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 12, 2023
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The Florida Bar
FREE TRUST ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE NOW AVAILABLE
The Florida Bar | Article | September 12, 2023
Florida lawyers now have free access to Nota – a financial platform designed to help small law firms and solo lawyers manage trust accounts and adhere to accounting requirements. Nota has been added to The Florida Bar’s Member Benefits lineup and addresses the need for a simplified, seamless, and efficient trust accounting platform. Trust account maintenance and compliance is critically important. Lawyers who agree to hold money in trust have an ethical obligation to account for every penny as long as the funds remain in their possession. And while most attorneys diligently comply with Rules Regulating Trust Accounts (Chapter 5), trust accounting violations have ranked among the top three most common disciplinary complaints over the past four years. Nota’s platform provides attorneys with total visibility into their bank accounts along with full integration into law firm workflows. To access the platform, visit www.trustnota.com/TheFloridaBar.
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The Florida Bar
APPLICANTS SOUGHT FOR STATE REALTOR-ATTORNEY COMMITTEE
Jacksonville Daily Record | Article | September 12, 2023
The Florida Bar Board of Governors seeks seven attorneys, one from each state appellate district and one at-large member, to serve two-year terms beginning Jan. 1, 2024, on the Florida Realtor-Attorney Joint Committee. The Florida Bar president receives the recommendations of the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section for consideration. The joint committee comprises 13 attorney members appointed by The Florida Bar and 13 Realtor/broker members appointed by Florida Realtors. The joint committee promotes cordial relations between Realtors, licensed brokers and attorneys and organizes educational seminars. Attorneys interested in applying for a vacancy may visit The Florida Bar website for details. Completed applications must be received by 5 p.m. Oct. 23.
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Civil Justice
ATTORNEYS ASK FLORIDA’S CONGRESSIONAL MAP BE FAST-TRACKED TO STATE SUPREME COURT
Florida Politics | Article | September 11, 2023
Parties in a lawsuit that could remake Florida’s congressional map want an appeal fast-tracked to the state Supreme Court. Attorneys for minority advocacy groups suing over cartography and state counsel defending the maps jointly filed a court request saying the case needs to be resolved as soon as possible. The document was filed days after Leon Circuit Judge Lee Marsh ruled Florida’s current map violates the state constitution. Attorneys for both sides reached a stipulation agreement before a scheduled trial. The hope for both sides in the agreement was to reach a conclusion before every Florida congressional office goes up for re-election again in 2024. Regardless of the stipulation agreement reached in circuit court, the matter had to be appealed first to the First District Court of Appeal. Attorneys for both sides, though, asked appellate judges to simply certify Judge Marsh’s order and allow an appeal to advance immediately to the Florida Supreme Court.
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Civil Justice
APPEAL REJECTED IN EX-FLORIDA REGULATOR LAWSUIT
News Service of Florida | Article | September 11, 2023
A panel of the First District Court of Appeal on Monday [Sept. 11] upheld a circuit judge’s decision rejecting a lawsuit filed by former Florida Office of Financial Regulation Commissioner Ronald Rubin against a lobbyist over Rubin’s 2019 firing. The three-judge panel did not detail its reasons, but the court also issued a separate order that said lobbyist R. Paul Mitchell “is entitled to recover reasonable attorney’s fees and court costs because Appellant (Rubin) pursued an appeal which was without substantial fact or legal support.” Rubin, who was fired from his regulatory post after a controversy that included sexual-harassment accusations, filed a lawsuit against Mitchell, alleging tortious interference, defamation and violation of the Florida Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization, or RICO, Act. The state Financial Services Commission hired Rubin in early 2019. Rubin disputed the sexual-harassment accusations, which he contends Mitchell used to help get him fired after a falling-out about issues such as the hiring of a general counsel for the agency.
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Criminal Justice
FLORIDA URGES USE OF ‘MARSY’S LAW’ TO MAKE IT HARDER FOR DEATH ROW INMATES TO HALT EXECUTIONS
News Service of Florida | Article | September 11, 2023
Nearly five years after voters passed “Marsy’s Law,” a constitutional amendment about victims’ rights, Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office Monday [Sept. 11] urged the Florida Supreme Court to use the measure to make it harder for death row inmates to get stays of execution. Moody’s office cited the amendment in a document arguing that the Supreme Court should reject a request by inmate Michael Duane Zack for a stay of his scheduled Oct. 3 execution. If the Supreme Court agrees with the Marsy’s Law argument, it would “heighten” a standard used in determining whether to grant stays after death warrants have been signed, according to the document. “The Marsy’s Law amendments to the Florida Constitution require Florida’s courts to modify the stay-of-execution standard to account for the victims’ rights to be free from unreasonable delay and prompt finality,” Moody’s office argued. But Maria DeLiberato, executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, called the state’s approach “a stretch” and pointed to already-existing procedural rules in appeals.
