Broward Court -- The New World Model for Justice!

Hi everyone, is there something happening today?

All I know is my phone will be very quiet today as every lawyer in town is working the polls and helping to protect the vote --  that means it's probably a good day to serve a 57.105 letter!

But seriously, it's all in the hands of a few coders from Mongolia now.

Speaking of Mongolia, when you think of a model location in this entire world for the effective and efficient administration of justice, naturally you think "Broward County Circuit Court."

I mean where else can you see a judge have to use her own cell phone and put it on speaker in order to conduct a hearing?

That's why visiting judges from Mongolia traveled all the way across this great green Earth to watch Broward County justice in action.

Note -- this is a real story!

As a result of this important fact-finding mission, the Mongolian judges agreed to make some changes back home.

For one, they have installed an impossible-to-understand elevator system that takes people to different "ninth floors" and forces litigants to go up half-a-floor to find their courtroom.  They also agreed to cover all surfaces in the courthouse with asbestos and mold and to periodically cut off electricity and water at critical moments, particularly during trials.

God it feels good to be emulated!

Time For Yet Another Blogger Ethics Panel!

Our friends in Broweird, already awash in facacta "investigations," may have another one on their hands, as reported by the always-excellent Bob Norman.

This one, at least, (finally) has some naughty bits:

Local attorney Barbara Heyer, who happens to be the wife of Broward County Judge Marc Gold, sent an oh-so serious letter -- with "exhibits," mind you -- to JAABlog administrator Bill Gelin that basically accused Gelin, a lawyer, of violating the Florida Bar by posting the racy photograph (shown at right) on his blog.

Heyer wrote that she was "dismayed to see the display of a nude woman in a very suggestive and demeaning position" on the blog on April 23. The latter day Queen Victoria continues:

"As you are a member of the Florida Bar, perhaps you need to be reminded that we have certain obligations to the Public and the legal community. Let me refer you to Rule 4-8.4(d), which states, in pertinent part, that a lawyer will not: 'engage in conduct in connection with the practice of law that is prejudicial to the administration of justice, including to knowingly, or through callous indifference, disparage, humiliate, or discriminate against litigants, jurors, witnesses, court personnel, or other lawyers on any basis ... on account of race, ethnicity, gender ..."

Heyer, who added the emphasized text, also wrote that "dozens, if not hundreds, of vile comments that have appeared on your blog serve only to embarrass our profession."

The implication is clear here, but it's ridiculous. That photograph didn't humiliate or disparage any lawyers. And don't you just love the way these folks who fear JAABlog always act like their profession is so pure and virtuous? Such high-minded rhetoric might pass the smell test in a meeting of lawyers, but the public damn well knows better.

First question -- is posting to a blog "conduct in connection with the practice of law"?

Second question -- doesn't "knowingly or through callous indifference" mean anything?

Third question -- the letter's a bit much, no?

To the Blogger From the North:

Stay gold, Gelin-boy, stay gold.

Time For A Blogger Ethics Panel!

With all the crazy and sometimes illegal doings in Broward lately, I can't believe the Broward County Bar Association has decided to devote time and effort to investigating a blog:

A Broward County Bar Association committee will meet to determine whether the legal blog JAABlog — the premiere place for courthouse gossip — meets its professional standards.

The professionalism committee plans to hold a closed-door meeting April 1 at the behest of association president Carlos Llorente.

JAABlog, run by criminal defense attorney Bill Gelin, posts quick takes on courthouse flaps, urges lawyers to run for election against incumbents, rails against a planned courthouse and calls for reform in a system that imprisons a disproportionate number of black people.

Since the blog’s launch in 2006, Gelin has become a fixture at high-profile hearings and meetings. He said he has not been told whether he will be allowed to attend the committee meeting.

Llorente said he did not really pay attention to the blog until he learned its comment section was populated by anonymous posts, ostensibly from the site’s heaviest readership: lawyers and judges.

The association’s rules of professional standards state lawyers are not allowed to criticize judges, opposing counsel, parties or witnesses because it could cast the justice system in a bad light.

Does this strike anyone else as slightly bone-headed?

Here's the proferred explanation:

“I have no problem with him being a journalist,” Llorente said. “If he wants to be an expose-type journalist, so be it. But do it as a journalist. Don’t pose as a lawyer with an inside knowledge.”

When asked what is specifically offensive about the blog, Llorente said he would withhold comment until he hears from the professionalism committee.

Oy.

Let me offer a prediction: by convening such a panel the BCBA likely will do more to discredit and denigrate their own organization than anything some goofball could ever post anonymously on a blog.

It's Nice to Have Friends

You gotta love how they do things in Broward:

As she presided over a first-degree murder case, Broward Circuit Court Judge Ana Gardiner engaged in a close and inappropriate personal relationship with the prosecutor, a state judicial watchdog agency claimed in charges filed Wednesday.

Because of the allegations against Gardiner, the defendant in the case, who had been sentenced to death, has been granted a new trial.

From March 23 through August 24, 2007, Gardiner and then prosecutor Howard Scheinberg had 949 telephone calls and exchanged 471 text messages, according to the complaint filed by the Judicial Qualifications Commission.

Gardiner, 48, is also accused of improperly discussing and joking with Scheinberg about the case at Timpano's, an upscale Fort Lauderdale restaurant, four days before a Broward County jury returned a guilty verdict.

JAAB has tons of additional links here.

Yawn.

Sure it's a scandal and all, but the real question that needs to be answered immediately is this: were they friends on Facebook?

(Note to Dade County Bar -- you need a better way to link to your articles.)

Tips For Young Lawyers -- Broward Edition.

A spy report from inside Judge Zeller's courtroom this morning, all regarding one lawyer who shall remain nameless:

1. Try to be on time.

Coming 20 minutes late and making your way through a crowded courtroom while the judge is speaking is probably a bad idea.

2. Take off your cheap sunglasses.

Once you have entered the courthouse, put them away. Continuing to wear them even as you sit down inside the courtroom makes you look like a schmuck.

3. Take the gum out of your mouth.

This is especially true when addressing the Court. If the Judge has to direct you -- a lawyer -- to stop chewing like a cow and to spit out your gum when you make your argument, you are in fact a real schmuck.

4. If you need to move for a continuance, you probably ought to put it in writing.

Also, if the Court asked you if you filed one, you should probably answer yes or no. Last I checked, there was some sort of rule against ore tenus continuance motions, and you should probably have reviewed it before looking like a first-class, genuine schmuck.

Class dismissed, kids!

God Punishes Broward Voters By Giving Them The Courthouse They Deserve

Everyone knows the Broward courthouse sucks. The stupid elevators, floors that don't match, bad parking, oh let's be honest -- it is just plain gross.

What's even worser are some of the judges you encounter once you are inside. No wonder they are so surly sometimes -- would you want to go to work in that building every day?

Still, those schmarty Broward voters rejected a bond issue in 2006 that would have built a regular courthouse instead of the dying, decaying rubble-like structure that presently houses all those prickly jurists.

So God decided to flood the building and be done with it.

Luckily Howard Finkelstein built an ark, put Skip Campbell on it, and they both sailed to safety.

Now Skip plans to sue for making court employees have to work in such a sickly building, and thus Broward voters will wind up paying substantial damages and still have that crappy building, assuming Skip ever finds a minimally acceptable courtroom to try his case in.

Way to go Broward!

Now excuse me I've got to go to 73 West Flagler, where I will wait in a cramped hallway with 60 other lawyers and hopefully get my two minutes before the fax machine breaks and all hail breaks loose again.

Oh well -- that's gonna be one nice Marlins stadium, huh?