UPDATE THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL
For transparency purposes, our selection in the contest for an extra bye in the Survivor Pool is the total of 51.
Our pick is the Chiefs -4.
Before we begin our post, it is not too late to join our world famous REGJB Survivor Pool by sending an email to Fbpool12@gmail.com and if you want a shot at a second bye, pick the total in the Chiefs/Lions game tonight.
If you want to dance you have to pay the band
If you want to play you have to pay the man.
Rocky Balboa, Rocky I.
FLORIDA SUPREME COURT CHANGES RULE ON ATTORNEY
SUSPENSION FOR FELONY ARRESTS
It used to be that lawyers arrested for possession of undersized grouper or aggravated stalking on their boyfriend/ spouse would hire Rumpole, we would quickly dispose of the matter and they would continue their practice bruised but still in the game. Lawyers did not get suspended upon arrest.
That has changed.
Now the Florida Supreme Court has amended the rule to allow an emergency suspension upon arrest.
Cue Dragnet music- dum da dum dum.
Not that for one blessed moment would we ever think the State of Florida would charge successful attorney to get her suspended and removed from a case. To do that, you would have to have a Governor that suspends State Attorneys for political reasons- and that never happens, right?
3RD DCA CONFIDENTIAL INFORMANT DECISION
By rule the 3rd DCA must rule in favor of the a defendant once every six months. The current decision, which appellate super lawyer Daniel Tibbitt alerted us to, is a good read for those of you with a case involving a CI.
Tyquane Williams Ci by Anonymous PbHV4H on Scribd
This is the same fucking assholes on the FSC that want new lawyers on probation for one year just because they got caught drinking in the high school parking lot. Hey FSC justices, he who is without sin cast the first stone.
ReplyDeleteJust makes plain that no one will address the root issue. Law schools.
ReplyDeleteThere are ELEVEN florida law schools that are accredited. Perhaps a baker's dozen if you count the unaccredited ones.
Each year nearly 4000 JD-holders take the Florida Bar.
Do you think the FL legal market has had space for 12,000 new attorneys just since the pandemic?
Of course not. More than half of these JD recipients will never work as lawyers, in Florida or anywhere. Of those that do, most will work insurance defense or something similar for 40k a year. And a great many will start quoting your potential clients $1000 for a second degree felony.
And this is not to knock them. They just got through paying some law school 100k for the JD, a debt they cannot discharge, declare bankruptcy on, and will be paying for the rest of their lives. If they default, well their loans are underwritten by the Fed Gov, so the law school has already been paid and we get to pick up the debt as taxpayers.
What is the purpose of the ABA? It was, presumably, to gatekeep - both for the well-being of the profession as well as for the well-being of prospective law students who really have no business taking on that debt for a career that won't materialize.
But the lure of universities making millions and millions off law students is too much, and the ABA and Florida Bar are worthless.
Now we have a state adding 4000 new lawyers every year, legal representation degraded beyond measure, a sprint to the bottom, and half-assed solutions like "maybe we should suspend the ones that get caught with a bag of coke".
The only solution is to disaccredit all but one or two law schools in FL. Forbid any other graduates from sitting for the bar. Make the bar exam harder. And hold law schools financially liable for debts incurred by students who do not pass the test.
Rumpole, a slight correction. The lawyer has to have been indicted or charged by information for this suspension to occur, but it's a distinction w/o any real difference, as it paints a huge target on all lawyers' backs. Anyone who has been outspoken in any way is clearly in real jeopardy. Hmmm, sure looks like crushing dissent, no? Should we be comforted in comparing this type of action to the Nazis' suppression? Perhaps by noting that the rule is not just threatening Jews this time? E
ReplyDeleteBut the blog seems to be more interested in betting on football, so never mind.
1027's "only solution" is over the top, but his point is spot on. Florida has way too many law schools, way too many new lawyers every year, and the economics of both law school and the practice of law for tens of thousands of lawyers is broken.
ReplyDeleteTake for example St. Thomas Law School - about a third of their graduates don't find full time jobs as lawyers. Another third are employed at tiny law firms making salaries that won't cover their student loan payments. https://www.stu.edu/law/careers/employment-reports/
Sure, some of their grads aren't in it for the money. Those people, presumably, went to work for for the SA or PD's offices. And a hand full of their grads go on to have big-time jobs or turn into major rain makers. But most (and a big most at that), end up no better off than if they wouldn't have gone to law school; except now they have major student loan debt.
Florida probably only has room for 4 or 5 law schools, and even then, the class sizes should be smaller. FIU has earned its place. UF and FSU are the legacy big campus public schools. UM and Stetson get a pass as the private schools for those that can't get into the much more affordable state schools. Even then, maybe Stetson should get the boot too.
Dear 10:27,
ReplyDeleteYou need to spend some time with Jerold S. Auerbach. I would commend his book on law schools, Unequal Justice: Lawyers and Social Change in Modern America. You can get a used copy for under ten bucks.
Also, could you or 5:10 provide a citation to the situation you described. It does seem like a year of probation pales in comparison to what the Florida Supreme Court is about to do to women. (Or should we use the new word for the female gender, "vessels?")
Auerback's book is here: https://www.amazon.com/Unequal-Justice-Lawyers-Social-America/dp/0195021703
If you haven't seen it, you should check out the Bar results stats released by the Bar on Monday. 2,163 test takers. 1,548 passed the Bar.
ReplyDeleteSchools like St. Thomas, who had a 59.8% bar passage rate and who charges $48k a year, are selling their students a bill of goods. And St. Thomas wasn't the worst - it's just the biggest of the bad.
Some schools that should be ashamed of themselves, if not sued by some creative plaintiff are:
Florida A&M : 41.7%
Cooley: 50%
Barry: 57.6%
The big winner, and by far best value for dollar in the state, was FIU with 91.1% bar passage rate. The runner up was UF with 83.4%.