It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
To our friends and colleagues Manny Alvarez and Flora Seff, and to Robert Kuntz, who we do not know, but who ran a good and valiant campaign, these words are for you, that you may be comforted by knowing that your place is in the sun- and not with those "timid souls" that Teddy Roosevelt so masterfully scorned. You all shall rise again.
HR.
49 comments:
18 years ago, today, we woke to South Dade's destruction, it was Hurricane Andrew!
DS
Rump, Mccollum is classless, wont conceed the race, you should put on a wig and conceed it for him, look like a turtle, pucker your lips and explain how the Republican party is in shambles, that you just called Rick Scott to make nice, and that he doesn't taste so sour as you claimed.
Random fact: That was Richard Nixon's favorite quote.
Not really Rump. Flora shall not rise again. Nor shall Adrien. Thankfully.
Um, seff can rise all she wants just not as a judge.
Rump and followers on the blog,
I'd like to thank you all for your support and my convincing win over Judge Seff. In my previous 96 months of experience as a lawyer, I've never had a thrill like this. I look forward to finally getting a jury trial under my belt. I feel that the many trials I've seen on television and in the movies will help me immediately. I've also participated in several mock trials, although I was a juror. I look forward to passing along my knowlege to those lawyers with less experience, if any such lawyers exist. I must leave now as I need to buy a GPS unit for directions to the courthouse. Also, anyone got a copy of Earhardt's I can borrow? I hear it's a pretty good book.
THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
to 6:51 am ....
No. The Miami Herald has nothing in their paper, and they can't touch the coverage provided by The Captain and Rumpole's Justice Building Blog.
............
Actually David, Hurricane Andrew's eye made landfall in South Florida at 5:00 am on August 24, 1992.
Cap Out ....
Rick Scott taste sour, how would he know?
Ladies and Gentlemen...Hector the Inspector Lambada-
"Good Morning. The events of the last few hours have proven to be disappointing. However, let me say this:
We fought Newman in Hialeah, We fought him in Sweetwater, we fought him in Homestead and the Gables and Miami Beach and Aventura, and we shall NEVER SURRENDER.!!!"
next time, the CABA simply needs to run a latin female with a hyphen to defeat Neuman. Thats a sure winner in Miami-Dade, ask the arragant Flora about that.
Flora Seff is an excellent judge and cares for the people who come before her, not just convictions. Her detractors never have gone to South dade branch where she never failed to look out for the rights of the unrepresented, the migrant workers, the minorities who were bullied by some of the "regular" cops out there. She helped street people with mental health issues and routinely tossed out cases over the stunned objections of young pup ASAs-- I know nothing of the person who won her seat, but Flora is an excellent judge who cares about the people and community
To 8:16. It was his favorite quote to use when he wanted to put a spin on one of his many trips to the political wasteland only to be resurrected (think 1960,1962). He used it in his farewell speech when he resigned. The establishment was planting daisies on his political coffin then only to see him rise from the ashes and become somewhat of a respected elder statesmen as he pounded out book after book expounding upon his Machiavellian view of international intrigue. I am no Nixon admirer but he was no more honest or dishonest than those who preceded or succeeded him.
Is it that hard not be be an "asshole" when wearing the robe?!
Good riddance Peter Adrienne you fucking retard!
Mrs. Gordo and Mrs. Ruiz-Cohen were no brainers!!! While Mr. Kuntz was a qualified opponent, and a likely outstanding jurist, Mr. Peter [Macho] "Camacho" Adrien has no business being a lawyer, much less a judge. The legal professions is as much about appearance as it is about qualifications - they both send a message to the community about lawyers, which is why I am ecstatic Mr. Adrien, his dreads and his street-like approach to dispensing justice are things of the past.
With regards to Mrs. Seff, I'm in shock!!! What's wrong with these voters?!? How could an extremely qualified, accomplished, trial/courtroom saavy lawyer, lose to such a young opponent.
Lastly, with regards to Mr. Newman, as funny as he can be - in a legal hit-and-miss sort of way - it was time for him to go. Mr. alvarez is definitely more qualified. But, GO DOLPHINS!!!
Why are people dissing Gonzalez Paulson? She is no worse than some of the scholars on the county bench now. Flora was nasty and rude-it cost her. Learn from it and move on.
