Lots of intrigue in the hallways of the stately REGJB. It might look like business as usual from the outside, but we can assure you from the inside there is lots going on.
First order of business is THE END OF THE ATTORNEY LINE.
Starting Friday June 1, 2012, after 8:30 am any attorney seeking to enter the REGJB who does not have a special ID card will have to wait in the general public line. Can you just see Albert Krieger, Roy Black and Mr. Markus at the end of a line stretching around the block as they arrive at 9:15 for a 9:30 sounding?
What is more likely to occur is that an attorney arriving with a staff member- investigator, assistant, secretary, intern, etc., at 9:15 will be faced with asking their assistant to wait in a hot, hour long line, if they want to enter the building and assist them. Seems to us that there needs to be a solution to this problem. The State Attorneys Office support staff/ employees seem to be able to skip the line. Defense attorneys need help too (sometimes, and never for us.)
COFFEE IS FOR CLOSERS
If you're under forty, if you've been practicing law for less than seven years, and if you think you're a good closer, then the UM Law School is hosting a "Legal Eagle Closing Competition." Click here for the details and if you enter and win and are a loyal blog reader, we promise you fame if not fortune.
THE EDWARDS JURY
Wednesday was day 8 of the deliberations in the trial of USA v. John Edwards. Amidst reports of strange behavior of some jurors, the judge met with attorneys in a closed door (no media) session on Wednesday.
HARD KNOCKS
Your home town favourite Miami Dolphins have been selected to appear on HBO's Hard Knocks series, which follows a team through training camp.
Summary:
Judges suing candidates; flesh eating zombies loose on the streets of Miami; attorneys waiting in stifling heat in lines that take hours to clear; no money for court appointments; just another summer in paradise.
See You In Court.
ok- where do I get the special ID card.... what was wrong with showing the guard a bar card?
ReplyDeleteA quick check of Mr. Justice's courtroom today yielded the following gems:
ReplyDeleteThe Beatles: "Let it be counsel";
Yogi Berra "Nobody goes there any more because that place is so crowded";
President Eisenhower's press Conference of January 13, 1954: "My function, as I see it, is to lay down for their consideration the things that I believe to be principle, and that is exactly what I tried to do there."
Jaws: "You're going to need a bigger boat" (To a FMP Officer);
Wendell Wilke: "A good catchword can obscure analysis for fifty years.";
Vladimir Nabokov: " Counsel, Existence is a series of footnotes to a vast, obscure, unfinished masterpiece.:
and finally this gem from Desiderius Erasmus: " Counsel, Human affairs are so obscure and various that nothing can be clearly known."
Pretty much a normal day in Miltville.
I have been hired to stand in line for Mr. Black. Given today's legal market, I feel extremely fortunate. I hope one day to work for Mr. Markus.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe respected attorneys will be asked to stand in line with their disgusting clients and their families. There was a time when being an attorney put you into a class of society that prevented contact with the masses. Not anymore. We are just a bunch of Joe Six Packs sweating in line with short order cooks and taxie drivers.
ReplyDeleteTop it off with the indignity of having to get a court ID card to avoid the sweaty festering public, and I'm ready to take down my shingle. I didn't pay for law school to be just a regular shnook.
I think Milt's quote of Edward Halle, who had this to say about the beheading of Thomas Cromwell in the Tower Of London on July 28, 1540, was perhaps his best quote of the week when recalling a closely contested case with Sy Gaer:
ReplyDelete"For in dead he was a man that in all his doings seemed not to favour any kind of Popery, nor could not abide the snoffyng pride of some prelates, which undoubtedly, whatsoever else was the cause of his death, did shorten his life and procured the end that he was brought unto."
Pete Wells may have given Le Bernardin four stars, but in my considered if not expert opinion, its only worth a solid three. Subpar bread, dessert plates that are more busy than tasty, and an eclectic wine list that goes from zero to a hundred with nothing in between leave this famous restaurant one star removed from its heyday.
ReplyDeleteSorry to disappoint you but sao support staff have to go through the lines.
ReplyDeleteI am all in with High Intensity Interval Training- 24 minutes of one minute intervals at high intensity followed by one minute of low intensity. On an exercise bike,
ReplyDeleteIt works!
I've had to wait many a minutes for my secretary to get through the line.
ReplyDeleteSo who are the good "closers" under 40 with less than 7 years experience?
ReplyDeleteRump - still have boston in 6?
ReplyDeleteRondo had 40+ points tonight and the Celtics still couldn't defeat the Heat. Still sticking with the Celtics in six Rumphole?
ReplyDeleteIn a room full of pompous people, Milt Hirsch would stand out as the most pompous. One is left to speculate and ponder as to what inadequacies he must possess in order to feel this neurotic need to inflate his self-image. But then there's a lot of this going round these days among our brethren.
ReplyDeleteSecret Judge: Tell us more!
