Miami Herald cites SDFLA and SFLawyers!

Pretty cool. Meantime, I can't get the CHiPs theme song out of my head.

Over the weekend, Jay Weaver profiled Eric Bustillo, the SEC chief. It's a nice piece. Here's the intro:

A product of Jesuit schools in Latin America, Eric Bustillo entered Tulane University in fall 1981.
Within months, his bright future would take a dark turn: He and his friends were returning to the New Orleans campus one night when their car swerved to avoid another and slammed into a tree. Bustillo's spinal cord was severed, leaving him paralyzed.
Today, as he sits in a wheelchair in his corner office overlooking Biscayne Bay, Bustillo displays only optimism. A lawyer for more than 20 years, he is director of the Miami regional office of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in charge of protecting investors in a region riddled with fraud, from old-fashioned boiler rooms to newfangled Ponzi schemes.
``I could have wallowed in my misfortune, or worked hard, educated myself and not let it become an obstacle,'' said Bustillo, 45, born in New Jersey to Cuban exile parents who moved the family around to Venezuela, Panama and other countries.

I demand a retraction!

Today's DBR (John Pacenti) covers the Jonathan Goodman imminent appointment as magistrate judge (filling Judge Garber's seat). We previously broke the story here. From the article: "U.S. District Chief Judge Federico Moreno wouldn't confirm blog reports last week that judges in the district have picked the Miami lawyer."

The article goes on to discuss how Kathy Williams and Willy Ferrer are still waiting for their appointments (Kathy to the bench and Willy to U.S. Attorney). Ferrer, at least, has been nominated (and will likely be confirmed this week or next). Kathy's file is apparently on the President's desk. I'm not sure what Obama is waiting for. It's really outrageous.

Pacenti says that Michael Caruso is "the odd-on favorite" to take over the Federal Defender's job when Kathy finally gets nominated: "David O. Markus, a former federal prosecutor, said Caruso is the natural choice. ... Markus, who runs the Southern District of Florida blog, ..."

Well, at least the blog got mentioned...

We're Popular!

Joan Fleischman covers the Legal Services event in this Herald article, and the blog gets some ink!

Quince on Thursday at the Margulies Collection in Miami's Wynwood Arts District. Not a quince to celebrate a young lady's 15th birthday. This is about Chief Justice Peggy A. Quince -- pronounced ``kwince'' -- of the Florida Supreme Court. Quince, 62, is a guest speaker at a Legal Services of Greater Miami shindig.
The nonprofit provides legal assistance -- in civil cases such as foreclosures and IRS disputes -- for low-income folks in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. Last year, Legal Services helped 18,352 clients and recovered more than $1.3 million in disability, unemployment compensation and other government benefits as well as child support, says executive director Marcia Cypen.
The agency operates on a $7.4 million budget with 33 lawyers. Funding comes from sources including The Florida Bar Foundation, Dade Community Foundation, University of Miami's law school and other private donors.
***
Quince will share the podium with Michael Putney, WPLG-ABC 10's senior political reporter. Putney admires Cypen and the agency: ``They provide indispensable services to people who desperately need legal advice and help.''
The 285-plus expected guests include: former Florida Supreme Court Justices Kogan and Raoul Cantero; U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz; Third District Court of Appeal Judges Gerald Cope and Vance Salter; Miami-Dade Chief Judge Joel Brown and fellow jurists Maxine Cohen Lando, Jennifer Bailey, Flora Seff, Don Cohn, Myriam Lehr, Linda Singer Stein and Nushin Sayfie; Alex Acosta, dean of Florida International University's law school; Dean Robertson, senior corporate counsel for Vitas Healthcare Corp.; Derek Jackson, Florida Marlins VP and general counsel; and attorneys Marlon Hill, Gabrielle D'Alemberte, Tomas Gamba, Norman Moscowitz, H.T. Smith, Michael Moore and Leslie Lott, and David O. Markus, who writes the popular Southern District of Florida Blog.

The Stearns Weaver Miller law firm, Harke & Clasby and Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton are among donors that will be recognized.
Reception is from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse, 591 NW 27th St. (The 45,000-square-foot space showcases the private collection of arts patron Martin Z. Margulies. He has more than 800 works on display, and opens the facility to the public through April.)
The Legal Services event is open to the public, too -- tickets are $75.




In other news, Lewis Freeman will plead guilty today, and it won't be in front of Judge Ungaro, who recused. Judge Huck drew the case. Any thoughts as to what an appropriate sentence is in this case?

SDFLA turns 4

Four years ago on Fourth of July weekend I started this blog with no expectations and no idea if the blog would last a month, let alone four years. Since then, there have been 1,275 posts (there is a post almost every business day) and almost 500,000 hits (it took us a while, but the blog now averages around 600 hits a day). Here is our first month of posts, and our first one -- suggesting that former President Bush appoint a Floridian to the Supreme Court. I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Fourth of July and thank you all for stopping by over the past four years. I hope I can keep it going for another four. --David Markus

Thanks South Florida Lawyer!

Well, after a month of working around the clock, I'm back. It was almost impossible to blog during the trial, so thankfully South Florida Lawyer agreed to step in. He was fantastic and kept the blog alive. Thanks! You are welcome here anytime!