Actually - if you want to get down on this day in history- 35 years ago today the greatest Album in the history of rock and roll was release.
"It's a death trap, it's a suicide rap,
we better get out while we're young
cause baby we were BORN TO RUN."
Thank you Bruce.
Some lessons learned from yesterday:
you can win ethically, professionally and on principles;
you can win with small contributions;
and with or without the 'hypenated' name - you can win without CABA.
In response to 10:19 - not sure what courtroom you were in .. or how often you a appeared in South Dade (or elsewhere) ... definitely not the jurist or person you describe.
Not surprised that Seff not re-elected. I personally voted for her, but can easily see why others did not. Her demeanor (and her JA's for that matter) leave much to be desired. Rightly or wrongly, the way you treat people on the bench will ultimately be how you are perceived as a jurist. She should've known better. I'm sorry to see that Newman was reelected, as he has neither the temperament nor the knowledge needed to be a good judge. Sorry Rump, but I disagree with you on Newman. Manny deserved a chance on the bench. Hope he runs again.
Don't know Gonzalez-Paulson and she may not have enough experience, but I will tell you this: ANYONE IS BETTER THAN FLORA SEFF. She lost because she could not control her arrogance on the bench.
Flora Seff may have experience as a prosecutor, but she was absolutely horrible as a judge. She just didn't get it. Most judges know the protocol and know that attorneys will usually take the first continuance among other things, because the client did not finish paying. Seff just did not get it and had no respect for any attorney. She kept trying to ask stupid questions while the client is standing in the courtroom. The worst part of it is that she was the same way when she was at the State.
Seff, I don't even think the State would take you back.
It is pretty embarassing that Michelle Gonzalez Paulson, whom most of us don't know, won just because no one likes Seff.
That's a good Hector Lombana imitation 9:52 ........here is a better one from the Daily Business Review Online Edition re Newman's close and expensive win:
"Newman’s race against Assistant Public Defender Manny Alvarez was the closest of all, with the vote split 53 percent to 47 percent — could serve as a lesson on judicial temperament.......
“We sincerely hope that he has learned from this experience that humility and good temperament in a judge, along with competence, are the most revered of attributes,” said Coral Gables attorney Hector Lombana, who served as Alvarez’s treasurer.
Rump, as much as you despise Adrien, you really need to delete the comment by 12:17
Cap Out ...
Miami lawyers deserve Newman...a nice guy, hopefully Hialeah becomes its own county and Manny Alvarez will be first in line to be Juez del Circuito.
Pretty classless of you to only dedicate that to Alvarez, Kuntz, and Seff, and exclude Adrien
12:15 - It is if your definition of being an "asshole" is: "bend over and take whatever I tell you take." I understand your feelings when a judge is constantly rude, demeaning or condescending, but remember, the judge is in charge, not you.
Seff was horrible. Newman can be unbearable, not only because he is difficult, but because he is not actually smart enough to be a judge. Escharte is smart, but very rude. Scola (both of them), Emas, and Schwartz are just out and out arrogant. We put it up with it because they are smart and try to do the right thing.
They all can't be Schlesinger, Blake, Silverman and Thornton who seem to have it all.
Honestly I would rather have a good judge who may not be all that pleasant, but knows what he or she is doing over a nice judge who is dumber than a door nob.
Think about it.
Clean sweep-Dade and Broward.
Are there any legal jobs out there? Somebody please help me!
10:19 must be flora seff because no one other than flora seff believed she was a good judge much less care about migrant farmworkers or those unrepresented litigants of south dade. What most of us who regularlyappeared before her in south dade do remember was how arrogant, rude, and stuck up she was. I'm so happy voters who met you agreed with those of us who had to endure you for this long.
People keep speaking of trial experience as the end all be all criteria for being a judge, but what good is experience when you are going to be a down right bitch all the time. Wish her all the best and I hope she can go back to trying "important cases" and maybe gain a little humility
Guess the vote is in: better to have a pleasant dumbass on the bench, who understands that not being paid is good cause for a continuance,than to have someone who actually knows the law and has trial experience. What is this, civil court? If pleasantries and good manners were a pre-requisite (and I'm not saying they aren't) then let's be honest and unmask the other judges who shouldn't be on the bench, but whom I'm sure most of you have voted for because pandering is paramount in our incestuous little circle. Anyway, we all reap what we sow. Time will tell. Have a pleasant practice of law!!
