Congratulations are in order for two good people -- first to Detra Shaw-Wilder on her investiture.
And second to Yeney Hernandez, who the judges voted on at their judges' meeting today to be our newest magistrate judge.
Have a great weekend and GO CANES!
20 comments:
Wonder if she will continue to refer the the government as “we” as a current MJ does.
Another mag spot filled by a lackluster AUSA. Another qualified AFPD with immense integrity passed over.
She is great. I have had cases against her and she is very professional, collegial, hard working, smart and grounded. She will be fantastic.
Who were the finalists aside from Yeney?
Re: Magistrates. Kudos to these new judges. When the list of nominees comes out, the question is who is the most qualified. District court judges select the finalists. I am sure there is a lot of internal politicking going on but that is life. I venture to say that every one of the nominees is not only qualified but overqualified. A magistrate judge handles routine discovery matters, etc. They do not conduct trials or sentence people to prison terms. It would be interesting to see someone publish a study of exactly what the average magistrate does on a day to day basis. My gut tells me that it is very boring. On an intellectual level, they are probably underwhelmed and their legal acumen underutilized. I may be wrong but other than a nice pension and the ego boost of being called a judge, they should be competing on a higher level.
Wow -- hater.
There's a lot to unpack here, but this comment is directionally correct. The bottom line is that district judges want as magistrate judges people who can handle discovery disputes and issue reports and recommendations on common motions like motions for preliminary injunctions and the like. Some district judges (for reasons beyond me, but that is beyond the scope of this comment) appear to refer even motions to dismiss and for summary judgment to magistrate judges. The best candidates need to be hard workers, good writers, have attention to detail, be timely in their rulings (important), and be willing to put their ego to the side. Not every selected magistrate judge entirely fits this bill, but, from what I know of Yeney -- who has stellar credentials and is very personable -- she certainly does. Congratulations to her and I think she'll be great.
Tell me, how many magistrates in Miami are former AUSAs? And how many former AFPDs? There has never been a former AFPD mag in Miami.
As long as CMA is Chief Judge we will never have an AFPD get the Mag position in Miami. She doesn't respect the office or the lawyers. And the majority of the judges are the same. They only respect prestigious law schools, big law firms and the US Attorneys Office. It is what it is!
Doesn't Detra Shaw-IWilder defeat that narrative, given that she has none of those credentials?
She was a partner at a prestigious connected law firm - that’s big law!
There is an unfortunate pattern of wildly qualified, exceptionally competent AFPDs being passed over - while the bench continues to be filled with AUSAs.
Not all prestigious, connected law firms are "big" law firms (by definition), and not all big law firms are prestigious or even connected.
Big law, big deal!!! That being said, about 90% of the lawyers at these firms are top notch. But there is a very visible 10% about whom you have to scratch your head and wonder. Family connections, money, favors, politics, but merit and talent are surely not one of them.
Magistrate judges do conduct trials upon consent. They also conduct settlement conferences, and handle injunction hearings, sanctions hearings, and dispositive motions, in addition to discovery motions. The fact that they may issue an R&R versus an order does not take away from the rigor of the work they perform.
DSW never worked in big law. She was at KTT for the last 30-something years, straight out of law school. Prestigious and connected, yes.
What’s the story with the District Judge who never comes to work, so all his cases were transferred?
But how many directors of the FBI are former AFPD compared to former AUSAs? And wow a stellar job he is doing…if only we could have mags like that.
Don’t know either of them. Nothing new under the sun.
I guess they don't need another afpd as a magistrate who didn't try cases and had no civil experience!
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