Think about how this will make the lawyer feel before you allow such comments. And think how the comments could hurt him. You brag about how popular u are. He is presumed innocent. Did you forget that principle ? Egomaniac. Especially for a great guy why would u not give him a single benefit of the doubt. Especially given that he works as he’s as anyone."
Sure, blame that newfangled "social media" and the impudent whippersnappers whenever some sagging relic who's quietly grown fat on the public dole gets some unfavorable modern scrutiny. Presumption of innocence applies to legal punishment imposed by the state, not to public scorn or opprobrium resulting from publishing accurate information. If this attorney has some credible explanation for his apparent file-churning, let him say it. If he wants to hide behind "no comment" or the Fifth Amendment, that is his legal right. But that doesn't mean all the public are obliged to presume him pure as the driven snow while he hides behind legal silence.
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