Bench & Bar pictures

Judge Jordan and Judge Cooke

Judge Dimitrouleas and Judge Cohn

The dining room

A blurry picture of the criminal law magistrate panel

Judge Moreno (my phone's zoom isn't so powerful).

Live blogging the federal bench and bar conference

Most of you won't be reading this right now because you all are here at the Hollywood Diplomat. This isn't the most exciting way to spend my birthday, but what are you gonna do?

All the judges and magistrates are here. And there are over 500 lawyers here. Pretty unbelievable.

The morning panels were interesting. I was only at the criminal law panels, which were lively and engaging. I hear the civil panels were also good.

Judge Fay is about to do the lunchtime talk. More soon.
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Ben Kuehne event

Just a quick post about the Ben Kuehne fundraiser tonight at Christabelle's Quarter in the Grove. It was extremely well-attended -- of course there were many criminal defense lawyers there, but there were also many civil lawyers and even lawyers from out-of-town, from as far as Pennsylvania. It was packed and it was a nice tribute to Ben. The buzz: will the new administration dump this ridiculous case?

(Full disclosure -- I filed the NACDL amicus brief in favor of the motion to dismiss the case)

Pine Crest swimming coach in huge trouble

Here's Vanessa Blum's coverage of Fort Lauderdale's swimming coach Roberto Caragol, who is accused of having sex with minors and trading porn pictures. Here's the criminal complaint.

Jay Weaver wins award

Well dear readers, I am in the Atlanta airport waiting to come back to Miami after arguing in the 11th Circuit before Judges Carnes, Tjoflat, and Hood. It was an interesting argument concerning venue and multi-object conspiracies. I am sure you all are fascinated.

In any event, here is a link to an article about Jay Weaver's award for his Medicare coverage. Congrats to Jay. Hat tip to BT.

I hope to see you all tomorrow at Ben Kuehne's fundraiser and on Friday at the bench and bar conference.