FREE PARKING IN MIAMI BEACH!!!!

If you know Rumpole (and nobody does) you know that nothing warms our heart like a good old fashioned prank.

Enter one Alfred Spellman, described by the HERALD
as a "professional filmmaker, amateur prankster".

Mr. Spellman allegedly opened a web site promoting free parking on Miami Beach this weekend, in which you could print out a receipt designed to fool the Miami Beach parking police.

Ha ha ha ha.

Now comes word that the city that brought you the 1968 Republican Presidential Convention, and is the butt of countless defense attorney jokes ("how many City of Miami Beach Officers does it take to throw a defendant down a flight of stairs? NONE. he fell.") has opened an economic crimes investigation against Mr. Spellman.

Why if we weren't anonymous, we would represent Mr. Spellman pro bono (Latin for: my client bounced the cheque again.)

While we would never counsel anyone to break the law, every now and then it's nice to "stick it to the man" in the words of Spellman's website.

Here's hoping Mr. Spellman makes it to court and is not found in some alleyway of Miami Beach beaten senseless with a bunch of unused parking meters.

Speaking of scams, another one is winding down as the law firm of Adorno & Yoss (motto: representing the public seven clients at a time) agreed to pay the City of Miami 1.6 million dollars which will be added to the 15.5 million that the City Of Miami has agreed to refund taxpayers in a class action lawsuit over the fire-fee case.

Adorno had agreed to represent the entire class at about the same time he and his pals at the City Attorneys Office were finalizing a seven million dollar settlement for seven clients, earning his firm a quick two million, and giving the rest of his clients (the tax payers of the City of Miami) bubkas (to use a technical legal term).

The Third DCA called it "a scheme to defraud." "More unethical and reprehensible behavior by attorneys against their own clients is difficult to imagine.'' The Court intoned.

Now comes word that as the Florida Bar continues its investigation of former Assistant State Attorney Hank Adorno, the embattled lawyer is quietly considering "The Spellman defense."

"It was a joke. A harmless prank. A way to 'stick it to the man'. No lawyer in his right mind would screw an entire city of clients to make a quick 2 million."

As Johnny Cochran might say "You can't disbar, if the prank didn't get very far."

See you in court, pondering how nice it would be to have 1.5 million in the operating account, even if we had to return it.