FEDS FOLD

In the poker game between the Feds and  the Corona Virus, the Virus is winning. The Virus kept betting and raising and re-raising and re-re-raising (what the professional players call three and four bets). The Feds folded this week, announcing that there will be no jury trials until 2021. Now, in the Rumpolian Lexicon, there will be a new story when a case gets set for trial and a client asks if we are sure the case will go? "Well let me tell you about this case a few years ago. Judge so&so set one of our cases for trial in the first week of April and issued a scathing order in which other than acts of God, no further continuances would be considered. Then Covid-19 shut the world down and ...." You get the idea. 

 Friday was the day the great Sy Gaer passed away in 2007. If you do not know who he is, we would almost be inclined to ban you from the blog. But instead you can go to the courthouse, and opposite the elevators on ...never mind you cannot do that either. 

 Sy was an REGJB original. One and only and there will never be another. He was as we say in the law "Sui Generis." He was bombastic; he was at times a caricature of a criminal defense attorney, but he was also very very good. And what many people do not know about him is that he had a heart of gold. He was there for lawyers- young and old- who had slipped and fallen- with a new case to help them get back on their feet, and encouragement and a few bucks if needed. 

It's hard to believe it has been thirteen years. The REGJB still does not seem the same without him and for many of us it never will. Here's the thing- a lawyer could have tried a case every week since the day Sy passed on and s/he would still not have tried 10% of the cases Sy tried in his career. 

There isn't a day that goes by that we do not miss him. Rest in peace old friend. You are missed. 

A CALL TO EYES

This is not a call to Arms but a call to Eyes. Specifically to save our eyes. We as lawyers do a lot of reading and writing. Judges, about whom we normally do not worry much, get a lot of motions. Some judges even read them. As we advance electronically, saving paper becomes less of an issue. Saving our eyes should become more of an issue.

In order to prove our point, this entire post is in the smaller text except for this sentence. 

Therefore, be it resolved...

That electronic filing is now required in both state and federal courts.
That Judges and lawyers read many documents in electronic format.
That the increase in font size from 12 to 14 results in much less stress on the eyes and makes reading all documents easier if not more enjoyable.
That whatever committee handles such matters  (Chairman: I now gavel to order the Florida  Standing Subcommittee on Fonts. The Chair recognizes the representative from Rainbow Springs, Florida...) should hold hearing if not readings.
That Florida should adopt a uniform requirement that all documents be in Times New Roman size 14 font.
That such an action is endorsed by the National Association of Optometrists.
That upon adopting size 14 Font as the uniform standard, the rules regarding lengths of briefs in state and federal courts and the length of motions in federal court (there is a local rule limiting the size of a motion to 20 pages- you didn't know that, did you? But we did) the length limits for documents should be adjusted to account for the larger font.

#saveoureyes
#lawyersarehumantoo