Why I practice in federal court

By now you all have heard about the Sean Taylor prosecutor. Apparently this guy moonlighted as a DJ, tried to promote this night gig by saying he was the Taylor prosecutor on a MySpace account (in which he also posted what Taylor's defense lawyer (Richard Sharpstein) has called pornographic pictures). Are you kidding me?!

Say what you will about AUSAs, but can you imagine any of them doing this, especially the DJ part? Actually, this is great -- we have fodder for a new poll: which SDFLA AUSA is best suited for moonlighting as a DJ?

For the best state court coverage, check out Rumpole and the accompanying comments, which are always fun to read... Also, here's the AP report, the Herald and the CBS4 video.

Acosta at the Federal Bar Luncheon

Interim (soon to be permanent*) U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta spoke today at the Federal Bar Association Luncheon, praising the assistants in the office, even pointing out many by name. He also cited the large proseuctions currently pending in the district (Abramoff, the Rodriguez brothers, Rosenstein, Hamilton Bank, and others). He mentioned that he was going to focus on training young lawyers in the office and on paying them more (which will require hiring less attorneys) so that he can compete with hiring practices in Miami. The speech was about 15 minutes.

* Acosta emphasized that the articles saying his nomination was imminent were premature and that is only an interim U.S. Attorney.

$10 million bail...

... for Ze'ev Rosenstein "over the objections of federal prosecutors, who said they were concerned that Rosenstein had ready access to huge assets and could readily flee the United States." Rosenstein is represented by Roy Black. AUSA is Ben Greenberg. Magistrate Judge is E. Torres.

Welcome (permanently) Alex Acosta

All reports (here is Jay Weaver's Herald article from Saturday and Julie Kay has a piece in Monday's Daily Business Review) are that Alex Acosta has lost the interim from his title and is now the permanent U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, the best and busiest district in the country. Welcome Mr. Acosta and congratulations.

I'm thinking of posting my requests for the new administration. If you have any suggestions, put them in the comment section and I'll add them to the list.

Congress may not burn the house to roast the pig.

So says the 11th Circuit in US v. Williams, discussed below by Marc Seitles. Here is Carl Jones for law.com on the case.