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, October 28, 2026

BEST CANDY AND SCARY JUDGES

 First up is the never say die Tampa Rays who won a thriller in extra innings late Tuesday night and are still alive, Game five is next up Wednesday night, and if they win this one, our Rays in the series bet is still alive and pitching. 

This is the great Halloween year, when the day falls on Saturday. Perfect for parties we would never attend as a misanthropic blogger and longer hours for Trick and Treaters whose plaintive cries for candy we will not answer.  (We might leave out a bowl....we'll see). 

Our first question is what is your Favourite Halloween Candy?  Our Who is the Scariest Judge question is below. Don't miss it. 

Grumpy and old, we like old time favourites. 

M&M's- plain and peanut depending on our mood. Reese's Pieces and Peanut Butter Cups. A cold Nestles Crunch in the fridge. Ditto Kit Kats cold and snappy. Candy Corn when all the other candy is gone. 

Send us your picks and we will post them. 

Our fav Halloween movies? American Werewolf in London, followed by the Black and White Classics Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein  (with Bela Lugosi as Dracula!! who steals every scene he's in), followed by all the other Meets including Abbott and Costello Meet The Invisible Man...Meet The Mummy... Meet Dr. Jekyl & Mr. Hyde. 

They don't make movies like those anymore.  



If you want more Halloween stuff, with an REGJB slant, answer this: Who was/is  the scariest judge you appeared before? 

Now be nice here- don't attack anyone. What we are asking is which judge scared/scares  you? 

We will start. As a young lawyer County Court Judge Alfred Nesbitt (who was one of the first to wear coloured robes on the bench) made our knees a bit weak before we took a deep breath and walked into the courtroom. Ditto Judge Ellen Morphonious who called us, and most everyone Pal - even in front of the jury. 

And of course, 3rd DCA Judge Alan Schwartz, who was a giant on that bench and inspired terror in many a lawyer is on our list. Our first encounter with him ended with a brusque "Sit down. You Lost."  But we kept plugging on and when he would sit on the circuit bench in our REGJB we got to know him over coffee in the Pickle Barrell and became friends, and it was a friendship we valued. 

Remember- be nice- who scared you is the topic. Nasty comments will wither and die next to the bad Halloween candy like Sour Patch. 

Yuck


Tuesday, October 27, 2026

GOODBYE FOR NOW

 We will soon say goodbye for now to baseball. The Milwaukee Brewers will most likely sweep the North Florida Rays in the World Series (full disclosure we bet on the Rays to win the series ...😰) and then baseball as we know it will end for sometime. 

Why? You may ask. Glad you did. You've come to the right place. Let us put the current dispute between the owners and the players in terms even a county court DeSantis Drone could understand. 

It is as if the State (the Owners) are offering two consecutive 364 jail sentences on a first DUI and the defense (the Players) want a bind down to careless driving and a w/h and court costs and eleven years to pay,

Get it? 

The Owners want a salary cap. 

The players will not agree to a salary cap and want minimum salaries raised, and the rules on bringing a player up from the minors changed to a minimum of a week so players aren't shuttled between the majors and the minors daily, There's more to the dispute, but these are the big issues. 

What will happen next? 

The Brewers will win the world series, and then the Owners will lock-out the players. MLB has already produced new websites for each team with no players listed. Players will not be able to use their teams' facilities to train, and they will not be paid. 💸

This will not be settled this year. That's a Rumpole guarantee. 

This will not be settled in time for opening day 2027. Ditto. 

The question is which side will cave, and when? If there is a settlement then expect it around late May/early June 2027. If the dispute does not settle by then the 2027season may well be canceled.  Say it ain't so Joe.

Put Me In Coach, I'm Ready To Play...😬


Nothing good will come of this.  That's a Rumpole Guarantee. 

There's always You Tube. 

If you do not appreciate Vin Scully calling a World Series Game in October, please leave the blog and never return. You are not our kind of people. 

Here are three calls of the famous 1988 walk off home run:


DOWN GOES FRAZIER

 In the rarified world of Big Law, Weil, Gotshal & Manages used to be as big as it gets. 

Used to be. 

Not any longer. 

Today the WSJ reports that Weil has engaged the services of a bankruptcy partner at Davis Polk. 

Wow. Say it ain't so Joe. 

And you gotta believe once word got out, all of Weil's competitors went after the big Weil rainmakers like the soulless sharks they are. 🦈

In the history of Big Law, the failure of Weil is as shocking as George Forman's destruction of Joe Frazier. 



