Federal Bar Association lunch

Fun event today with Judges Gold and Jordan. (Yes, that's my terrible phone camera picture to the left.)

Some of the topics discussed:

Facebook, Blogs, and Roshambo.

And there was even a question about how Iqbal has been affecting the courts. Perhaps SFLawyer was in the audience...

I like Twizzlers

"When you have a Twizzler in your mouth, you can't have a serious conversation."

"The red-colored licorice are kinda sweet ... pleasant tasting. They put you in a good mood."

"There were two ways to eat the Twizzler: Sucking on the licorice, like a baby with a pacifier, or tearing it into small pieces and gobbling it down."

Those are quotes from federal district judge Kevin Castel on why he gave Twizzlers to the jury in the John Gotti Jr. trial. More from the article:

The Twizzlers were there to candy-coat the panel's jangled nerves.
"If you feel frustrated, you now have something to take that frustration out on," Castel said.
Juror No. 1 then carried the red-topped bucket of candy into the jury room.
A day earlier, Castel tried sweet-talking the jury - although he apparently decided that wasn't enough.
"I'm just asking you for help in being kind and considerate to all your fellow jurors," Castel told Juror 7 after her Monday spat with Juror 11.
It was the latest bit of juror animosity in the feds' fourth prosecution of the ex-Gambino family boss. With the racketeering trial in its seventh week, tensions are running high on the anonymous panel.
Earlier, the judge received a juror's letter complaining about Juror 7's abrasive conduct and her love of Gotti's lawyer, Charles Carnesi. The letter, signed "A Concerned Juror," described Juror 7 as antagonistic and foul-mouthed.
Castel is trying to keep the jury together as the trial heads into its final days. Closing arguments in the case could come as soon as Monday.
Personality clashes among jurors increase the possibility of yet another mistrial for Gotti.
If the panel benefits from the candy karma, they might hear from Gotti before the defense rests. Junior wants to testify, said Carnesi, but he doesn't want to answer questions from prosecutors about crimes involving other people.
Gotti "does not believe he should solve his problems by dumping them" on mob associates, Carnesi said.
The defense team will let Castel know by 5 p.m. today if Gotti is going to take the stand.
"Do I think there is any downside?" Carnesi asked. "No."
The second-generation gangster opted not to testify at his three previous racketeering trials. All ended in hung juries and mistrials.

Above The Law Sued by UM Law Professor Donald Jones

NLJ has the details:

It's the kind of story that tends to get big play on the legal blog Above the Law: A prominent University of Miami School of Law professor and civil rights advocate arrested on suspicion of soliciting an undercover officer for sex.
The blog had plenty of fun with the story in October 2007 with a series of posts about Donald Marvin Jones, whom it dubbed "The Nutty Professor."
The only problem was that it didn't happen that way, and the blog's coverage veered into racism, according to a lawsuit Jones has filed in federal court. He alleged that Above the Law portrayed him in a false light, invaded his privacy and infringed the university's copyright on his faculty photo. Jones seeks $22 million in damages.
An online article about the arrest by David Lat, Above the Law's managing editor, "instigated its readers not only to read the post but also to join in what was clearly a viciously racist series of rants" directed at the African-American professor, the suit claims.
Jones did not respond Monday to calls for comment on the lawsuit, which he filed pro se in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Oct. 27. The suit names Lat, Above the Law publisher David Minkin and parent company Dead Horse Media Inc., now called Breaking Media LLC, as defendants. Lat also declined comment on the suit.

Judge Cooke pulled the case. Here's the complaint.

Where in the world is Scott Rothstein

Thanks to a tipster, we have more evidence that bloggers are taking over the world. This time, they've tracked down Rothstein! No joke.

Key count kicked in case against former head of DEA

Magistrate Judge Robin Rosenbaum recommended (in a 43-page order*) that an obstruction count be dismissed against Tom Raffanello, the former DEA chief and then head of security for Allen Stanford. The Herald has the details here:

Two months after one of Miami's most celebrated drug cops was charged in the Allen Stanford financial scandal, a federal magistrate is recommending that one of the key charges be thrown out.
Judge Robin Rosenbaum said prosecutors failed to prove Tom Raffanello -- head of security for Stanford's worldwide enterprise -- interfered with a federal investigation by ordering the destruction of reams of company documents.
The former Drug Enforcement Administration chief, who left the agency to join Stanford's security force in 2004, was charged with ordering the shredding of records just days after federal agents shut down Stanford's empire in a massive fraud case in February.
Though prosecutors said Raffanello defied a court order by destroying the documents, Rosenbaum said the government failed to show he impeded the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's probe.
The magistrate fell short of rejecting the entire case, however, saying prosecutors were able to show the former drug cop destroyed records in the course of a federal investigation. Her recommendation will be taken up by presiding Judge William Zloch later this month.

