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.
August 02, 2024
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The Florida Bar
FLORIDA BAR OPENS NOMINATIONS FOR 2025 PRO BONO SERVICE AWARDS
The Florida Bar | Article | August 02, 2024
The Florida Bar has issued a call for nominations for the annual pro bono service awards, which honor lawyers, judges, law firms, and associations that have contributed extraordinary pro bono service. Every year, in a ceremonial session of the Florida Supreme Court, more than two dozen lawyers and judges are honored by the court and The Florida Bar for the free legal assistance they have provided. The 2025 pro bono service awards ceremony will be held at the Florida Supreme Court at 3:30 p.m., Thursday, January 16. Nomination forms are available now and must be received by 5:30 p.m., October 4.
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Legal Discipline
BAR REPORT: FLORIDA SUPREME COURT DISCIPLINES 11 ATTORNEYS, ONE IN PALM BEACH
Palm Beach Post | Article | August 02, 2024
The Florida Supreme Court recently disciplined 11 attorneys who had been practicing within the state of Florida, disbarring four, revoking the license of one, suspending five and reprimanding one. The attorneys represent law practices from across the state. Disbarred lawyers may not reapply for admission for five years and are required to undergo a rigorous background check, as well as retake the Bar exam. Among the lawyers disbarred in recent orders are Frank T. Noska, of Palm Beach, Daniel Newton Brodersen, of Orlando, Miguel Fernando Mirabal, of Coral Gables, and John Spencer Jenkin, of Fort Lauderdale. Winter Park attorney John William Dill’s license was revoked.
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Legal Discipline
LAWYER FACES STATE INVESTIGATION AFTER FIRM SUDDENLY CLOSES OFFICES IN POLK COUNTY
Lakeland Ledger | Article | August 01, 2024
A law firm specializing in representing elders has abruptly closed its offices in Lakeland, Lake Wales and Sebring. Family Elder Law provided no warning before shuttering the offices on July 18, a relative of a client said. A spokesperson for The Florida Bar says the Bar has opened an investigation into the firm’s owner, Jason Penrod. As of Thursday [Aug. 1], the website for Family Elder Law is only accessible by password, and calls to the firm’s main phone number are directed to a recording telling callers the firm is “in the process of closing its operations.” The greeting asked clients to contact the firm by email, saying, “We will do our best to respond in a timely manner.” The recording also gave a phone number for The Florida Bar, the organization that oversees all lawyers in the state.
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Legal Discipline
‘NEVER HAPPENED’: STATE DROPS CHARGES AGAINST DEFENSE ATTORNEY HAL UHRIG
WFTV | Article | July 31, 2024
Charges against prominent defense attorney Hal Uhrig, who had been accused of committing perjury and tampering with a witness, have been dropped. The charges stemmed from Uhrig’s representation of a client accused of raping a young girl. Sheriff Marcos Lopez said that in a meeting between Uhrig, Uhrig’s client, the victim and the victim’s father, Uhrig urged the girl to write a letter stating the rape never happened and even said they had Uhrig on a wire. Now, Uhrig, a once prominent attorney whose resume includes serving as the lead defense attorney in the nation’s first four DNA evidence trials, is doing what he can to get his reputation back. Uhrig did have to do a 90-day diversion program, which allowed the case to be closed. He is still facing an investigation by The Florida Bar. As for the case involving the alleged rape suspect, that case is ongoing, but Uhrig is no longer involved.
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Civil Justice
IN REVERSING CASE, STATE APPELLATE COURT REFERS MATTER TO FLORIDA RULES COMMITTEE
Daily Business Review | Article | August 01, 2024
Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal Wednesday [July 31] reversed and remanded an action from the Miami-Dade County Court involving a sales dispute in which the judges also referred the matter to The Florida Bar’s Small Claims Rules Committee. The ruling stems from a dispute involving an agreement to sell used kitchen cabinets and countertops. A trial court initially dismissed plaintiff Arlene Hanna’s claim, saying there was no valid contract between the parties, based on Florida’s statute of frauds. After the dismissal, Hanna filed a motion arguing that the trial court had misapplied the statute of frauds. However, she filed it under Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.540, which only allows for very limited reasons to vacate a judgment, leading the trial court to deny Hanna’s motion because it did not meet the criteria. In Wednesday’s opinion the Third DCA instructed the trial court to reconsider Hanna’s motion under Rule 7.180 and also instructed The Florida Bar’s Small Claims Rules Committee to consider clarifying the rules to avoid similar issues in the future.
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Legal Profession
JUSTICE DELAYED: THE IMPACT OF FLORIDA’S PUBLIC ATTORNEY SHORTAGE
WTSP | Article | August 01, 2024
Right now, 577 assistant state attorney and public defender jobs are sitting vacant across Florida, leading to significant delays in getting cases into courtrooms and more plea deals instead of trials. Across the state, Florida has had a 95% increase in assistant state attorney job vacancies over the past decade. Assistant public defender vacancies have increased by 157%. Miami-Dade County’s State Attorney’s Office has the largest number of attorney vacancies: 105 open spots. Most public attorneys who responded to a survey sent by WTSP said the number one reason lawyers leave is low salary. Burnout and heavy workloads also came up frequently. More than a quarter of public defender and state attorney’s offices that responded to the survey told us understaffing and turnover are leading to more plea deals, and more than half said these issues are causing delays in resolving people’s cases.
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Legal Profession
LAW IS ABOUT LOVE, ACTUALLY: FORTUNATELY, THE BEST LAWYERS ARE LOVERS
Jacksonville Daily Record | Article | August 01, 2024
Nicholas Allard, Founding Randall C. Berg Jr. Jacksonville University College of Law Dean, writes: “The essence of law, equality and justice is respect, compassion, care, wanting and providing for the well-being of other people. Good lawyering often involves empathy which can be painful, loving others more than oneself, and even sacrifice. All of that, in a word, is love. In 1776, future President John Adams, one of the great lawyers in early America, captured that loving feeling when he explained the need for a new government of laws ‘instituted for the common good, for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people, and not profit, honor or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men.’”