TED MASTOS ON JACK AND MORE

 This is what this blog means to be.  What Ted Mastos wrote. It deserves its own post. We would invite him and others to write more about the Mosler trial. And we call upon CJ Sayfie to start an REGJB Hall Of Fame. It can start with a list of names on a board, prominently displayed, and then we can go from there. 

 Theodore Mastos said...

It would be hard to be any more eloquent than the folks who have already spoken. He was truly one of the remaining Gerstein gang members who witnessed Richard Gerstein and Gerald Kogan in the Mosler trial. He was a lawyer's lawyer in every sense of the word. Jack could always be found in the cafeteria with a cup of coffee and stories from the past with eager young lawyers gathering around just to hear some of the stories. As I have often stated, it is a shame that REG is such a cold and austere building with no sense of the history that has unfolded over the years. Jack belongs in the Hall of Fame of REG greats who have walked those corridors. Jack should not be forgotten. I will miss him.

SUPREME COURT DRAMA

 So how do you think the confirmation hearings are going so far? Not bad, not great, and a real window into a broken system. 

Do you think the Republicans would be muddling through this if she was nominated to replace Thomas and was a deciding vote flipping the Court? Or do you think there would be a level of histrionics about Judge Kentanji Brown Jackson that would be unlike anything we have ever seen? 

As it is, the Republicans are making her backtrack from her work as a federal PD and shaming her for defending people accused of crimes, as if they never heard of John Adams. The whole thing stinks. 

REGJB HALL OF FAME 

Lots of traction in posts about the great lawyers and stories of our little courthouse which is a stone's throw from the Miami River. We need to get a handle on it, and here is what we are going to do. We are going to create a few separate divisions. There will be a PD division, an ASA division, a Judicial Division, a private defense attorney division, and a staff division recognizing the great clerks, JAs, bailiffs, and corrections officers that make the trains run (somewhat) on time. 

Just like in sports where someone can make the HOF as either a player or a coach, a nominee can also make the HOF in the part of their career they distinguished themselves at. Some of the decisions may be difficult. For example, Roy Black made his mark at the REGJB mostly as an assistant Public Defender, who along with a core group of attorneys like the great Jack Denaro, changed the culture of the PDs office and the courthouse. And Roy did this before he ever gained any fame in private practice. Personally, we would place him in the REGJB HOF as an assistant public defender. 

On the other hand, great criminal defense attorneys like Ed O'Donnell Sr., and Jim Woodard, were really good ASAs but probably made their mark on the courthouse as criminal defense attorneys. Some ho-hum ASAs and PDs became great judges. So there is a lot to consider. 

In the coming weeks we will announce nominations for each division and people can vote.  

Until then, keep the war stories coming.