Summary

Lots of news the last few days...

-- New Federal Judges being vetted (Thornton & Rosenbaum)
-- Huge sentences for Medicare fraudsters
-- Judge Jordan's confirmation hearing was today
-- Hung jury after a long mortgage fraud trial (happy for Michael Walsh after how the case began for him)
-- Padilla case decided 2-1

Here's a little more:

-- Pacenti reports on a case in which Nevin Shapiro testified but the defense was not made aware of the pending investigation against him;

-- The NY Times covers the question of whether jurors should be required to sign a pledge under penalties of perjury that they won't search the internet about the case while sitting as jurors, while the NY Post asks whether a prosecutor can work as a dominatrix.

-- I know the feds like to keep lawyers at the podium, but this may be a bit too far -- a judge has given authority to marshals to in their discretion SHOCK a lawyer representing himself if he strays from the podium. An anklet has been installed that will administer the shock. Seriously.

Back to work...

...on a soggy Tuesday.

Hope everyone had a nice weekend. Some quick hits to start your week:

1. Rumpole is talking about the new drivers license cases.

2. SFL doesn't like the Herald's Kindle edition. But he does like the Kindle, as do I. I use it more for books than newspapers. My wife has the Ipad and as I'll take the Kindle for reading a book any day.

3. The Supreme Court is hearing lots of ineffective assistance of counsel claims. Martha Coyle has an interesting piece on the "revolution" that has started on these cases.

4. Teachers are protected from bottle rocket injuries to students.

5. Tony Mauro is discussing all the summary dispositions at the High Court this Term.

6. And for those keeping score (on a nice chart), David Frederick argued the most cases before the Supremes this Term.

I will check back soon with more.

Superbowl Monday

Great game; great weekend for Miami. Now what peeps? Who's in trial? What's going on?

Here are a couple of items:

1. Justice Thomas is making the rounds. Here he is speaking at UF Law. Thomas gave a big shout out to a Florida lawyer in his talk. He'll be here in April.

2. Who should Obama nominate for the S.Ct. pick? Let the debate begin.

3. What about the other judges though?

4. More on Alito vs. Obama here.

We're second...

... to Rhode Island?!!

I demand a recount.

Well, we're trying to be first, with 41 arrests today. Here's the Herald coverage of all the mortgage fraud stuff going on.

So, will UBS settle? Trial is "looming" Monday. Judge Gold will have one last status conference this Friday.

BLT has a number of interesting posts, including this one on 11th Circuit nominee Beverly Martin. Looks like she will be confirmed...

Effective closing or a lemon in the Representative Jefferson case? We'll find out shortly. Here's the BLT coverage:

Lemons have an odd way of sprouting in the legal lexicon. Lemon laws protect car buyers. The Lemon test helps govern the separation of church and state. And today, lawyers for ex-Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) introduced what might be called "the lemon defense."
In closing arguments this afternoon in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Washington defense attorney Robert Trout told the jury that the FBI had targeted Jefferson in a sting operation, in which the bureau tried to catch him paying bribe money to the vice president of Nigeria. But when the money turned up in Jefferson’s freezer instead of the vice president’s house, Trout said, investigators realized they had "a lemon of a case."
"They decided they wanted to make lemonade out of lemons," the Trout Cacheris name partner continued on. “And before you can do that, you’ve got to squeeze a lot of lemons. And so they squeezed some lemons."
The "lemons" squeezed by the FBI, Trout said, were the witnesses who would eventually testify that they bribed Jefferson to use his congressional connections to set up business deals in Africa.

Quick Hits

Sorry about the slow blogging this week. It's summer and I'm swamped... What up with that?

Okay, to the news:

1. General Noriega has filed a cert petition.
2. Paris Hilton starts trial tomorrow in front of Judge Moreno. Steven Binhak and Michael Weinstein represent her.
3. UBS trial next week.
4. Federal JNC interviews for judge and U.S. atty coming up.
5. Palm Beach is moving firearms cases to federal court. (The State Attorney there says it's because the min-mans in federal court are higher than in state court. But there is no min-man for being a felon in possession of a firearm in the federal system.)
6. More on SexyLexus and White & Case.
7. There's lots of mortgage fraud.
8. Boeis tops Wells.
9. AUSA Scott Ray is leaving the office. Going away party next Thurday at Tobacco Road. Good luck to Scott.
10. The Marshals are busy.

To Blackberry...

...or not to Blackberry; that is the question.

Other questions of the today:

1) Isn't it time for someone to figure out who Rumpole is? (I think he's given us a hint with this picture -- it's taken from Datran, no?)

2) Is the government dropping the UBS suit?

3) How many more Medicare arrests will there be?

4) Can law firms withhold pay for not billing enough hours?

