Wednesday, March 05, 2014

ABA's White Collar Conference

So the ABA's big White Collar Conference is back at the Eden Roc this Wednesday through Friday.  Over 1000 lawyers come to schmooze, get CLEs, and to go to the parties at night all along Miami Beach. 

One party of note is at the Blues Bar at the National Hotel at 9:30pm where there will be the annual Steve Chaykin toast.  This year, the name will be changed to the Chaykin/Sharpstein toast....

In substantive news, both AG Holder and the Republicans are trying to get serious about sentencing reform.  From the NY Times:

Shortly after Senator Rand Paul filed suit last month against the Obama administration to stop its electronic dragnet of American phone records, he sat down for lunch with Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in his private dining room at the Justice Department.
Mr. Paul, a Kentucky Republican, is one of the Obama administration’s most vocal critics. But their discussion focused on an issue on which they have found common cause: eliminating mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders.
The two men are unlikely allies. Their partnership unites the nation’s first African-American attorney general, who sees his legacy in a renewed focus on civil rights, and some of Congress’s most prominent libertarians, who have accused the Obama administration of trampling on personal freedom with drones, wiretaps, tracking devices and too much government.
While a range of judges, prosecutors and public defenders have for years raised concerns about disparities in punishment, it is this alliance that may make politically possible the most significant liberalization of sentencing laws since President Richard M. Nixon declared war on drugs.

12 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:09 AM

    Thanks for the note about the ABA conference. The agenda looks interesting:

    Two Bites at the Apple: Getting Both a 5K and a Rule 35

    Managing Your Time: When Can You Stop Going to Debriefings?

    How Much is Too Much: Letting the AUSA and the Judge Know You Were A Former Prosecutor

    The Eternal Question: Does the Rule 35 Come Off The Guideline or the 3553(a) Sentence?

    Hiding the Ball: How to Avoid the Lawyer of the Co-D Who Is Actually Going to Trial

    And

    Keynote Speech - The Slow Death of The Jury Trial: How Do We Finally Kill it?

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  2. Anonymous9:56 AM

    I also like

    An Existential Threat to Our Existence: No Not Global Warming, The Kaley Decision

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  3. Anonymous11:13 AM

    The art of crafting a Brady demand: How not to put your former colleague in a difficult position.

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  4. Anonymous11:16 AM

    @ 9:09 am - sheer brilliance. and 100 % spot on. What a clique of cooperation lawyers who dont know the first thing about trials, or care to learn.

    there's a whole new stable of plea ponies who recently left DOJ coming to Miami, as they start their careers as "defense" attorneys. Anxiously looking forward to learning how to bill millions on an internal and then serve up the company to open its checkbook to DOJ, touting their stale and useless status as "former" prosecutors.

    There are other segments I'd like to add to teh agenda, but I don't want to tinker with perfection.

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  5. Anonymous11:16 AM

    Bringing down the Hammer: The Eleventh gets serious about Hyde Fees.

    Once upon a time in rainbow land: Making friends, Jumping on the Bus, and Sounding credible...enough; good advice for your cooperator.

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  6. Anonymous2:00 PM

    9:09 I am still laughing.... great post. Btw, the current AUSAs must love when the former ones remind them that they were once AUSAs.....and that is not how "we" did things.

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  7. Anonymous2:03 PM

    "when i was a 'baby' prosecutor...."

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  8. Anonymous2:41 PM

    "Listen, I was a federal prosecutor for 7 years. There is NO WAY you can win this case. I don't even need to see the discovery to tell you that. And if we ask for discovery, your sentence may go up. The best thing you can do to help yourself and see your family quicker is to agree to cooperate and tell them everything you know. Since I was in that office, I might be able to get you 30 percent off your sentence. But we have to do this quick. My fee if 60,000. If you dont hire me its 2500 for the consult. The sooner you plead guilty the better it is. Now call me back at this number in an hour after you've thought about this. No, teh statute of limitations is not a defense. I know you claim this happened 7 years ago but my office can always get around the statute of limitations. That what we DO!"

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  9. Anonymous4:23 PM

    oh man, kaley made the worst law in YEARS!

    terrible decision for defense bar!

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  10. Anonymous8:03 PM

    Good luck landing a case at that

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  11. New guy in town alert- bush's (43) guy who had to look at saddam in the face and ask where all the WMDs were kept and keep a straight face, all the while saying "for the record" and keeping a straight face in English and Arabic, is our new FBI man in the district. I wouldn't brag about this bag job i had to pull for the stooges back in DC if i were him. I guess the Southern District will now have one or two fake WMDs in the pipeline.

    http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/03/05/3975341/g-man-who-questioned-saddam-hussein.html

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  12. http://alj.am/1lA2aml

    The Pussying of the Defense Bar- Career advice from a garbageman- pick your cases wisely defense bar- the Senate will one day make you eat them.

    Senate GOP lacks the moral rectitude to pass judgement on anyone.

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