We want to apologize.* We had a great pick Sunday-Giants +10 over Texans, but we were out and about and could not post it in time. And that bad luck became good luck when we liked Philly over Dallas Monday night, and that didn't turn out like we expected.  So it all equaled out. 

On to the next week of football. 

Fun fact: Monday saw every major sport in action- baseball, football, hockey, and basketball- the internet was calling it the Sports Equinox. 


*Totally out of character for us. 

Sunday, October 25, 2026

WEEK 7 NFL 2026

 Bonjour and welcome to week 7 of the 2026 NFL season featuring a Paris matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and French Right Wing Rassemblent National leader Marie le Pen the New Orleans Saints. Steelers are three points favourites. But any betting in France is risky. Many had the French plus 3 over Germany in 1940 but the French didn't cover (they never do) as the Wehrmacht rolled through France like a Miami judge at a free buffet with an open bar. 

Your Miami Dolphis are back in action, which means another less, this time at Met Life Stadium in New Jersey against the Jets. Jets win, but could be closer than the 4.5 the Fins are getting. Oliie Gordon is +205 to score an any time TD and that is the play here as Gordon has been hitting on this bet ever since Achane went down and he became the starting RB

Only game we really love are the undefeated KC Chiefs getting 3 on the road Sunday night in Seattle. Take KC to keep the win streak rolling. 

If we see any line changes that interest us we will post them. 

Friday, October 23, 2026

BMO

Here's your Copenhagen update. The one you have been waiting for. 

Do you know what is all the rage in Copenhagen (Motto: "We're that city in Europe no one can ever really place...")  Bread and Cheese. Really. No not the DCJ lunch menu. Real bread and real cheese that people are flocking to bakeries for. It's called bolle med ost (bun with cheese) BMO for short, and costs about 45 Kroners (7 bucks), and is selling out of bakeries everywhere there. 



Pretty sure this is AI, but still brought a chuckle. 


Enjoy your Friday and weekend. 

Thursday, October 22, 2026

SCRAPPY

 We got a lot going on Thursday. 

First up- some truly shocking news. Steady yourself... This article reports on States not paying a lot for Public Defenders!!😲 Say it ain't so Joe. 

Next up, everyone's fav organization the Florida Bar (Motto: "Ruining lawyers' days with those letters since 1899..." ) had an employee who was sending racists messages to a UM Hurricane Football player.  



If the Bar had an employee who was violating the code of conduct, and as we all know lawyers are responsible for their employees, can we...wait for it...disbar the Bar? 

Kind of a catchy slogan. And nothing better than kicking a bully when they are down. The Bar is many thing, but not Scrappy (keep reading).  If we go after them, they will crumble like a cheap house of marked cards.  

And finally another week of profitable football picks kicks off Thursday night with Liberty at Kennesaw State. Everyone knows we cannot pass up a good Kennesaw State game, so we are taking The Owls +10 and the moneyline +350 (fun fact their mascot is called Scrappy the Owl).

Scrappy 

 
As for the other game, Bears -2.5 over the Cheaters, and under 50.5. 

Everyone likes the Brewers in the World Series. We like the Rays +150 (a bet of a 100 returns 150). Yes Miami, there is a World Series, No Miami, the Marlins aren't in it so you do not need to try and get game 7 tix. 

Monday, October 19, 2026

GET EVEN MONDAY

 Well Sunday was a blankety-blank show. Very little went well. We stayed away from the Rams game worried about a back-door cover, only to lose a while bunch of chicken wings on the Bills when the Raiders covered at the end of the game. Only a play we had on Bills WR Coleman catching a TD saved us. We even cashed out for a small profit on the Steelers/Tampa over only to see it hit and miss a big payoff when the Steelers scored a TD in OT. 

Sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you. 

On to MNF! Except we hate the 7.5 line SF over DC. 6.5 would be a whole lot better. Let's take the under 51.5 hoping that DC's offense fizzles.  We are taking a parlay of Purdy over 210 yards and Daniels over 220 yards- where 25 pays 60. 

Survivor Pool is up on Sunday's post.  Several of your favourite players fell with the Rams. 

Any legal news we should know about? 

Sunday, October 18, 2026

NFL WEEK SIX 2026

Welcome to Week Six in the NFL and our So Sad edition.  

Longtime and careful readers know we daily consume news from the NY Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and LeMonde. Thus, we sadly read the front-page news in LeMonde that over 40 cities in France have erupted in violent protests over the government's proposed austerity plans. Leading the way are students protesting the conditions in France's schools which they say are overcrowded, underfunded, with the infrastructure crumbling, including one sad fifteen-year old's account of being forced to sit in a hot classroom and being unable to open the windows. 😧 Si triste. 