So let's get right back to it. The new courthouse is busy with lots of trials. (As for trying a case in the new courthouse, I thought the technology was great and the layout of the courtroom wasn't as bas as I thought it would be. I think the downsides of the courthouse so far are: 1) no cafeteria and 2) cramped security checkpoint to get in.)

The highest profile case is USA v. Helio Castroneves before Judge Graham. Jay Weaver had a Sunday report in the paper here:

Helio Castroneves was born with a car-racing gene.
He sped from go-karting to Formula Three to IndyCar, his big break coming in late 1999 when Penske Racing signed him. He won the Indy 500 two years straight and finished second in 2003 -- milestones for the celebrated race.
''He had the ability to do things that human beings can only dream of,'' his powerhouse lawyer, Roy Black, told a jury in Miami earlier this month. ``This has taken him to the heights of athletic stardom.''
Now the Brazilian driver's soaring career, fueled by the fame of also winning the reality TV show Dancing with the Stars, is at risk of crashing in the most unlikely place: a federal courtroom. Castroneves, 33, stands accused along with his sister and business manager, Katiucia Castroneves, and his Michigan sports lawyer, Alan R. Miller, of cheating the IRS.
In a seven-count indictment, Castroneves is charged with conspiring with them to evade paying taxes on more than $5 million from a Penske contract dating back a decade. Ironically, Castroneves, who owns a Coral Gables mansion decorated with his trophies, has yet to receive any of that income from Penske.
But that's the point of the U.S. government's case against the trio, because prosecutors say Castroneves should have already paid taxes on that income -- regardless of whether he has actually received it. The three defendants are accused of masterminding a tax dodge across two continents so that Castroneves wouldn't ever have to pay the IRS -- especially if he were to move to a tax haven such as Monaco for retirement.
How the 12-person jury will view the charges amid a crumbling economy remains to be seen. But for Castroneves -- a fun-loving guy known for leading cheers with racing fans -- the outcome could not be more serious.

Next up is the penalty phase in the case of the killing of the Escobedo family along Florida's Turnpike. Here's Vanessa Blum's article:

The prospect of history will hang over a West Palm Beach federal courtroom Monday as 12 jurors weigh whether two men should receive the death penalty for executing a family of four along Florida's Turnpike.The same jury found Daniel Troya and Ricardo Sanchez Jr. guilty on March 5 of armed carjacking resulting in the deaths of Luis Escobedo, 28; his wife, Yessica Guerrero Escobedo, 25; and their sons, Luis Julian, 4, and Luis Damian, 3.No federal defendant in Florida has been condemned to die since Congress reauthorized capital punishment in 1988. However, this case could be different because the deaths of young children tend to sway juries, attorneys said.

And of course, here's the obligatory Helio picture, with Julianne of course.

My new favorite reporter...

... is Tonya Alanez from the Sun-Sentinel (whom I've never met or spoken to) because she had this to say about our blog in this article about the Broward Blog controversy:

South Florida has two other court-oriented blogs.On the Southern District of Florida Blog, Miami-based attorney David Oscar Markus strikes an even-handed, statesman-like tone and tends toward observation rather than critique. The Justice Building Blog, authored by another Miami-based attorney who posts anonymously, cloaks its jabs with humor.

COOL!

UPDATE -- The Miami Herald also did a report on the Broward Blog (by Jennifer Lebovich) and mentioned us.

Rumpole on our case

Now even our friends are telling us to mind our own business....

Here's Rumpole's take on the Judge Highsmith story in italics and my response in bold:

Everyone's favourite federal blogger- David O Markus- whose blog can be viewed by clicking on the link on this page- got himself and his blog into a spot of hot water the other day, by publishing the well researched rumor that Federal Judge Highsmith was retiring.

I'm glad I'm Rumpole's "favourite federal blogger" and that he links to us. But is it really a "rumor" when the Judge himself announced it open court?

Julie Kay from the Daily Business Review jumped on the bandwagon and wrote an article and before you can say "contempt" Chief Judge Zloch was issuing denials. Actually, everyone apparently had a good laugh about the whole episode,
and the mere fact Mr. Markus was seen sweeping the floor of Judge Zloch's courtroom the other day had nothing to do with Mr. Markus's ill advised venture into the land of rumor and innuendo. Leave that stuff to us we say.

Judge Zloch's floors weren't dirty at all, so it wasn't a big deal... Fine Rumpole, you are the gossip king (queen?) so we'll leave this stuff to you in the future.

As Muhammad Ali used to say- "Your hands can't hit what your eyes can't see" and last we checked there was no known address for US Marshalls to appear at to take us into custody. Mr. Markus writes a great blog. But we think he is better off writing about the legislative histories of Federal Statutes and cheering on Judge Cooke in the Padilla case. In either event, it was nice to see that Rumpole isn't the only Florida legal blogger who needs counsel every now and then.

If we actually did need counsel, we'd hire Rumpole. What's the hourly rate these days?

More blog news

The Judge Highsmith story (controversy?) has made national blog news here at Above The Law, the fun and witty legal tabloid blog.

We had the pleasure of meeting the blog's author, David Lat, during his stay in Miami. He's a very engaging guy. It's no wonder his blogs have been so popular.