People are looking closely at the appointment of Judge Francis, and they are not liking what they see. The first item we post is with FULL permission from the author who originally posted this on FACDL (so do not call Interpol to complain); the second item is a shorter but equally troubling comment on this blog. A successful candidate for the Florida Supreme Court who misspelled the name of the court on her application? Very troubling. Yes you read that right. In her application to be a Justice of the Suprme Court of Florida, Judge Francis misspelled Supreeeme Court. And yet the Governor, giving careful consideration to the legal scholarship of all candidates decided this less than ten year member of the Bar, with no trial experience, was the best and the brightest of those who applied. Hmmmmm……. maybe it was the hydroxychloroquine the governor was taking.*
Dear Colleagues, I urge the members to read Judge Francis's application (found by googling "Renata Francis Application") for the Supreme Court. It is sadly lacking in indicia of the kind of intellectual maturity, deep legal experience, or any of the other qualities which could make her due anything other than a kind letter of rejection, if it had been received by a JNC which was not so poisoned by partisanship and knee-jerk adherence to mere membership in an association (the Federalist Society) that it is wholly unable to recommend truly able lawyers to the high court.
Her writing samples are paeans to "textualism," and both turgid and prolix. (All are appellate opinions she wrote as a circuit judge and are undated.)
Her employment record shows a mere 9 months (at most) at Shutts & Bown, where she worked in PIP defense, at a low level. No other law firm experience.
She has absolutely no trial experience as an attorney, and her entire criminal experience was limited to serving as a bail judge.
The most impressive part of her 1st DCA clerkship was working for Judge Peter Webster, but she does not list him as a reference. (He was an adjunct at her law school --- the for-profit and low-rated Florida Coastal -- while she was a student there.)
And what kind of background investigation did they do on her: she has only lived in Florida for 12 years; prior to that, she had lived in a foreign country. Her application is dated December 24, 2019, her name went up to the governor shortly thereafter.
Her rocketing from a no-experience attorney through county court in Miami-Dade and then circuit in Palm Beach County is both unprecedented and puzzling.
It must be noted, too, that her present husband is reported as being a "consultant," no further information. (She reports a divorce in Jacksonville in 2009.)
Think back on former appointees: Gerald Kogan (decades as a trial lawyer), Fred Lewis (long time appellate lawyer), Peggy Quince (decades in AG's Office), Rosemary Barkett (long time trial lawyer), Raul Cantero (heavy appellate experience). And so on.
The lack of time as a lawyer is the most appalling part: less than 10 years in all! Can't even take the bench until September!
A sad day.
And this comment on the blog:
OMG, 2 misspellings in question 22 alone. Misspelled supreme court in question 51. She's also a carpetbagger. Moved to Florida to go to law school. 7 years as a law clerk, 8 months as a lawyer. ZERO trials! No publications. In one of her writing samples she misidentifies which parties the lawyers represent, writing that Abigail Price-Williams, THE County Attorney represents the petitioner against Miami-Dade County. This is a joke. She is supposed to replace Lagoa or Luck?! Come on, man!
*Yes we know we misspelled Supreme Court twice. We were trying to prove a point.