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.
Aug. 30, 2010
PARALEGALS ASK TO BE BAR LICENSED AND REGULATED-- The Florida Bar News, http://www.floridabar.org, Sept. 1, 2010.
As part of the required three-year review of the Bar’s voluntary Florida Registered Paralegal program, the Bar is looking into the request by some paralegals that they be licensed and regulated by the Bar or the Supreme Court. The Bar Board of Governors, at its July 23 meeting, approved a recommendation from the Program Evaluation Committee to set up a nine-member committee to examine regulating paralegals. Mark Workman, president of the Florida Alliance of Paralegal Associations, said regulation would protect the public by helping to crack down on unsupervised paralegals who do unauthorized legal work and also help in "setting educational standards, ethical guidelines and to enhance the public's perception of who we are and what we can and cannot do."
--Legal Profession--
BROWARD LAWYERS PROTECT INTEGRITY OF BENCH, BAR-- Daily Business Review, letter-to-editor, http://www.dailybusinessreview.com, Aug. 30, 2010.
The letter by Fort Lauderdale trial lawyer Jay Cohen, a member of The Florida Bar Board of Governors, states: "I read the article published in the DBR a few weeks ago by my good friend, Hector Lombana of Miami. He criticized the lawyers and leaders of the Broward legal profession based on his perception that the 23 contested races for the Broward bench were 'leadership failures.'. . .Broward lawyers are anything but failures when it comes to protecting the integrity of the bench and bar. In fact, the role lawyers in this legal community played was vital and demonstrated all the good and right principals of a democratic society honoring the privilege of elections."
LAWYER'S SILENCE GOLDEN TO TIGER WOODS IN DIVORCE CASE-- The Palm Beach Post, http://www.palmbeachpost.com, Aug. 28, 2010.
Tiger Woods was headed into divorce court with his reputation in tatters. He needed a world-class lawyer to represent his financial interests and protect his relationship with his children. The man Woods turned to is a local, yet you've probably never heard of him. And that's just the way Tom Sasser wants it. The West Palm Beach divorce attorney has attracted a stable of high-profile clients with his decidedly low-profile way.
AVE MARIA LAW STUDENTS HELP COMMUNITIES-- The News-Press, http://www.news-press.com, Aug. 28, 2010.
First-year law students at Ave Maria School of Law in Naples ended their first week of school outside the classroom to learn how good lawyerly conduct applies in the community. On Aug. 19, about 200 law students divided into three volunteer groups to spend an afternoon helping nonprofit groups. In November, the Ave Maria School of Law will celebrate its 10th anniversary.
HE WROTE THE LAW HE USES TO PROSECUTE DOMESTIC BATTERERS-- The Florida Bar News, http://www.floridabar.org, Sept. 1, 2010.
Attempted strangling, even when the victim blacks out, was no different than a poke in the chest. That flaw in the law bothered Stacy Sharp when he was a deputy for eight years with the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office, where he wrote the agency’s domestic violence policy and field training program. In 2004 he asked his boss, Sheriff Richard Nugent, if he could work on legislation to fix the statute and help write proposed legislation that would make domestic battery involving strangulation a third-degree felony, instead of a misdemeanor. The sheriff calls his former deputy "the driving force" behind the bill Gov. Charlie Crist signed into law in 2007. Coming full circle, the relatively new law was used successfully by the First Circuit State Attorney’s Office in Calhoun County, where Sharp now works as a prosecutor.
--Judiciary--
JUDGE NOW SPLIT BETWEEN FORECLOSURES, CIVIL CASES-- Daily Business Review, http://www.dailybusinessreview.com, Aug. 30, 2010.
Palm Beach County’s only full-time judge in charge of the mountainous foreclosure docket gets a new assignment today. Without entirely releasing her from the foreclosure crisis, Circuit Judge Meenu Sasser will switch to civil cases three days a week. Chief Judge Peter D. Blanc added work in the civil division to her schedule with senior judges working from a per diem budget to relieve Sasser of much of her foreclosure workload.
