Katrina closes federal courts tomorrow at 1PM

Chief Judge Zloch just announced that the federal courts will close at 1:00 p.m. tomorrow. Below is the text of the advisory, with a link to the court's website.

District Court Operations and Tropical Storm Katrina Chief Judge Zloch announced that all Divisions of the United States DistrictCourt for the Southern District of Florida will be open to the public at 9:00 A.M. on Thursday, August 25th. The Court’s public functions at alllocations will be suspended at 1:00 P.M. in anticipation of the onset ofwind and rain conditions associated with Tropical Storm Katrina. Thisincludes the Court’s locations in Key West, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, WestPalm Beach and Fort Pierce.No new jury trials will be started nor will jurors be called to report onThursday, August 25th. Jurors who are currently sitting on trials mustfollow the instructions of the presiding judges.Criminal duty matters in all Divisions will be conducted before Noon. Alldistrict court staff should report for work as scheduled. A determinationabout the status of continuation of non-public functions will be made bynoon Thursday. A liberal leave approval policy will be observed for staffwho are not able to report to work. Further information about the status ofthe Court’s operations for Friday, August 26th will be available on theCourt’s website: www.flsd.uscourts.gov by 1:00 P.M. Thursday.

Hoeveler assigns homework

So what to do when a law clerk hears a sitting juror bitching on the phone about her service, the other jurors, and saying that she had already made up her mind to convict the defendant? Judge Hoeveler kicked the juror off and then gave her an interesting homework assignment: he told her to read an eight-page printout of an article from the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy by Manhattan lawyer Gerald Walpin. Title is "America's Adversarial and Jury Systems: More Likely to Do Justice.'' Hoeveler told the juror to give him a written summary -- within 15 days. "I want you to read that thoroughly. . . . Then write me a letter telling me what you think of it and what you think of the jury system.'' Juror is Kimberly Branam-Callahan Cipolato, who was represented by Joel Kaplan. She's a legal secretary at Duarte & Ariz in Coral Gables. Hoeveler's law clerk is Mandana Dashtaki, 26 year old Harvard grad. Read the whole article by Joan Fleischman here.

New County Attorney

Today the Daily Business Review covers our new county attorney, Murray Greenberg. Everyone loves Murray:

Greenberg starts out in the county’s top legal job with a solid base of goodwill, even from lawyers who have done battle with his office over the years. “Murray is one of the finest lawyers and people I’ve ever known,” said Greenberg Traurig land-use attorney and shareholder Cliff Schulman. “Murray’s a straight shooter, and I think everyone else in that office will follow that lead.” Fort Lauderdale lawyer Bruce Rogow, who represents Citizens for Reform, a business-backed political action committee that supports Alvarez’s campaign for a strong-mayor form of government, said the county attorney’s office “has been a wonderful office with a great reputation under the kind of joint leadership of Bob and Murray.”

Congrats to Murray on this promotion.

Martinez Nelson team up

The Daily Business Review follows up on the new JNC with an article here. "The new Federal Judicial Nominating Commission formed by Republican U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson marks something of a return to the bipartisan, collaborative model employed by former Sens. Con-nie Mack and Bob Graham in the 1990s. The 56-member statewide JNC announced last week, while heavy with Republicans, includes some Democrats. Martinez, who was elected last November, oversaw the process, while Nelson, elected in 2000, picked about a quarter of the members. According to Skip Dalton, general counsel for Martinez, the two senators will also collaborate on final picks before they’re sent to the White House."
The article explains that while mostly made up of Republicans, there "are a handful of Democrats" which include: "Mark Schnapp, a former federal prosecutor and a partner at Greenberg Traurig in Miami; Michael Hanzman of Hanzman & Criden in Miami; and Steven E. Chaykin, a former federal prosecutor and a partner at Zuckerman Spaeder in Miami."

Blog update

Based on numerous e-mail recommendations, I've added links to our judges in the sidebar. And below the polls, there are a couple of links to blogs and websites that I check. More to follow.

New federal JNC

The Daily Business Review has an article today: New Federal JNC formed for Florida. "U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., has announced the formation of a new statewide federal judicial nominating commission to provide the White House with recommendations for nominees to the federal courts and top law enforcement posts in Florida. According to Martinez’s office, the 56-member commission was named in cooperation with Bill Nelson, his Democrat counterpart, and other members of the Florida congressional delegation. That could signal a return to the bipartisan federal judicial nominating process that was in place throughout most of the 1990s when Republican Sen. Connie Mack and Democratic Sen. Bob Graham collaborated on federal appointments. In the last few years, the federal JNC was appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush and other leading Republican elected officials, including U.S. Rep. E. Clay Shaw Jr."

"The members from the Southern District include chair Justin Sayfie, Roberto Martinez, Barry Silverman, Tom Tew, Mark Schnapp, Luis Perez, Manny Kadre, Gonzalo R. Dorta, Robert Dunlap, Peter S. Sachs, Scott A. Srebnick, Charles Garcia, Dexter Lehtinen, Beverly A. Brame, Jillian Inmon, state Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, Thomas Panza, Steven E. Chaykin, Joseph Reiter, and Michael Hanzman. Their first task will be to help select a successor to former Miami U.S. Attorney Marcos D. Jimenez."

News and notes

1. More FEMA related news here. Yesterday Judge Altonaga sentenced a woman (represented by Miguel Caridad) to five years of probation for fraudulently collecting nearly $10,000 in federal disaster funds.

2. The Sun-Sentinel reports: "U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks in Miami sentenced Ricardo Contreras, 33, to serve 18 months in prison and three years of supervised release, and Rogino Sánchez, 24, to 15 months in prison and two years of supervised release for illegally transporting people into the United States," almost two months after a young woman they snuck into the country hanged herself in Boynton Beach.

3. Fred Grimm writes about the Abramoff case here. He explains how the federal case is being used in "as a vise to squeeze" out some information about the deal and about the death of Gus Boulis.

News and notes

Lots going on:

1. We have an anthrax arrest.

2. We have a huge fraud case, which was written up in the New York Times. More good press for the Lewis Tein firm, which was appointed as the receiver. Guy Lewis is quoted: "These guys were slick. They would have given Barnum & Bailey a run for their money."*

3. And we have possible cooperation from Jack Abramoff in a murder investigation.

*P.T. Barnum and James Bailey (along with the Ringling Bros.) started the Greatest Show on Earth, which was also a great movie (it won movie of the year in 1952).