5) Why aren't all of us taking longer vacations?

6) How bad is the food at the SuperMax?

7) Over the top ad? Or just good fun?

8) Should Madoff get 12 years?

9) If you got these tattoos, you would lie too, wouldn't you?

It was the catfish with black pepper...

... that made me crash into the ditch on the way to court for a murder trial. I really wasn't drunk. I swear. Sorry Your Honor.

My other weekend reading included:

Poor Bernie.

In other UM news, Roy Firestone inspired the Marlins. (Or maybe it was Jim Leyritz who depressed the Yanks).

Maybe Bernie should get some help from this law student, who won $650K in a poker tourney.

This other lawyer wasn't so lucky.

Nor was Judge Kent, who was impeached.

This defendant didn't need to pay the jury to win, despite the juror's best efforts.

The Supreme Court is wrapping up. Here are the outstanding opinions, courtesy of ScotusBlog.

Okay, I'm out. Happy Father's Day ....

Oh, one last thing -- Thanks to the tipster who pointed out that the JNC updated the list of applicants to include Circuit Judge Peter Adrien for District Court Judge. Did they mistakenly leave him off the original list? Or did his application get in late? Or what happened here? Weird.

What up SDFLA?

It was a nice weekend, no? The weather was fantastic. It was cooler here than in New York this weekend.

Plus, the Heat won. Jermaine O'Neal is showing why we traded for him.


The Dolphins had a nice draft. We addressed our needs and got some big upside with our first couple of picks.

Too bad the Marlins are in a funk after starting the year 11-1... Getting swept back-to-back is ugly.

So what's on tap this week? We may get a verdict in the Liberty City 6 case. Any other trials starting up? Give me a shout and let me know what's going on...

Interesting news in DC -- the prosecutors in the Ted Stevens case have hired lawyers, to be paid for by DOJ. Here's the BLT story on it. Those lawyers can get $200/hour, not to exceed 120 hours a month. Chump change for most of the biglaw former AUSAs being hired...

That's your Sunday night ramble.

Only in South Florida...

1. Law firm handling "Chinese dry wall" cases has that same problem in their office. (Palm Beach Post)

2. "Lauderdale Lakes woman stole ID to pay for tummy tuck, feds say." (Sun-Sentinel)

3. Mutual Benefits sealed documents to remain under seal. (Sun-Sentinel)

Monday news and notes

Ahhhh, Monday morning after a holiday weekend. So much fun. Here's what's happening:

1. Pharmed sentencing today. (via Sun-Sentinel & Herald) Here are the letters in support of leniency, the government's sentencing memo, and the defense sentencing memo. Quick summary: government says the guidelines are appropriate; defense says they are too high.

2. The Chief Justice released his year end report. Quick summary: judges need more money.

3. More on Ben Kuehne. (via DBR). Quick summary: the case against him sucks.

4. Medicare fugitives. (via Herald). Quick summary: every now and then, people flee as they did in this case.

Friday news and notes

1. Ellen Podger's wish list for Obama and the next AG on white collar criminal issues.

2. Julie Kay covers Ben Kuehne's fundraiser.

3. Vanessa Blum is all over the federal courts.

4. Jay Weaver is on top of medicare fraud.

5. Lanier Anderson is taking senior status in January. Who is going to take his slot?

6. Justice Scalia is sorry for being mean and wrong.

News and Notes

1. Congrats to my friend, Jonathan Kasen, on his victory today in federal court before Judge Ungaro in his first federal trial.

2. Justice Building to 1000 posts.

3. Interesting post here about probation and PSI's. Isn't it time that someone filed a motion about the probation office practicing law without a license?

4. Go see the Dark Knight. Loved it.

5. Vanessa Blum is all over the federal courts.

6. Above the Law Idol, trying to find a new David Lat. Good luck with that.

7. No more Scabulous on Facebook. How depressing.

8. Cocaine Cowboys II came out. My copy just arrived in the mail. Can't wait to watch it.

News & Notes

1. "Former Miami-Dade teacher gets 7 years for enslaving Haitian girl" via the Sun-Sentinel. From the intro of Vanessa Blum's article:
A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced a South Florida woman to seven years and three months in prison for keeping a teenage girl from Haiti in servitude for six years.Maude Paulin, 52, a former Miami-Dade County middle school teacher, was convicted in March along with her mother, Evelyn Theodore, of conspiring to enslave the girl, forcing her to work and harboring an illegal immigrant.Before being sentenced, Paulin apologized to U.S. District Judge Jose Gonzalez Jr., saying she had good intentions when she arranged to bring Simone Celestin from Haiti to live with her family."I love Simone with all my heart," Paulin said. "Unfortunately, I can't change what is already done."