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Civil Justice
APPEALS COURT WON’T REHEAR FLORIDA ONLINE SPORTS BETTING CASE
Click Orlando | Article | September 11, 2023
A federal appeals court on Monday [Sept. 11] denied a request to rehear a case intended to stop online sports betting in Florida, but whether that means sports betting is finally coming to Florida is not clear. West Flagler Associates has been trying to stop a state compact with the Seminole Tribe that would allow online sports betting on tribal lands. Back in June an appeals court panel sided with the U.S. Department of the Interior that the federal government followed the rules when it allowed the Seminole Tribe to enter a compact with the state of Florida in 2021. West Flagler Associates unsuccessfully filed a petition for an en banc hearing, which would have brought the case before the full appeals court circuit in Washington. This leaves West Flagler Associates with two options — petition the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case or turn to the state courts.
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Civil Justice
LAWSUITS ALLEGE CLEARWATER POLICE RACIALLY PROFILED BLACK MAN IN WRONGFUL ARREST
Tampa Bay Times | Article | September 11, 2023
Clearwater police officers racially profiled a Black man they wrongfully arrested in a burglary case, two lawsuits filed in federal court in Tampa say. Clearwater officers arrested Jacques LaPread on June 20, 2019 on burglary and credit card fraud charges. Five months later, after concluding its own investigation, the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney’s Office decided not to pursue charges out of concerns about the identification of the suspect. LaPread filed a lawsuit in March against then-Clearwater Police Chief Dan Slaughter in his capacity in that role after attempts to resolve the matter outside of court were unsuccessful, his attorneys said. The lawsuit was initially filed in Pinellas-Pasco circuit civil court but was transferred to federal court in April. LaPread also filed a lawsuit in June against the Clearwater Police Department and the three officers in Florida’s Middle District federal court. Both lawsuits are currently pending in federal court.
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Legal Profession
FLA. FIRMS STAY MUM ON THE STATUS OF DEI INITIATIVES IN THE WAKE OF SUITS OVER DIVERSITY FELLOWSHIPS
Daily Business Review | Article | September 11, 2023
In the wake of lawsuits targeting two Am Law firms’ DEI programs, Florida’s largest firms are stepping carefully around the subject of their own diversity initiatives, an approach that may reflect the contentious politics of their home state. Perkins Coie and Morrison & Foerster are facing lawsuits organized by conservative activist Edward Blum, the architect behind the lawsuit that ended affirmative action in June. The lawsuits claim that “heterosexual and nondisabled applicants are disqualified if they are white” from the firms’ 1L fellowship programs. Despite any progress in diversifying law firms, data shows that many are still predominantly run by one narrow demographic. After interest in DEI efforts spiked during the George Floyd protests, some are viewing the lawsuits as a litmus test for whether firms are actually committed to DEI initiatives. While Florida’s Am Law firms largely stay quiet on the subject, it may be hard to tell which ones are cutting back on their programs. But it does show how careful those firms have to be to navigate the state’s political climate.
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Legal Profession
ORLANDO ATTORNEY LEADS RELIEF EFFORTS FOR EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS IN MOROCCO
WESH | Article | September 11, 2023
Orlando Attorney Amal Laassel is turning her law firm into a donation drop-off site to help earthquake victims. Laassel, a Moroccan American, said she cannot sit back and watch as their home country suffers from the devastating earthquake, which hit on Friday night [Sept. 8]. “My family is directly affected. People I know, people I love, people I grew up with,” she said. “Seeing people in the rubble, and children and villages that have lost almost all of the men, the main providers left with only women and children. These people need help.” So Laassel plans to help. So far, she has raised over $40,000 on her GoFundMe. She said she and her team plan to personally travel to Morocco on Saturday [Sept. 16] to ensure that the money and donations end up with the people who need help.
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Tech Tip
INSERT ONLINE VIDEOS IN ONENOTE FOR WINDOWS 10
The Florida Bar | Tech Tip | September 12, 2023
Adding videos to your notes in OneNote is a great way to create interactive notebooks that you can share with or distribute to others. You can embed videos from a variety of sources, with more options on the way. Copy any video link from your preferred video source (for example, open a video on YouTube and then copy its URL from your browser’s Address bar by pressing “Ctrl+C”). Then, go to the page in OneNote where you want to insert the video, and then press “Ctrl + V” to paste it. You can either click the link to view at its source or click the embedded video to watch it directly on the page.