I don't like Seff, but people, get over yourselves: she didn't lose because she was rude to a bunch of kounty kort defense hacks. The voting population could care less about that. She lost because GONZALEZ-Paulson ran against her.
Glad I gave my kid her mom's family Sirname as a midddle name, in case.
Ms. Hernandez Sisselman
DS
thank god CABA's stalking horse lost. whatever ed newman did on that fateful day, it alone doesnt merit being tatgeted because al milian and pertierra's client was a big shot. everyone always pays lip service to the whole treat everyone the same in the eyes of the law but when some bigshot lawyer doesnt get his ring kissed, evveryone goes nuts. If Newman treats everyone the same way regardless of race, class and being a hotshot lawyer good for him. i have never been before him but the general tenor is that he is tough on everyone and as long as he doesnt single someone out, i can hardly see why milian and freinds had to draw a bullseye on his back.
I dont care that Flora wasnt nice to some of the traffic hacks on this blog. give me a break. does anyone really seriously doubt that she is more qualified than ms hyphen who has never tried a case and been a lawyer for 6 years?
truly a shame because seeing her fate will discourage non-hispanics who want to be judges from even applying to JNC. they may say what is the point if all if have to look forward to is a challenge from some idiot who knows nothing but has the right surname.
blame it on the rain
Perhaps another lesson is, don't be used as pawn-ever.
Seff's Bailiff was mean too.
No- I think in this case I will keep the 12:17 comment up. Good riddance and he deserves no- none - none whatsoever - consideration.
He was warned. Over and over. By attorneys and judges. That he was rude and that he didn't know what he was doing. And over and over again he said he would run his courtroom his way.
I don't condone the comment- mostly because it's a crude word for mentally challenged individuals. But it's going to take a lot more than that before I lift one finger for that cretin.
Rump, keep in mind that while pointing the finger at someone, you are still pointing three back at yourself.
And for a plus please make sure your OWN HANDS are CLEAN before speaking so rudly. We all know very well that you are not loved by many!
your good friend M.
6:09 pm. if what you claime were true, Alvarez would have also won like Gonzalez-Paulson. So, it's not the surname.
So you insult the people of Crete? What did they do to deserve Adrien??
If you’ve never been in front of Seff in South Dade, I don’t believe you should assume she wasn't all that bad. Regardless of your occupation (she treated migrant workers like crap too) she was always rude, demeaning, arrogant and impatient. As anyone else with minimal common sense, I understand these endearing qualities can and should be tolerated if the Judge is smart. Well she’s not, period. She's rude, her staff is rude, and I was actually embarrassed by her legally baseless rulings. Needless to say I'm glad she's gone. Gonzalez-Paulson may have no experience, however I’m confident she will be better than Seff. Actually my blind 13 year old Sheppard would be better than Seff.
Did Gonzalez-Paulson win because of the hyphen? Probably. We all know most of the voters in Miami-Dade vote straight from their culo. However as a frequent in South Dade I can tell you any attorney, police officer or pro se litigant who appeared in her courtroom was somehow negatively effected by her - and thus couldn‘t wait to vote against her. And as I left South Dade on Tuesday the traffic clerk’s were practically falling over themselves to get out and vote for Gonzalez-Paulson. I guess she treated them as fairly as she treated those migrant workers.
I fucked up. I think I voted for Mike Mccallister instead of Bill McCollum. Do i have legal remedy? Or am i just a stupid Republican. Hehehehehehe.
I have seen many comments on this blog about Manny Alvarez being a CABA candidate.CABA does not endorse candidates,individual CABA members might ,but never the organization.
As a matter of fact there were CABA members and Ex Presidents on both sides of this particular election.
BTW Congratulations to Judge Ed Newman on a hard earned victory!
Hector J. Lombana
Regarding a Hypothetical Certain Judge: being in a big firm, I have heard comments over the years about his courtroom. I had never had a case assigned to him. About a year ago, a colleague asked me to cover a motion calendar hearing on an unopposed motion before Hypothetical Certain Judge (opposing counsel wouldn’t be there and told me to represent her agreement). So it was essentially walking through an order. The morning of the hearing, I asked a new associate if he’d like to come to court with me, not having any real courtroom experience himself and I would show him how to walk an order through, which is probably what his first real hearing would be like (no, we didn’t double-bill for it; I put it down as mentoring time).
