Monday, March 30, 2009

Who wants to be a federal judge?

John Pacenti has the story in today's DBR:

Even before a call for official applications, some prominent names are swirling in the Miami legal community to replace U.S. District Judge Daniel T.K. Hurley, who took senior status.

Federal Public Defender Kathleen Williams and Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Robert Scola are expected to apply. Sources say three other Miami-Dade judges — Kevin Emas, Mary Barzee Flores and Darrin Gayles — also plan to throw their hats into the ring.

Flores spent more than a decade as an assistant public defender before taking the bench in 2003. Emas was on the short list for the Florida Supreme Court twice last year.

Attorneys Michael Hanzman, a name partner with Hanzman Gilbert in Coral Gables, and Judith Korchin, a Holland & Knight partner in Miami, also are expected to be in the mix when the Federal Judicial Nominating Commission seeks applications. A notice is expected any day.

So far, the lawyers who are said to be interested in applying are exclusively from the Miami area even though Hurley sits in West Palm Beach. The Southern District has recommended to the administrative office of the 11th U.S. Circuit that the new judge be assigned to Fort Lauderdale, according to the office of Chief U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno.


http://www.dailybusinessreview.com/news.html?news_id=54105


--David Oscar Markus
www.markuslaw.com
305-379-6667

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

From Abe Laeser
Shalom

I was sworn in as an Assistant State Attorney on May 2nd, 1973. It was the day after I had become a member of the Florida Bar. No other job ever seriously tempted me to leave. What I am can be found in the immortal words of Paul Simon, when he sang of the One Trick Pony: "He's just a one trick pony (that's all he is),
But he turns that trick with pride."

Prosecution has been by vocation, my avocation, and my true love for nearly 36 years. I leave this, my home, with the greatest of regret - even sorrow. As Thomas Carlyle once wrote, as if he were writing only for me: "Blessed is he who has found his work; let him ask no other blessedness." My friends, my colleagues, my compatriots in battles too numerous to mention -- all these will forever have a place in my heart.

Many have asked me about a most memorable moment. There have been many extremely similar moments that I have taken most to heart. I have had one single request - one that mercifully I have never had to carry out; yet it meant the world to me, because it spoke truth in its loudest possible voice. Fellow prosecutors, officers, defense attorneys, and even judges had made one request. The gist of it was: "If my family member should ever be murdered, could you personally prosecute the case?" This is perhaps the only legacy that will stay in my mind forever. It means too much for me to ever forget.

G-d bless you all with wisdom and courage in this special calling, as prosecutors.

SHALOM.

Anonymous said...

Ugh. Anyone who lists the "Who's Who" of anything on their bio should not be allowed near a federal courthouse, much less as a judge.

Anonymous said...

My comment is completely irrelevant, but Judge Gayles is ridiculously good looking.