--Civil Justice Issues--
BATTLE OVER ROTHSTEIN'S ASSETS GOES TO COURT TODAY-- Sun-Sentinel, http://www.sun-sentinel.com, Aug. 30, 2010. [Also: BURNED ROTHSTEIN CLIENTS GET THEIR DAY IN COURT-- The Miami Herald, http://www.miamiherald.com, Aug. 29, 2010].
From the Sun-Sentinel: Federal prosecutors say Scott Rothstein's investors are owed a staggering $317 million in restitution, but one expert in fraud schemes says Rothstein may have left behind only $25 million to $30 million in assets. That means bilked investors might recover 10 cents on the dollar, or less, through the liquidation of Rothstein's fleet of exotic cars, yachts, multimillion-dollar homes and dozens of business interests. Answers could begin to emerge at a Monday court hearing. The federal judge overseeing Rothstein's criminal case, U.S. District Judge James Cohn, is scheduled to begin taking up the main aspects of the restitution process.
FSU ALLOWS SOUTHEAST TO REMAIN SEMINOLES-- The Bradenton Herald, http://www.bradenton.com, Aug. 28, 2010. [Also: SEMINOLE WAR AND PEACE-- Ocala Star Banner, editorial, http://www.ocala.com, Aug. 28, 2010].
The helmets will once again be adorned with spears and, with a proposal made Friday, students at Southeast High School will continue to be known as Seminoles, according to Manatee School Board attorney John Bowen. Bowen met Friday [Aug. 27] with a Florida State University attorney to reach an agreement. The Collegiate Licensing Company, which handles the FSU trademark, sent a cease-and-desist letter Aug. 16 to Southeast High, demanding an end to the use of its logo, the spear design and the word Noles. The agreement will include the school paying $1 per year for use of the name and images, Bowen said.
--Criminal Justice Issues--
TRY MANDATORY SENTENCING ALTERNATIVES-- Orlando Sentinel, http://www.orlandosentinel.com, Aug. 30, 2010. [Also: SENTENCING LAWS: 'GET TOUGH' GETS EXPENSIVE-- The Ledger, http://www.theledger.com, Aug. 28, 2010].
From the Orlando Sentinel: After a diverticulitis attack, Scott Earle received Vicodin to dull his pain. Days later, his roommate introduced him to a woman at a local pub. After learning Mr. Earle had a stash of prescription drugs, she persuaded him to share some for her bad back. Over time, she pressed for more. After his prescription lapsed, he introduced her to a friend who began to sell her increasing amounts of pills -- eventually more than 100 tablets at a time. Only, the woman was an undercover cop. Mr. Earle was pinched on felony drug trafficking and conspiracy charges. Though he never sold a single pill nor made a dime off the deals, Florida's mandatory minimum laws stuck him with a 25-year sentence. . . . Mr. Earle's story illustrates not only why the state's prisons have become bloated, but also how Florida has become a fiscal prisoner to its tough-on-crime laws. Already saddled with one of America's fastest growing prison populations, state lawmakers must make reforming mandatory minimum laws a priority."
--Other--
PIONEERING LAW PROFESSOR DIES AT 65-- Daily Business Review, http://www.dailybusinessreview.com, Aug. 27, 2010.
Prominent attorney and University of Miami law professor Bruce J. Winick has died of cancer. The former American Civil Liberties Union lawyer was best known for helping develop a humanistic approach to law, deemed "therapeutic jurisprudence," which recognizes the effect of law on people’s emotions and psyche. Winick died Thursday [Aug. 26], a few days before his 66th birthday. In a Florida Supreme Court case in 1978, Winick and then-wife Terry L. DeMeo represented the ACLU and helped overturn The Florida Board of Bar Examiners' rule forbidding openly gay attorneys from being licensed in Florida.
PLANT CITY MAYOR HONORS MEMORY OF LONGTIME ATTORNEY-- The Tampa Tribune, http://www.tbo.com, Aug. 28, 2010.
Plant City Mayor Dan Raulerson paid tribute last week to Plant City High School graduate and prominent Tampa attorney Warren M. Cason, who died July 15. Cason was 85. Raulerson presented a proclamation to Cason's family that praised him for his community, business and educational service.
[Revised: 08-31-2010]
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