News and Events
Daily News Summary
An electronic digest of media coverage of interest to members of The Florida Bar compiled each workday by the Public Information and Bar Services Department. Electronic links are only active in today's edition. For information on previous articles, please contact the publishing newspaper directly.
Feb. 2, 2010
--Legal Profession--
SEEDING DIVERSITY IN LAW SCHOOL APPLICANTS-- Florida Trend, http://www.floridatrend.com, Feb. 1, 2010.
Last fall, Bilzin Sumberg hosted 50 high school students for a day of law classes, mock trials, pizza and the promise of future mentoring Three years ago, Marshall R. Pasternack looked around a conference table at Miami's Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod and conceded that the law firm had a long way to go before the diversity of its workforce matched South Florida's diversity. Figuring it was time to get serious about attracting a broader range of attorneys, the firm launched a series of initiatives. For one, it began inviting minority law students to networking sessions. Last year, The Florida Bar asked a random sample of its 87,000 members to list the legal issues they want the Bar to focus on during the next few years. Participants were allowed to list up to three issues. Diversity finished last. Pasternack's hope is that the program will eventually increase diversity at his and other Florida firms, although he says it will take years to tell.
PRO BONO ATTORNEY OF THE MONTH: DAVID KING-- Jacksonville Daily Record, http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com, Feb. 1, 2010.
The plaques on the wall of David King’s office are evidence of the vast number of pro bono cases the Orange Park attorney handles every year, but there’s so much more to it than the few words of praise inscribed upon shiny metal keepsakes can possibly relay. The Jacksonville Area Legal Aid February Pro Bono Attorney of the Month said working in the law doesn’t really feel like work to him. King somehow manages to find his passion in corporate law, commercial real estate transactions, wills, trusts and estates, and, perhaps especially, the bankruptcy law that he now only practices when called upon to do so by Jacksonville Area Legal Aid.
--Judiciary--
GOV. CRIST MAKES SECOND APPEAL FOR LIFE-SAVING COURT COMPUTER-- Naples Daily News, column, http://www.naplesnews.com, Feb. 2, 2010.
The column by Naples Daily News columnist Brent Batten states: ". . . For the second year, Gov. Charlie Crist has included in his budget more than $3 million for a statewide computer system that would allow judges to know if suspects standing before them in court are wanted elsewhere on unrelated charges. The lack of such a system in 2008 resulted in the shooting death of Fort Myers police officer Andrew Widman in July of that year. The man who killed Widman had appeared in court in Lee County a month earlier, pleaded not guilty to a crime, and walked out, even though he was wanted on a no-bond warrant stemming from an earlier case in Collier County. Had the judge known of the warrant’s existence, he would have ordered the suspect held, preventing the later encounter with Widman. As a result of the case, officials with the 20th Judicial Circuit teamed with the Collier and Lee sheriff’s offices to implement a Judicial Inquiry System in those two counties. . . . In his budget, Crist proposes almost $3.7 million to install a similar system throughout the state."
JUDGE'S FURY WINS DOCTOR A NEW HEARING-- The Florida Times-Union, http://www.jacksonville.com, Jan. 30, 2010.
The judge was outraged when he heard tapes of a Jacksonville doctor telling police his online chats with teenage girls revealed their stupidity and America’s immorality. Now that outrage has won physician Irfan Nawaz a new sentencing hearing before a new judge. The 1st District Court of Appeal ruled Friday [Jan. 29] that Circuit Judge John Merrett went too far in lambasting Nawaz before sentencing him to the maximum 20 years in prison for soliciting a child via computer and traveling to meet a minor for sex. Specifically, Merrett improperly cited the doctor’s national origin when imposing the sentence, a unanimous three-judge panel of the Tallahassee-based court found.
FORMER HILLSBOROUGH CIRCUIT JUDGE HONEYWELL IS SWORN IN AS U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE-- St. Petersburg Times, http://www.tampabay.com, Jan. 30, 2010.
When Charlene Edwards Honeywell speaks to young people, she often tells them this: Be prepared for setbacks while pursuing your dreams. The key, she says: Get back up. Keep going. Honeywell's judicial ascent illustrates the message. For the past three decades, the 52-year-old native Floridian has navigated professional successes and obstacles with resilience. On Friday [Jan. 29] her journey paid off. The former Hillsborough circuit judge was sworn in as a U.S. district judge. Friday's ceremony was a formality. Honeywell has been serving on the federal bench in Fort Myers since December. Her early days have been spent reading motions and making decisions in civil and criminal cases. Her first trial may come in March. Honeywell's appointment comes as no surprise to Tampa's legal community, where she is regarded as serious but fair-minded.
--Civil Justice Issues--
MEDIATION FOR HOMEOWNERS-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, http://www.heraldtribune.com, Feb. 2, 2010.
Troubled homeowners in Sarasota and Manatee counties will soon be guaranteed a meeting with lenders to try to save their properties from foreclosure. Every homesteaded property will be referred to a new mediation program under a Florida Supreme Court order, and the lenders will have to pick up the cost. The homeowners will get credit counseling, as well as a trained mediator to guide the meeting with the lender about short sales, loan modifications or other alternatives to foreclosure. "It's one more layer of protection from the unnecessary loss of the home," said Elizabeth Boyle, a lawyer with Gulfcoast Legal Services in Venice. When it starts, which could be as early as April, the mediation program would replace or work in tandem with rules 12th Circuit Judge Lee Haworth had created to get lenders talking with homeowners.
--Criminal Justice Issues--
SELECTION TO START FOR STATEWIDE ANTI-CORRUPTION PANEL-- The Miami Herald, http://www.miamiherald.com, Feb. 2, 2010.
Selection will begin next week for a statewide grand jury created to probe public corruption and recommend changes to Florida law -- and state prosecutors are asking the public for tips on what to investigate. Gov. Charlie Crist called for the grand jury after a spate of high-profile arrests of public officials and major campaign contributors in South Florida. On Monday [Feb. 1], Attorney General Bill McCollum urged the public to report instances of wrongdoing by public officials, from bribery to nepotism to fraud, to his office and its investigative arm, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Eighteen people will be chosen for the panel, as well as "dozens'' of alternates, said statewide prosecutor William Shepherd, who reports to McCollum and is leading the corruption probe.
--Other--
FLORIDA SUPREME COURT TO TAKE UP EVERGLADES LAND DEAL-- Sun-Sentinel, http://www.sun-sentinel.com, Feb. 2, 2010.
The Florida Supreme Court on Monday [Feb. 1] announced that on April 7 it would hear the legal challenge to Gov. Charlie Crist's pending $536 million Everglades restoration land deal. The land deal, first proposed in June 2008, calls for South Florida taxpayers to pay for buying 73,000 acres from U.S. Sugar Corp., which would be used for restoring water flows to the Everglades. U.S. Sugar-competitor Florida Crystals and the Miccosukee Tribe are challenging the financing for the deal, arguing it would cost taxpayers too much and further stall already-overdue Everglades restoration plans.
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07-01-2005
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