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.
July 2, 2009
--The Florida Bar--
OUTGOING BAR PRESIDENT HONORS CHIEF JUSTICE, TWO SOUTH FLORIDA ATTORNEYS-- Daily Business Review, http://www.dailybusinessreview.com, July 2, 2009.
In one of his last official acts as president of The Florida Bar, West Palm Beach litigator and outgoing Bar President John “Jay” White III bestowed the 2009 president's Award of Merit upon Miami litigator David Bill Rothman, West Palm Beach attorney Gregory William Coleman and Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Peggy A. Quince. White also honored Fort Lauderdale transactional attorney Adele Stone with the G. Kirk Haas Humanitarian Award. Stone is president of the Florida Bar Foundation and is the law partner and wife of Jesse Diner, president of The Florida Bar.
--Legal Profession--
FAMU LAW SCHOOL SOON MAY GET FULLY ACCREDITED-- Orlando Sentinel, http://www.orlandosentinel.com, July 2, 2009.
Florida A&M University's law school, located in downtown Orlando, has received a key endorsement in its campaign to win crucial certification of its education program. An American Bar Association committee is recommending full accreditation for the nearly 7-year-old school after an inspection earlier this year, the school and the ABA have confirmed. A separate ABA panel that has final say in law-school accreditation is scheduled to meet July 30-31 in Chicago and could vote on the recommendation at that time. The panel is not required to follow the recommendation, but school officials said Wednesday [July 1] that they expect the vote to go in their favor.
FINDING DEBT A BIGGER HURDLE THAN BAR EXAM-- Ocala Star Banner, http://www.ocala.com, July 2, 2009.
The article is from The New York Times. All his life, Robert Bowman wanted to be a lawyer. He overcame a troubled childhood, a tragic accident that nearly cost him a leg and a debilitating Jet Ski collision. He put himself through community college, worked and borrowed heavily to help pay for college, graduate school and even law school. He took the New York bar examination four times, passing it last year. In January, the committee of New York lawyers that reviews applications for admission to the bar interviewed Bowman, studied his history and the debt he had amassed, and called his persistence remarkable. It recommended his approval. However, a group of five state appellate judges decided this spring that his student loans were too big and his efforts to repay them too meager for him to be a lawyer.
--Judiciary--
FLORIDA ELECTRONIC COURT FILING STANDARDS SET-- Daily Business Review, http://www.dailybusinessreview.com, July 2, 2009.
The article is from The Associated Press. Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Peggy Quince has adopted statewide standards for implementing an electronic court filing system. Quince issued an administrative order Wednesday [July 1] to comply with a new law that requires court clerks throughout Florida to implement electronic filing by Oct. 1. The standards cover everything from the size of electronic type that must be used to computer security requirements.
--Civil Justice Issues--
APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS FLORIDA POLLING PLACE LAW-- The Bradenton Herald, http://www.bradenton.com, July 2, 2009.
The article is from The Associated Press. A federal appellate court has upheld a Florida law banning petition gathering within 100 feet of polling places. Secretary of State Kurt Browning said Wednesday [July 1] that he's pleased with the ruling. Browning had appealed a trial judge's decision to strike down the law. The American Civil Liberties Union had challenged the law on behalf of groups that wanted to collect petition signatures for a city charter amendment in Fort Myers during the August 2008 primary election.
--Criminal Justice Issues--
FLORIDA JUSTICES HEAR APPEAL OF DEATH ROW KILLER-- The News-Press, http://www.news-press.com, July 2, 2009.
The article is from The Associated Press. A lawyer for a convicted murderer Wednesday [July 1] told the Florida Supreme Court that his client should be spared from execution because new evidence points to a co-defendant as the killer. The justices previously stayed the scheduled May 13 execution of John Richard Marek so a new trial judge could hear his appeal, which includes the argument he should get life in prison -- the same sentence as co-defendant Raymond Wigley. Marek, 47, was convicted of the June 1983 kidnapping, rape and strangulation of Adella Marie Simmons. Wigley, who was killed in prison in 2000, had driven from Texas to Florida with Marek. Each claimed the other had killed the woman. Both were separately convicted of first-degree murder but received different sentences. Marek's appeal is based on new testimony from six witnesses who had been in prison with Wigley. They said Wigley had confessed in conversations they either had with him or overheard.
--Other--
RIVALS FACE ETHICS CHARGES-- Florida Capital News, http://www.floridacapitalnews.com, July 2, 2009. [Also: MISUSE OF STATE AIRCRAFT ALLEGED-- The Tampa Tribune, http://www.tbo.com, July 2, 2009].
From Florida Capital News: Attorney General Bill McCollum and Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, Republican and Democratic rivals respectively in the 2010 race for governor, are now the targets of ethics complaints charging that they used state airplanes for personal travel. Kenneth Quinnell, a member of the Leon County Democratic Executive Committee, filed a complaint Tuesday [June 30] against McCollum charging that some of his flights on state aircraft in the past few years were a, "misuse of his public position." The complaint mirrors one filed June 29 against Sink by Jose Blas Lorenzo, an attorney for the state Department of Education. Lorenzo, a Republican who has received prominent appointments from former Gov. Jeb Bush and Gov. Charlie Crist, accused Sink of "abusive, unauthorized use of state aircraft."
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[Revised:
07-01-2005
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