AI Gone Wild

 By John R. Byrne

Artificial intelligence is changing the world everyday. Sometimes not for the better. A few weeks back we featured an order from Judge Matthewman sanctioning a lawyer for citing a hallucinated case. That attorney's conduct was child's play compared to the fact pattern Judge Leibowitz just confronted. A preview for you--when the lawyer at issue received an order to show cause about the use of AI-fabricated case citations, he filed a response complete with fabricated AI case quotations. Suffice it to say, things did not end well for said attorney. 

Check out the order below. 

DE 42_Order re AI by John Byrne on Scribd

RIP Roy Black

This one really hurts.

He was 80.  And he really was the GOAT of criminal defense lawyers.  There are so many of us that want to be Roy in the courtroom -- commanding, persuasive, funny.  

The hardest working.

The most determined.

And always so positive about winning.

I was lucky enough to try a 6 week trial with him out of town when I was a young lawyer.  I learned so much.  And he often helped me brainstorm my cases and trials after that.  

He is survived by his wife Lea, their son RJ, and his daughter Nora. And his law partners at Black Srebnick, including Howard Srebnick, Scott Kornspan, Maria Neyra, Jackie Perczek, Mark Shapiro, and Jared Lopez.

If you want to hear from the master, here he is on my podcast talking about his win in the Luis Alvarez case.

And I can't think of a greater tribute you can give him than listening to some of his courtroom performances:

Best of luck to Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman

 By DOM and John Byrne

His retirement party was Friday.  We will miss Judge Goodman's wit and humor on the bench.  Here's a picture with his clerks and CRDs from the party:

 A big loss for our bench. It was always a joy to be in his courtroom. He was sharp, funny, efficient, and, yes, for a while I hear he had a puppet though, sadly, I missed that era. Going into a hearing with him, you just knew he was going to get it right (which, depending on who you represented, was sometimes good and sometimes bad).

Trump Sues Wall Street Journal

 By John R. Byrne

President Trump has sued the Wall Street Journal over its Epstein reporting. He's represented again by Alejandro Brito, who recently repped Trump in his successful defamation lawsuit against George Stephanopoulos and ABC. Case hasn't been assigned yet. Complaint is below.

Once again, the SDFLA takes center stage...

Trump Complaint by John Byrne on Scribd

Brain drain at the SDFLA U.S. Attorney's Office?

 Jay Weaver covers the recent firings (Michael Thakur, Brooke Watson, and Anne McNamara) and departures from the U.S. Attorney's office here:

In 2023, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland honored Miami federal prosecutor Brooke C. Watson with a prestigious award recognizing her “exceptional dedication” to prosecuting a ring that used fake identities to commit about $50 million in COVID-19 loan fraud. Last year, Watson received another Justice Department award for “exceptional service” disrupting a ransomware group that threatened to steal hundreds of millions of dollars from computer networks worldwide. But on Friday, Garland’s successor, Pam Bondi, fired Watson in a terse email to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami — providing no reason, according to multiple sources familiar with her termination.

***

Since Trump started his second term, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has undergone a “brain drain,” losing not only Thakur and Watson to firings but also many other veteran prosecutors to retirement or career opportunities. Among them: Joan Silverstein, Bob Senior, Dan Bernstein, Kiran Bhat, Tom Watts-Fitzgerald, Jonathan Stratton, Tony Gonzalez, Ignacio Vazquez, Lisa Rubio, Dexter Lee, Jeff Kaplan and Paul Schwartz.

RIP Bob Josefsberg

Very sad news report today -- Miami legal legend Robert Josefsberg has passed away at 86.

 

Bob was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York and received his B.A. degree from Dartmouth College in 1959. He graduated from the Yale Law School in 1962, and was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1962.

Here's some more of his bio, which does not do justice to the impact he had on this community: 

Bob is one of Dade County′s premiere trial lawyers. He has been listed annually since 1987 in the Best Lawyers in America in two categories–Business Litigation and Criminal Law since 2003 and from 2003 he has been listed in Chambers and Partners as one of the top four commercial litigators in Florida. In 2006 he was listed #1 trial lawyer in Florida by Super Lawyers. He has received the Dade County Bar David Dyer Professionalism Award, the Bnai Brith Professionalism Award, the Florida Defense Lawyers Rodney Thaxton “Against All Odds”award, the American Bar Association Senior Section Pro Bono Award , the Florida Bar Tobias Simon Pro Bono Service Award in (2009-2010) and the Florida Bar Foundation’s Medal of Honor Award in 2013.

