Judge Highsmith to retire at the end of the year

So we were one year off in our prediction.

John Pacenti covers the latest news here. We will have more on Judge Highsmith soon.

We also send our condolences to friend of blog, Dore Louis, for the passing of his father Paul Louis. Like Dore, Paul was quite a character and quite a lawyer. Here is the beautiful article from the Miami Herald. The intro:

He was a dogged attorney, whose representation of a young black man convicted of murder by an all white jury led to a landmark 1984 ruling by the Florida Supreme Court.
He kept a cane in his downtown Miami office, not because he needed it to walk. He swung it in the air or banged it on the table to make his point.
Even when his clients couldn't pay their legal bill, Paul A. Louis stuck by them.
''He wouldn't give up when he got into a case,'' said Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Paul Siegel, who worked with him in private practice for more than 25 years. ``The law firm might not get paid, but he kept on it.''
Louis, whose legal career spanned nearly six decades, died Saturday at age 85.
Only a battle with throat and liver cancer could sideline Louis. Even as his health deteriorated, he checked in on cases.
''Literally after his voice was gone he was mouthing the names of clients that the firm still had and asking about the status of the cases wanting to be kept up-to-date to offer yes or no opinions on how to proceed,'' said his son, Marshall Dore Louis. ``His loyalty was just tremendous.''

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.

Blog controversy

Last week we reported that Judge Highsmith was going to retire by the end of the year and that he was getting off the criminal wheel.

Today, Julie Kay in the Daily Business Review says we're wrong. "Rumors began that U.S. District Court Senior Judge Shelby Highsmith was retiring after it was reported on a legal blog run by Miami criminal defense lawyer David O. Markus. . . . But last Thursday, District Judge William Zloch said in an interview he spoke to Highsmith and the judge is only retiring from criminal cases -- as of March. . . . 'Rumors of his demise are greatly exaggerated,' Zloch said with a laugh. 'I just spoke to him and he is not going anywhere. As a senior judge he has the option of taking a lighter load.'"

Interesting. A couple points though --

First, I did not start the rumors. I was told by a number of people that Judge Highsmith himself announced his retirement in open court. Second, I got confirmation from people who would know. I note that Ms. Kay did not speak with Judge Highsmith himself (to be fair, neither did I).... Third, don't you think that the article should have mentioned the blog by name!?

In any event, I hope Julie Kay is right and that Judge Highsmith is not retiring.

Judge Shelby Highsmith to retire

Judge Shelby Highsmith has announced that he will be retiring at the end of the year (the original post said March, but we've been informed that it's actually the end of the year and Judge Highsmith will go off of the criminal wheel at the end of March). We'll miss him.

Judge Highsmith was admitted to the bar in 1958. He graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, after attending Georgia Military College and the University of Kansas. The Judge was the senior partner of Highsmith, Strauss, Glatzer & Deutsch, P.A., from 1975 - 1991 and before that served as a Circuit Judge in Dade County from 1970 - 1975. He served in the United States Army as Captain from 1949 - 1955. He was appointed to the federal bench in 1991 by Bush I, and he's been a Senior Judge since 2002.

We've always liked that Judge Highsmith looked at each particular person before him and tried to judge that person, as opposed to doing simple math to determine a guideline sentence. He also knew how to try a case, coming from a busy trial practice. Best wishes in retirement.