So I showed the associate how to find our case on the docket and check in with the bailiff. We waited for our case to be called. The associate and I approached the bench, informed the court that we were submitting an agreed order on a motion and that opposing counsel consented to the entry. Hypothetical Certain Judge noted the docket didn’t have a lot of activity for the past few months (the case was less than a year old). I informed the court that the parties had been engaged in substantive settlement communications over the past few months and we were hoping to wrap the case up in about a month. The judge scowled, and speaking to me like I was a child told me that if he doesn’t see some record activity he’s going to call us all in. Just dripping with condescension is the best way to describe it. I told him that, respectfully, the parties didn’t want to engage in expensive discovery (or motion practice) while they were having fruitful, substantive settlement communications (it was a big money case). With a dismissive flick of his hand, he said, scowling “move this case along.” He entered the order.
On the elevator on the way down, the associate appeared disturbed at how we were treated. I explained to him that this was not the norm. The judge didn’t understand and maybe he was having a bad day. I explained that this will happen to him during his career and that should always take the high road, show the utmost respect and formality, and suck it up. We will encounter unprofessional conduct from the bench and Bar during our careers, and we will adhere to the professional standards that our firm is known for.
I was not going to vote Tuesday. Around 4pm I started thinking about the experience I just told you about. I called my significant other and arranged to meet at our polling station after work and left early. We voted for Hypothetical Certain Judge’s opponent.
the attorney not voting from a big law firm is what is wrong in our democracy.
Regarding a Hypothetical Certain Judge: being in a big firm, I have heard comments over the years about his courtroom. I had never had a case assigned to him. About a year ago, a colleague asked me to cover a motion calendar hearing on an unopposed motion before Hypothetical Certain Judge (opposing counsel wouldn’t be there and told me to represent her agreement). So it was essentially walking through an order. The morning of the hearing, I asked a new associate if he’d like to come to court with me, not having any real courtroom experience himself and I would show him how to walk an order through, which is probably what his first real hearing would be like (no, we didn’t double-bill for it; I put it down as mentoring time).
So I showed the associate how to find our case on the docket and check in with the bailiff. We waited for our case to be called. The associate and I approached the bench, informed the court that we were submitting an agreed order on a motion and that opposing counsel consented to the entry. Hypothetical Certain Judge noted the docket didn’t have a lot of activity for the past few months (the case was less than a year old). I informed the court that the parties had been engaged in substantive settlement communications over the past few months and we were hoping to wrap the case up in about a month. The judge scowled, and speaking to me like I was a child told me that if he doesn’t see some record activity he’s going to call us all in. Just dripping with condescension is the best way to describe it. I told him that, respectfully, the parties didn’t want to engage in expensive discovery (or motion practice) while they were having fruitful, substantive settlement communications (it was a big money case). With a dismissive flick of his hand, he said, scowling “move this case along.” He entered the order.
On the elevator on the way down, the associate appeared disturbed at how we were treated. I explained to him that this was not the norm. The judge didn’t understand and maybe he was having a bad day. I explained that this will happen to him during his career and that should always take the high road, show the utmost respect and formality, and suck it up. We will encounter unprofessional conduct from the bench and Bar during our careers, and we will adhere to the professional standards that our firm is known for.
I was not going to vote Tuesday. Around 4pm I started thinking about the experience I just told you about. I called my significant other and arranged to meet at our polling station after work and left early. We voted for Hypothetical Certain Judge’s opponent.
The bitching about Seff losing because she was up against a latin is simplistic and innaccurate. Ruiz got 70% of the same vote that Alvarez got 47% of, Gordo and Gonzalez recieved different %s in the 50s. Why did that happen? A couple of years ago Murphy and the despised Schwartzes won elections against well funded latins. Elections in Dade county are much more complicated than some of the bigots who comment on this blog believe.
this is EXCELLENT!
http://southfloridalawyers.blogspot.com/2010/08/michael-grieco-wants-you-to-take-his.html
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