You can always count on Sharpie for a good quote:

Raffanello's attorney, Richard Sharpstein, said he was pleased with Rosenbaum's recommendation.
``We hope Judge Zloch not only agrees with Judge Rosenbaum, but throws out the entire case,'' he said.
Lead prosecutor Paul Pelletier could not be reached on Monday. However, prosecutors have argued in prior hearings that Raffanello and co-defendant Bruce Perraud were aware of a judge's order to preserve all company documents when they called a shredding truck to the company's Fort Lauderdale security bunker on February 25.

UPDATED -- Here's the DBR article by John Pacenti.

*Even though it's not 90 pages, Judge Marcus would still be proud.

Blogs crush main stream media

At least on legal stories, no? Take for example the story of Scott Rothstein and his firm Rothstein, Rosenfeldt and Adler. This weekend a story exploded about Rothstein travelling to Morocco amid allegations of fraud. And the Daily Pulp and the BrowardBeat were all over it. MSM limped in on Monday morning with this story, citing to the blogs as breaking it:

The Daily Pulp, a blog by the Broward Palm Beach New Times, reported over the weekend that money is missing from investors. Rothstein could not be reached for comment on his cellphone or by e-mail Sunday.
***
Browardbeat.com, a political blog, reported that several lawyers had been laid off from the firm.
The blog also reported that the firm plans to go to court Monday to ask that a receiver be appointed.

Those two blogs are definitely worth checking out... They are all over this very interesting story. Rothstein has retained firm lawyer Mark Nurik to represent him, and the firm has hired Kendall Coffee.

Happy Halloween

So, Judge Cooke sentenced a cooperting UBS guy to probation the other day, and today Judge Cohn sentenced a similarly situated co-defendant to 3 months in prison. Curt Anderson has the details:

A federal judge Friday rejected a plea for probation from a New York businessman who admitted concealing $8 million in secret Swiss bank accounts, imposing instead a three-month prison term in the high-profile tax evasion case.
U.S. District Judge James I. Cohn said toy salesman Jeffrey Chernick deserves credit for his cooperation in the broad U.S. probe of Swiss bank UBS AG. But he said allowing Chernick to avoid prison for filing a false tax return "sends the wrong message" in a case that has made international headlines.
"If the court issues a slap on the wrist, to me the notoriety becomes negative," Cohn said. "It essentially informs the public that you can cheat on your income taxes and get away with probation."
Chernick, 70, had faced between 18 months and two years under federal sentencing guidelines. Prosecutors asked Cohn for a nine-month prison term, noting that Chernick's disclosures led directly to the indictments of a Swiss banker and Swiss lawyer on conspiracy charges as well as charges against other UBS clients in the U.S.

Interesting to see the differences in the judges' comments and the ultimate sentence.

Anyway, I'll leave you all with this video, wishing you all a Happy Halloween:

"I needed a defibrillator."

That was Chief Judge Federico Moreno on how he reacted when he realized that Roberto Martinez was asking for an $11 million bonus, and not $1.1 million. Vanessa Blum has all the details here.

From the intro:

Then Chief U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno first read the final fee request for the Mutual Benefits fraud receivership, he thought lawyers were seeking $1.1 million, not $11 million. Then he realized there was no decimal point, the judge recounted Thursday at a hearing in Miami. “I needed a defibrillator,” he joked. “We’re talking about a lot of money.” It is up to Moreno to resolve a simmering dispute over how richly to compensate lawyers for five years of work on one of the largest scams in South Florida history. Roberto Martinez, the court-appointed receiver, is seeking the $11 million bonus to split between his law firm, Colson Hicks Eidson, and primary counsel Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton. To date, the two Coral Gables firms have jointly collected about $4 million. Moreno did not say when he would rule on the request. Robert Levenson, regional trial counsel for the Securities and Exchange Commission, argued against any fee enhancement, saying it would reduce payments to bilked investors and award lawyers a windfall equivalent to more than $800 per hour.
Receivers should be viewed as public servants and be paid moderately in fairness to victims, he said. “The investors are only going to recover a fraction of their losses,” Levenson said. “These aren’t corporate, market-rate clients.”

Apprently the investors weren't happy either:

No investors spoke at the hearing. In an Oct. 15 letter to Moreno, one investor said he was “appalled” by the receiver’s request. “Please, let’s get these funds back where they belong — in the hands of the investors — and away from greedy hands,” wrote Ronald Meyers of Sanibel Island.

But there is a strong counter-argument:

But Michael Hanzman, of counsel with West Palm Beach-based Ackerman Link & Sartory, who represented defrauded investors in class action litigation, told Moreno the receivership lawyers “deserve a significant fee enhancement.” He did not specify an amount. “If you want to attract the best and the brightest people to take these cases, you have to pay a reasonable fee,” Hanzman said. “This is not a pro bono case.”

That might be overstating it a bit -- the lawyers made an average of $265/hour. The question is whether they should be paid about $800 hour (which is higher than their typical hourly rates) for what everyone agrees was excellent work or whether receivers should make less than their hourly rates because the goal is to return money to the victims.

What say you dear readers?