2. "26 charged in migrant smuggling crackdown" via the Miami Herald. Jay Weaver reports:
Federal prosecutors on Tuesday charged 26 South Florida suspects with conspiring to smuggle Cuban migrants in yet another major crackdown on illegal crossings of the Florida Straits.
In the latest 12 indictments, the defendants are accused of trying to bring 225 migrants to South Florida.
Prosecutors also charged two other suspects, Yamil Gonzalez-Rodriguez, 34, and Roberto Boffil-Rivera, 35, with alien smuggling, unlawful possession of a firearm and lying to a federal agent.
After the five Cuban migrants reached U.S. shores on April 21, Rodriguez demanded $25,000 payment, prosecutors said.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and Miami-Dade police detectives recorded two meetings between one migrant and Rodriguez, investigators said. On May 1, he paid Rodriguez $2,000. Six days later, he paid him an additional $3,000.
But Rodriguez was unsatisfied and threatened to shoot the migrant, police said. Rodriguez and Rivera were later arrested. Investigators found a loaded KAHR PM-40 firearm in one of the suspect's cars and pictures of Rivera holding the weapon.

3. Rumpole reports on trying to navigate state court:
We recently received an email from a prominent federal defense attorney who noted his/her travails on a recent Monday morning outing to our humble building. There was no place to park and after a half an hour of circling they parked in the median on a grass strip several blocks away.They got to the courtroom only to be told the prosecutor they had a meeting with had decided not to show up for work that day.A quick trip to the restroom (a clear rookie mistake) produced a few untimely steps in human liquid waste that was on the floor.And finally, beaten down by the heat, the lines, the smelly and dirty bathrooms not to mention the ridiculous belief that the prosecutor who agreed to meet them in court had any intention of actually showing up, they trudged back to their car, tie askew, bathed in sweat, actually longing for Judge Dimeitrouleas’s rocket docket, or for a quick arraignment and trial before Judge Huck, or a nice friendly sentencing before Judge Zlock.

4. "South Florida law firms hit by real estate slump, shed workers" via National Law Journal." Julie Kay explains:
In another sign of the hard times facing the legal industry, particularly in real-estate heavy South Florida, two local law firms — Holland & Knight and Shutts & Bowen — have laid off non-lawyer staffers. On a day that could be dubbed Black Friday in South Florida legal circles, Tampa-based Holland & Knight, one of Florida's largest and most venerable firms with 1,150 lawyers, laid off 70 staffers Friday, including legal secretaries, IT and accounting staff. No lawyers were laid off. The layoffs of about four employees in each of Holland's 17 offices represented 5% of Holland's non-lawyer workforce. Shutts & Bowen, a 200-lawyer, Miami-based firm, Friday laid off nine people, all entry level file clerks or paralegal clerks. No lawyers or legal secretaries were affected. The news comes on the heels of a decision announced internally Friday by Fort Lauderdale-based Becker & Poliakoff to temporarily and immediately chop all lawyer salaries by 12%. The firm, which is heavy in condo and real estate representation, said it was forced to take the action since clients are delaying payment in this lean economic environment.

News & Notes

1. Since Rumpole is shut down, I have invited him to blog over here.

2. The Justice Dept is investigating Dade County jails. I'm very happy about this. Broward should be next. The conditions are just appalling.

3. I've been slow to cover this story. But there is a lawsuit in our District re the Beatles. From Jay Weaver's article:

A London company representing The Beatles has won the first legal round to stop a Miami Lakes business from releasing rare live recordings of the group at a German club in 1962.
Apple Corps Limited and Fuego Entertainment struck an agreement approved by a Miami federal judge on Friday that requires Fuego to halt plans to release eight song recordings featuring Ringo Starr on drums as a Beatle for the first time.
The injunction also requires Fuego to remove any information about the planned release from its website, which has featured a sales pitch to customers to buy the CD. And it requires Fuego to cease any use of the trademark, The Beatles, for commercial purposes.
The temporary injunction remains in effect until a lawsuit is resolved.

4. Just when you think it can't get any worse for Broward judges...

My Apologies

Sorry for being gone the last couple days.

I will get back to blogging soon.

In the meantime -- it's March Madness. If you want to win a Supreme Court bobblehead, fill out your brackets here. Quickly!

Or catch up on all the recent cert grants in the Supreme Court (and the Heller arguments).

Of note to many of you -- the Miami Zuckerman Spaeder office has closed as everyone has bolted. Mike Pasano, Steve Bronis, Paul Calli, Tom Meeks, Walter Tache, and Marissel Descalzo are headed to Carlton Fields. Not sure where the other Miami Zuckerman lawyers are headed.

