The purpose of this summary provided by the Communications Department of The Florida Bar is to present media coverage that may be of interest to members. Opinions expressed in the articles are attributable solely to the authors. The Florida Bar does not adopt or endorse any opinions expressed below. For information on previous articles, please contact the publishing newspaper directly.
September 10, 2024
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The Florida Bar
POLICY AND RULE DISCUSSIONS TO HIGHLIGHT BOARD’S SEPTEMBER MEETING
The Florida Bar | Article | September 10, 2024
When it meets September 20, The Florida Bar Board of Governors will begin the process of revising a number of Bar policies and rules. The board will review, on first reading, a proposed revision to Standing Board Policy 3.30 (Guidelines for Bar Endorsements/Participation Program). The proposed revision would apply to subdivision (a)(foremost factors to review) for participation in the Member Benefits Program, limiting them to items that would “result in a significant and unique benefit to the members of the bar and whether the products and services are germane to the regulation of the legal profession and the improvement of legal services.” A staff analysis notes that proposal is based, in part, on a “changing federal legal landscape” in which mandatory bars are facing First Amendment challenges. It also notes that the Bar has been “vigilantly monitoring those cases,” and conducted a thorough analysis with outside counsel “on our areas of risk.”
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Legal Discipline
JACKSONVILLE ATTORNEY’S LICENSE REVOKED
Jacksonville Daily Record | Article | September 10, 2024
Among the five attorneys disciplined in recent Florida Supreme Court orders, one, Shaquandra Arita Woods, practices in Jacksonville. In an Aug. 22 court order Woods received disciplinary revocation with leave to reapply for admission. On Feb. 2, 2022, Woods was indicted on four counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and other charges arising from her role in a wide-ranging COVID-19 relief fraud scheme. On Dec. 8, 2023, Woods was found guilty by a jury of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1349. Woods may apply for readmission in five years and is ordered to reimburse The Florida Bar $1,360.70 for costs related to revocation of her license to practice law. The conviction is on appeal.
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Criminal Justice
DISBARRED MIAMI ATTORNEY CONVICTED OF PRODUCING CHILD PORN GETS 16 YEARS IN PRISON
Miami Herald | Article | September 09, 2024
Disbarred Miami attorney William Power McCaughan Jr., who once worked as a state prosecutor and then as a civil trial lawyer, is serving 16 years in prison after pleading guilty to producing child pornography involving online chat rooms with teenage boys, according to federal court records. McCaughan faced up to 30 years in prison at his sentencing in Miami federal court; instead, U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz imposed a term slightly longer than the minimum-mandatory 15-year sentence for the internet child porn offense. McCaughan’s federal child porn case was filed in July of last year when he was working as an attorney for the Morgan Law Group in Coral Gables. The initial charges against McCaughan dealt with receiving child porn images over the internet, leading to the revocation of his law license for five years by the Florida Supreme Court in December. But in February, federal prosecutors upped the charges to include production of child porn images, a more serious offense.
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Legal Profession
MIAMI’S CONTROVERSIAL FORMER CITY ATTORNEY WAS NAMED PARTNER AT THIS FLORIDA LAW FIRM
Miami Herald | Article | September 09, 2024
On Monday [Sept. 9], local law firm Shutts & Bowen announced Victoria Méndez has joined the Miami office as a partner working in land use and zoning law. The announcement comes just months after she was ousted from her post as the city of Miami’s top municipal lawyer. She retired in June after she was effectively fired in January when the commission extended her contract for just five months. Méndez spent three years as prosecutor before a 20-year career at City Hall, rising through the ranks and, toward the end of her tenure, attracting controversy. She is accused of abusing her position to orchestrate a house-flipping scheme with her husband, according to a lawsuit that is pending in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. (Méndez has denied those allegations.) The Florida Bar is investigating her in connection with allegations in the lawsuit and her behavior during a City Commission meeting in January, when she called local filmmaker and frequent City Hall critic Billy Corben a “vile little man” during a public hearing.
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Legal Profession
AFTER UNANTICIPATED SLOW START OF YEAR, LAW FIRMS ARE LEFT WAITING FOR M&A REBOUND
Daily Business Review | Article | September 09, 2024
In the first half of the year Southeast-based law firms reported a 10.4% revenue boost even as transactional activity remained muted, according to a report from Citi. Out of the 11 regions surveyed, the Southeast ranked in fourth place in terms of revenue increase. The bump came thanks to higher billing rates and a modestly lengthening collection cycle, according to Citi senior client specialist Gloria Gomez-O’Rourke. Firms based in the Southeast also reported higher demand and expenses than the national average while productivity fell short of the national average. “It wasn’t the sort of stellar year that [law firms] were expecting, but all that pent up energy is going to come and I think that that’s what people are expecting for next year,” Gomez-O’Rourke said.