In 2012, he was awarded the Florida Bar Criminal Law Section’s Selig I. Goldin Memorial Award, the Greater Miami Jewish Federation Theodore “Ted” Klein Special Recognition Award, named as one of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers by the National Trial Lawyers organization, inducted to the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame and named a Public Justice Trial Lawyer of the Year finalist for outstanding contributions to the public interest through his work in the Checking Account Overdraft Class Action litigation.

Bob was a gentle giant.  He will be missed. 

News & Notes

 1.  The SDFLA will be hosting the following program with Chief Judge Altonaga, Judge Seitz, and Joel Motley:

A Conversation with Legal Pioneers

Jul 23, 2025, 3:30 PM – 5:00 PM

Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr. U.S. Courthouse, 400 N Miami Ave, Miami, FL 33128, USA

A short film on the life of Judge Constance Baker Motley will be shown, followed by a panel discussion. RSVP: FLSD_PROGRAM@FLSD.USCOURTS.GOV by JULY 18, 2025

  

2.  A group of retired federal judges, including our own Ursula Ungaro, have banded together to fight for, among other things, judicial independence and judicial security.  From Barrons:

 Five years ago this month, an assailant posing as a deliveryman came to the New Jersey home of Federal Judge Esther Salas and shot and killed her son, Daniel Anderl (it happened to be his 20th birthday) and wounded her husband. The primary suspect was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound a day later. A self-described anti-feminist, he had appeared before Salas and written disparagingly about her.
As if that wasn’t horrific enough, the murderous attack has become something of a touchstone to those apparently opposed to judicial authority. Since then, including this year, dozens of judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries,some with the recipient named “Daniel Anderl” as a signal that these judges are being scrutinized and their whereabouts known.
Now a bipartisan group of 40-plus retired federal judges has formed an organization aimed at addressing what they see as an increasingly fraught legal environment. Called the Article III Coalition, the group is named after the section of the U.S. Constitution which establishes the judicial branch of the federal government—including the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals, and U.S. district courts.
The coalition has judges appointed by Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W.Bush, and George W. Bush, as well as Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama, and is looking to fortify the federal court system by emphasizing the importance of the Constitution, the rule of law, the role of the judiciary and its independence, and the separation of powers.

 3.    Rumpole is asking for our help regarding a colleague, Greg Gonzalez:

Many of you know that Greg Gonzalez has battled a deadly brain tumor for the past several years. We have now sadly learned that he has entered hospice care and a go fund me account has been set up for him to receive palliative care at home.  We urge you to donate. 

 https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-gregs-palliative-care-journey?modal=share&source=fundraiser+sticky+footer

Greg was a fixture at the REGJB for decades. He truly was a person who always had a smile on his face. He was the first person to volunteer to help someone - a lawyer or a client.  He was instrumental in supporting the creation of the Veterans Court because Greg served our country as Airborne.  Like his military service, he was often first in on a difficult case or when a lawyer asked for help. 

We cannot think of a better person who deserves an outpouring of love and respect for the life he has lived. If you can, please send something. Let him know that we all support him, as he has supported us with his military service and friendship.  

 

 

New podcast episode dropped -- Arthur Aidala for Harvey Weinstein

 

FOR THE DEFENSE, BONUS EPISODE:
Arthur Aidala for Harvey Weinstein

For the Defense is back with a bonus episode, and I think you're going to really like this one.  I sit down with Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, for a fascinating look at how the defense strategy evolved from Weinstein’s first trial to his retrial. Arthur is one of the most charismatic and colorful defense lawyers in the country. From cross-examining a complaining witness about faking an orgasm to weaving a story about glass in his mother’s pasta sauce, Arthur brings his signature flair to the courtroom—and to this conversation.

As always, you can catch this and other episodes on the web or on every podcast platform, including Apple and Spotify. I've also put the raw video on YouTube so you can watch if that's what you prefer.  Please subscribe to the YouTube channel here. (At the bottom of this post is a short clip of Arthur recounting a portion of his closing).

I'll have some other episodes coming soon.  In the meantime, I would really appreciate it if you could take a second and leave a review and spread the word about the podcast.

Finally, If you have a friend that would like to receive these updates, please have them sign up here.

Thank you! --David

Hosted by David Oscar Markus and produced by rakontur