ReplyDeleteIt is shameful that as Attorneys who purport to champion the Constitution and fight for the rights of clients, so mane have bowed their head like sheep to this asinine and demeaning procedure to enter a public building. As members of the Florida Bar we were all fully vetted, all of us have an FBI number assigned to our fingerprints as a result of our application process.
ReplyDeleteIn the words of William O. Douglas: “Since when have we Americans been expected to bow submissively to authority and speak with awe and reverence to those who represent us?” So how many will bow to this process, if you are stuck in line and the judges have an issue, let them deal with the system. What are they going to do impose sanctions because the system simply is over burden and they cannot find a legal solution? A modified quotation by Patrick Henry is appropriate, “Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted . . .? It is shaping up to be very interesting indeed. Wonder how many will bow and how many will stand on principal.
"You drove a Hyundai to work, i drove an 80K BMW."
ReplyDeleteWhat if you practice outside of Dade county and have the rare instance to go to the Gerstein building? Some respect we show outsiders!! Just imagine if Broward forced all Dade lawyers to wait in the long lines? Also, I sent my application and money (which is BS considering they force you to join facdl in order to get the stupid badge) over a month ago and still haven't got mine...........also, why the criminal background check? I guess being good enough for the Florida bar just doesn't cut it in Miami.....should get access with bar card and id.....
ReplyDeleteLet's go Heat! The Celtics may win one or if they are really lucky two but they will not win this series. Rump is wrong!
ReplyDeleteThese are the new leads. These are the Glengarry leads. And to you they're gold, and you don't get them. Why? Because to give them to you would be throwing them away.
ReplyDeleteAlec Baldwin's best performance ever.
Rumpole-please tell these retards that you don't have to be a member of facdl. They are simply facilitating the process.
ReplyDeleteWhat Fucking Cry Babies. You do not have to get the FACDL ID to by-pass security. Just wait in line and be screened, like the unwashed masses. Come early and get through security with plenty of time to get to court
ReplyDelete750............your legal analysis is flawed. We can enter the building just like everyone else OR get special treatment if we follow a specified procedure. The notion that the court's treatment of us raises constitutional issues is ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I'm concerned, we owe the court a debt of gratitude (along with the FACDL) for trying to work this out. It ain't perfect, but it's a good start.
BTDT
9 pm....then why do they make you send a check for $105 and a facdl application filled out in order to get a card?????
ReplyDeleteDo lawyers ever read anything ?
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting about our Closing Argument competition. Please visit our facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/events/373550536026080/ We would be honored if all of the excellent eligible criminal attorneys would participate.
ReplyDelete7:50, I suggest you read the cases on “forced association” before you challenge a legal analysis as flawed. The AOC will not issue any ID unless you go through the FCDL. There in lies the trap WATSON. Your own statement “[we] get special treatment if we follow a specified procedure,” is squarely what the “forced association” line of cases hold runs afoul of the Constitution. Simply, a government entity cannot condition a benefit on membership in an organization, particularly when such benefit discriminates against not similarly situated individuals, but legally identically situated individuals. I humbly suggest that the ID card “procedure” will not even come close to passing strict scrutiny or survive an equal protection analysis. The FCDL is a voluntary association. The Florida Bar is the only official entity with authority over our profession. As members in good standing we are all identically situated and have the right to practice and represent clients in any court in the State. The so called “special treatment if we follow a specified procedure” discriminates against, and has an adverse impact upon non FCDL members. For example, we are forced to arrive before 8:30 for a 10:00 hearing, because otherwise we stand in line, exposed to whatever weather conditions. That is an economic impact for one. Second, we arrive at 8:30 a.m. for a 9:00 a.m. hearing, we have to return to our car, we are now exposed to this morass. The scenarios are many and varied. To all that add the fact that there are those who have ID cards who have less than unblemished records, whether lawyers or court staff, which negates any argument regarding overall security of the building.
ReplyDeleteAs if that were not enough, no one bothered reading the proscription contained in section 119.071(5)(a), Florida Statutes, regarding collection of social security numbers. You would think someone would read and follow the law before launching a “special procedure.” For your reference, section 119.071(5)(a), Florida Statutes, provides that “any person who willfully and knowingly violates this paragraph, commits a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.” and “any public officer who violates this paragraph commits a noncriminal infraction, punishable by a fine not exceeding $500 per violation.”
So when do I get my check for $500?
ReplyDeleteDS
ReplyDeleteIs that what you really do, or do you take advantage of the use of your PD ID to get in the back through the ID door. Fess up.
750/809.........again, you don't have to join FACDL. How many times does this need to be said?
ReplyDeleteBTDT
You people are all whacked out over nothing! I received my application for a courthouse VIP pass the paperwork clearly states that it is a 30$ fee for the pass and a separate optional fee IF and only if you wish to join facdl. Bunch of hysterics over nothing
ReplyDeleteJason Grey
But why do I have to join the FACDL just to get the ID?
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's fair, and someone should do something about it.