Monday, March 14, 2016

ZENOBI 2 FOR RC3

Gene Zenobi was re-appointed by Governor Scott over the weekend for a second four year term as head of the Regional Counsel's office for Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. 

Zenobi took an oft-ridiculed and mostly irrelevant State agency 
(see our posts here and here  and especially here for a Gene Zenobi quote that his predecessor ran the office like "a police state." )
and turned it into a quality organization providing superb representation for criminal defendants at trial, on appeal, and on post conviction relief motions for which we recently learned RC3 has original jurisdiction for indigent defendants.  The office also fills many loopholes in legal representation, providing attorneys in dependency and delinquency courts, and for elderly clients in probate court. 

Zenobi, the Jedi-Knight of Jury Selection, has provided stability to an agency that was previously rocked by instability at the top. Experienced lawyers like Jack Blumenfeld, Alan Greenstein, Kellie Peterson, Phil Reizenstein,  and Silvia Gonzalez compliment a bevy of top-notch ex-pds and ASAs. 

Congratulations to Mr. Zenobi on a well earned chance to finish what he started. And unlike his counterparts at the SAO and PDs office, you might well have a chance to tell Mr. Zenobi in person, as he makes it a regular habit to appear in court in support of his attorneys. 

Here is what former Attorney General had to say when Gene Zenobi was applying for the job at the time time the agency was riddled with dysfunction:


According to Ovalle, JNC member Bob Butterworth had to this to say about the employee Mr. George fired:
As the interview concluded, committee member Bob Butterworth, former Florida Attorney General, praised Zenobi.
“If governor selects you, I believe you can change the agency,” Butterworth said. “You are able to attract people of the very highest quality who would like to get back into public service.”

The above quote came from our "police state" post, a link to which is posted in this post. Go see it post-haste. 

Give Bobby B credit for his prognostication abilities as Gene Zenobi has done just what the former AG said he would do. 

See you in court. 

12 comments:

  1. Claude Erskine - BrowneMonday, March 14, 2016 6:10:00 AM

    Gene is a really top notch lawyer and a really great administrator. Congrats

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  2. Wow, you REALLY hate the PDO/Carlos Martinez, don't you Phil. Nice endorsement of yourself there too.

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  3. All of those have failed in private practice. How can they live on $85,000 or less a year?

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  4. How about a report on the Nathan Diamond Steven Rosen civil court fight?

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  5. It's hard to find anyone who doesn't like Geno.

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  6. Great news. Gene has done a great job. Anybody hear from Joe George?

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  7. THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

    to 3:58 PM.

    Funny you should mention that 3:58, as I drafted a post on Sunday on that story. I am hoping that it will run on Tuesday; (it may have run today but it is Rumpole's BLOG and Gene Zenobi's appointment was timely for a post today). Congrats to Gene.

    And other than that, all I have to say is:

    "I don’t have time for this punk ass little thuggery stuff". You just gotta love Sarah Palin. Just when you thought there was nothing crazier that could come out of her mouth that she hadn't already said.

    Cap Out .....
    Captain4Justice@gmail.com

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  8. Zenobi is top notch without a doubt.

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  9. I don't see how this attacks the PDs office. All it says it that Gene has done a great job building RC3.

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  10. Actually the Captain's post on Diamond v. Rosen will be up Wednesday.

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  11. Carlos wouldn't know how to find the courthouse. He couldn't take being a C in Ramirez so transferred to Drug Court. Carlos only tried 5 Felony Trials

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  12. In all fairness to Carlos, he has never professed to be a trial lawyer or an excellent litigator. If you talk to him, he will admit this much. He sees himself as an administrator and advocate in the political arena for his office and the clients it represents. Why we all love Geno so much is because he is one of us. He is a street guy. He is a guy who was in the pits. He is a guy who got put in the box for zealously representing his client some 40 years ago. He was in private practice and made a shit ton of money in the heyday of the 80s without loosing his humanity. He has a down to earth persona. He hires good lawyers who can manage themselves and don't need micromanaging to get the job done. He trusts his lieutenants to make the proper judgement call. Because of that, the people who work for him will go to bat for him. He doesn't motivate with fear. He motivates by leading from the front lines. Very happy for Geno and RC3. Mostly, I am happy for the indigent clients who will continue to get zealous representation from a group of highly qualified and motivated lawyers.

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