We thankfully took a pass on college football betting Saturday (reviewing discovery -         Si triste as well) as five of the top seven teams LOST on Saturday, but not your UM Hurricanes who won in a double OT thriller over Florida State in their stadium in Broward County.  #'s 1 (Georgia), and 2 (Notre Dame- sorry Judge Moreno Si triste) lost, along with #'s 5 (Indiana), 6 (Bama), and 7 (Texas- to the Gators!). Does that mean Miami will be this week's #1? Whoo hoo! And if so, you can expert Miami fans to show up during the 4th quarter of the national championship game and root for their Canes, because that's what Miami front-running fans do when they are not waiting in line to try and get in Sunnys or Boia De so they can be seen.  Si triste.  

Enough with losing. Let's win some money. 

Our first pick comes via Mike Francesca and his great Podcast, especially his Francesca Five which comes out every Friday and where we got the idea to jump on the Georgia BullDogs  bandwagon week one. If you do not know who Mike Francesca is, why are you reading this? (Mike and the Mad Dog, 66, WFAN...) 

Mike loves the Bills -4.5 (who stayed on the West Coast this week after beating the Rams instead of flying home to Buffalo and then back to Vegas - and who wouldn't want to do that?) over the Raiders. He also really loves Raiders TE Brock Bowers over 6 in receptions and yards (70), postulating that Bowers will get a lot of 4th Q catches as the Raiders try and catch up. We are rolling with both. 

We like the Ravens -4.5 visiting Cleveland. Baltimore is more real than the Browns. 

Mike likes the Rams - 12.5 over Arizona. We don't like giving up that many points in the NFL because of the ever present back-door cover. Do with this what you wish, but be careful. 

And finally, Mike likes the Packers -1.5 at home over the hapless Cowpokes. Here's what we think. The NFL is a regression to the mean league. Usually there are 2-3 teams that really stink (like the Fins, Titans and Chargers this year) and the rest of the teams regress to the mean (which for our robed readers means a return to the average). Thus,, teams like Dallas, after stinking up the joint for two weeks will get a win, while teams like the Packers riding a two-game winning streak will drop a game at home that they should win. Let's see if our theory is right this week- hold your nose and bet on the Cowboys +1.5. 

Let's see if our picks don't leave you feeling Si Triste when all is said and done.  

Viva La France! 


If you haven't figured it out by now (or are a robed reader), Si Triste means So Sad in French)


 2026  REGJB SURVIVOR POOL

 

NAME

WEEK 1

WEEK 2

WEEK 3

WEEK 4

WEEK 5

WEEK 6

RUMPOLE

FINS WEEK 4 (VIKES)

CHARGERS

LOSS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CLAY KAEISER

FINS WEEK 1

SEATTLE

49ers

KC

Vikes

Jags

Rams  (ouch!)

DUSTIN TISCHLER

FINS WEEK 1

CHARGERS

LOSS

 

 

 

 

 

FAKE FREDDY MOLDOVAN

FINS WEEK NEVER- 0-17

LIONS

PACKERS

loss

 

 

 

 

FAKE ALEX MICHAELS FINS WEEK 9

JAGS

49ers

Vikes

Ravens

Falcons!

Steelers

IFTIKHAR MEMON

JAX

49ers

KC

Vikes

Broncos

Pats

JUAN GONZALEZ

FINS WEEK 1

JAX

49ers

KC

Vikes

Texans

DC

JASON IRELAND

FINS WEEK 6

JAX

49ers

KC

Vikes

Cincy

Rams (see ya)

LUCY LEW

FINS WEEK 6

LIONS

49ers

Eagles

 

 

 

MICHAEL FEILER

SEATTLE

TAMPA

LOSS

 

 

 

 

MIGUEL DE LA OVER

FINS WEEK 7

JAX

49ers

KC

Ravens

Bengals

Rams (tsk tsk tsk)

ND IRISH

FINS WEEK 1

STEELERS

TAMPA

LOSS

 

 

 

 

PETER SAUTTER

FINS WEEK 7

JAX

49ers

Bills (whew!)

Seattle

Texans

Rams (ouch)

PUBLIC PRETENDER

JAX

49ers

KC

Ravens

Cowboys

 

RICK FREEDMAN

FINS WEEK 12

JAX

49ers

KC

Vikes

Cowboys

 

JCKW

FINS WEEK 5

JETS

Panthers

KC

Vikes

PASS using Bye Week

Ravens