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.

Thursday, January 28, 2021

AN REGJB LEGEND REVISITED

 We were perusing the older blog posts, and a favourite one, which we should update is the "what ever happened to?" blog post (click the link to see it- the comments are great). 

We will run a new one, so please email us or post who you want us to inquire about. However no legend will beat out this one, which is a top REGJB story retold by retired Judge Lenny Glick who saw it all. 

The Legend in question is one Mr. Frank Joyce "esq" a distinguished alumnus of the Miami Dade SAO, and former Chief Of County Court:  Judge Glick will take it from here:

Frank Joyce.?.?.?...........

1973, I am an in my second year at the State Attorneys Office assigned to the Magistrate Division,(Six County Court Judges, 2 ASA'S and 2 APD'S per Court doing the equivalent of adversary preliminary hearings...all day, every day of the work week). 

In comes a"newbie" assigned to me to be trained and then work in the division. Bar none the fastest learner, did a great job and was on his way up the ladder. After Magistrate Court he was promoted to Chief of County Court. Only trouble is they found out he was not a lawyer. Went to one semester of law school and that was it.
He was outed by a disgruntled Fish and Wildlife officer who went to the Fla. Bar and wanted to file a complaint. The Bar said Frank who????. The rest is history. Believe it or not he was never prosecuted for Unauthorized Practice of Law.
Whereabouts unknown
TRY THE SURGICAL UNIT AT J.M.H.
......Paging Dr. Joyce......

Rumpole says there is actually a M*A*S*H episode with a similar story line about a surgeon assigned to the unit who was top-notch except that he was not a doctor.  REGJB truth is stranger than fiction. 

7 comments:

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...


The Captain Reports:

COVID-19 ADVISORY #65

SELF-MONITORING NOTICE

An individual who worked in the location and on the date listed below has tested positive for COVID-19.

Persons identified as having been in close proximity to the confirmed individual are being notified and will be asked to take all necessary precautions.

Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building, 1351 NW 12 St.:
Courtroom 5-3 on Jan. 22, 2021

Last date worked at the Gerstein Building: Jan. 22, 2021


Persons who were in these locations recently should follow self-monitoring steps for the next 14 days as outlined in the Centers for Disease Control website at:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/public-health-recommendations.html

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...

Rumpole. In fact, the Florida Supreme Court did investigate the charge of Unauthorized Practice of Law. They issued an opinion on July 17, 1974 that can be found here:

https://casetext.com/case/the-florida-bar-v-joyce

Captain Justice
Captain4Justice@gmail.com

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...

The Captain Reports:

Read the defense put forth by Joyce. Very novel. The Court didn’t buy what he was selling:

It is the judgment of this Court that Respondent, Frank M. Joyce, be, and he is found in contempt of this Court for having illegally engaged in the unauthorized practice of law. It is ordered that he be, and is hereby, permanently enjoined from the unauthorized practice of law in Florida. It is further ordered that as a penalty for his engaging in the unauthorized practice of law as found herein, he is fined the sum of $1,000 and also directed to pay the costs of these proceedings in the amount of $359.70.

It is so ordered.

ADKINS, C.J., and ROBERTS, ERVIN, DEKLE and OVERTON, JJ., concur.

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...


Season 1, Episode 18 is the Mash episode you are probably thinking about.

Anonymous said...

It happened again in the 80’s. I forget the name of the alleged ASA. He went to law school but failed the bar exam. Unfortunately he told the office that he had passed it. Nobody checked as it was pre-Internet days. He practiced as a fake ASA until exposed by a defense attorney unhappy with the pseudo ASA who did their due diligence and had called the bar. Does anyone remember his name?

Anonymous said...

Greg Lattimore?

Anonymous said...

That’s it! Thank you!