News and Notes

1. Sailfish sentences net jail (via AP).

2. Gov't appeal of Padilla sentence covered by Herald.

3. Haitian "slave" testifies (via Sun-Sentinel).

4. YouTube taunter pleads guilty (via Sun-Sentinel).

News and Notes

1. Blogger and now photographer Rumpole details the state courthouse crisis. (At least their courthouse is open).

2. South Florida Lawyer writes about Judge Ungaro's sanctioning of a lawyer.

3. Vanessa Blum has an article about the $4.5 million bond in Dr. Ali Shaygan's case.

4. The Supreme Court took a 4th Amendment case from the 11th Circuit (via NY Times)

5. A note to prosecutors -- keep up to date on your CLE!

Back to work

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving weekend.... Updates on the district:

1. The Liberty City 7 case is slowly coming to a close -- closing arguments should start at the end of this week. Jay Weaver had a story in the Herald this weekend about the case.

2. Chief Judge Federico Moreno will be speaking at the federal bar luncheon on December 12 (CORRECTED) at noon at the Banker's club. Last month's event with Judges Barkett and Marcus sold out and was really fun. If you are interested in attending, RSVP soon.

3. The South Asian Bar Association is hosting a complimentary wine and cheese night on Wednesday, December 5 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. with Saira Rao, author of the Chambermaid, the controversial and entertaining debut novel. The event will take place at SolAmbit's new office located at 700 South Andrews Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301. For more information on the author and the book, please visit http://srv.markuslaw.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.sairarao.com/.

4. Judge Cooke denied the post-trial motions in the Padilla case, which means the sentencing (and appeal) will proceed. Vanessa Blum has more here.

5. I found this article really interesting about Judge Paul Cassell leaving the district court bench to go back to being a law professor:

Cassell said he found himself questioning some laws at each turn. "I felt like it was proper judicial role to ask questions, even if we weren't necessarily charged with fixing the problem," he said. But he wanted to do more — he wanted to make a change. Being a federal judge, he couldn't do that. "One of the frustrations about being a trial court judge is that you never set broad principles of law; of course, that's reserved for the appellate courts. ... When I was there for 5 1/2 years, I began to think that maybe I would have more effect in moving the law in a way that I think is desirable by doing appellate litigation."

There aren't too many more powerful positions than a federal judge, yet Cassell was "frustrated" he couldn't do more. He has a lot more to say, including his position on draconian federal sentences... It's worth a read.

(HT: Orin Kerr and Doug Berman)

District news and notes

1. WPB juror in critical condition after being struck walking to courthouse.

2. Mike Mayo on the upcoming Ken Jenne sentencing.

3. Liberty City 7 defense starts up, via the AP's Curt Anderson.

4. Buzzzz off; litigation over the Bee Movie Slogan in Ft. Lauderdale, by Vanessa Blum, Sun-Sentinel.

News and Notes

Lots of district news:

1. Liberty City seven: The expert (Raymond Tanter) is testifying. If the defendants are convicted, this will be issue #1 on appeal. Reports from the Sun-Sentinel & Herald. (I've been told that the expert plans on writing a book about his trial experience in this case -- cross examination is today, so we'll find out more.)

2. Joe Cool: Although the government has yet to decide if it will seek the death penalty, defense lawyers have asked that Bill Matthewman be appointed for his expertise in death cases. (Via Sun-Sentinel). And despite the comments to previous posts, Judge Huck has indicated that he will probably set the trial in about six months -- plenty of time for both sides to prepare.

3. Julie Kay's NLJ column: Her first is here (Florida leads states in wage suits; clogging fed courts).

4. Coverage of US v. Williams oral argument, via HowAppealing:

"An anti-porn law that will survive?" Lyle Denniston has this post at "SCOTUSblog."
"Justices Hear Arguments on Internet Pornography Law": Linda Greenhouse has this article today in The New York Times.
Today in The Washington Post, Robert Barnes reports that "High Court Surveys Child Pornography Law's Scope."
David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times reports that "High court weighs child porn law; Justices seek to establish whether a tool to punish online purveyors of illegal pictures infringes on the 1st Amendment."
In USA Today, Joan Biskupic reports that "Court puts child porn law to test; Justices appear skeptical of challengers' arguments."
And The Miami Herald reports that "Child-porn law debated; The attorney for a former Miami-Dade officer argued before the U.S. Supreme Court that a law to curb child pornography is too broad."
"Supreme Court hears arguments over child-pornography law": McClatchy Newspapers provide this report.
"Supreme Court Takes Up Child Porn Case": This audio segment (RealPlayer required) featuring Dahlia Lithwick appeared on today's broadcast of NPR's "Day to Day."
And at "The Volokh Conspiracy," Orin Kerr has a post titled "Oral Argument in United States v. Williams."