Scott Rothstein -- Your "Criminal Defense Lawyers Welfare Relief Act"

Joel Hirschhorn makes a wise observation:

“It’s sort of like the Criminal Defense Lawyers Welfare Relief Act,” he said. “Basically, anybody who has had a position above a secretary ought to be lawyered up. And even secretaries ought to be cautious of speaking with authorities without counsel.”

Joel, don't leave us civil litigators out -- there's plenty of work to go around with this putz.

So reporters went on a grand tour of Scott's inner rectum, I mean sanctum, and the results were not pretty:

Outside Rothstein's personal office: a painting of Al Pacino as his character Michael Corleone in The Godfather.

The walls of Rothstein's office and other hallways are lined with framed photos of the lawyer with politicians including Gov. Charlie Crist, former U.S. Senator Mel Martinez, U.S. Senator John McCain and Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti.

In one photo, Rothstein and Crist are blowing out the candles together on Crist's birthday cake. In another, they are standing together at the Versace mansion at a Rothstein-hosted fundraiser, where he served Kobe beef carpaccio, imported cheeses and chocolate soufflé. Rothstein was part owner of the South Beach mansion.

The photos depict a man about town, sporting a huge grin with his arm around powerful figures, sometimes chomping on a cigar.

Let me stop you right there -- if you have an elaborate and highly conspicuous "Wall of Me" then you're a di@k.

(Note to those who thought it was neat to have your name branded upon a personal wine cabinet at Capital Grille -- same impulse, fellas.)

And get a load of Scott's wiretaps and whatnot:

Anyone entering Rothstein's suite of offices had to use an intercom. If Rothstein wanted to leave without being seen, he could exit through a second door. In the hallway, what appears to be an ordinary looking brown door is actually the elevator door.

Coffey described that elevator as ``an extraordinary feature not seen in any law firm.''

Dozens of surveillance cameras and microphones hang from office ceilings. They were turned off a few days ago, and federal authorities were given access to whatever had been previously recorded, Coffey said.

The firm thinks that this proves how Scott kept everything from his partners and no one could have possibly suspected anything was wrong.

I'm not so sure.

If someone asked me to go work with Rothstein and I was told he has iron-clad, top-secret control of all the finances of a seventy-person firm, bizarre intercom greeting rituals, hidden wiretaps and elevators and an office that resembles the vault where Jack Benny kept all his money, my own personal reaction would be "WTF -- this guy is some nutjob or worse."

The apparent reaction of some -- "Oh well, that's Scott!"

You can see a photo collage of what was once considered possibly eccentric but otherwise normal South Florida lawyer behavior here.