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.
May 09, 2025
-
The Florida Bar
COOLEY LAW SCHOOL HOLDS SPRING COMMENCEMENT FOR TAMPA BAY CAMPUS
The Florida Bar | Article | May 09, 2025
Graduates of Cooley Law School’s Tampa Bay campus were honored during a commencement ceremony at the New Tampa Performing Arts Center on April 23. Retired 13th Judicial Circuit Judge Perry Little delivered the keynote speech. Little, who served as the longest-tenured judge in the 13th Circuit, spoke on his own experiences to highlight to the graduates that they are not, “traveling this road that nobody else has traveled.” He shared his path from lawyer to judge and offered advice to graduates on how they may best be able to pursue their dreams. Colby Weron, who served as president of the Student Bar Association, was chosen by his peers to deliver the class farewell remarks. The ceremony formalized the conferral of juris doctor degrees on the 31 graduates of Cooley Law School’s Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Class.
-
Judicial Discipline
ORANGE COUNTY JUDGE FACES REPRIMAND
News Service of Florida | Article | May 08, 2025
Orange County Judge Martha Adams will go before the Florida Supreme Court for a public reprimand after an investigation into conduct such as calling an assistant state attorney an “ass” while presiding over a criminal case, a Supreme Court order released Thursday [May 8] said. The order did not set a date for the reprimand. Adams was also accused of other improper comments about the State Attorney’s Office, including an allegation that she talked of making the life of a State Attorney’s Office employee “a shambles.” The Supreme Court approved an agreement, known as a stipulation, reached by Adams and the state Judicial Qualifications Commission, which investigates judicial conduct. “Judge Adams’ comments are well outside the bounds of what is acceptable for members of our judiciary,” the Supreme Court order said. The order was approved in a 6-0 vote, with Justice Jamie Grosshans recused.
-
Judicial Discipline
THREE BROWARD JUDGES’ DISCIPLINARY COMPLAINTS REACH FLORIDA SUPREME COURT
NBC 6 South Florida | Article | May 08, 2025
Three judges serving in Broward County have caught the attention of the Florida Supreme Court, and not in a good way. They are either receiving or being recommended for suspension, including Judge Mardi Levi Cohen who received a 10-day suspension Thursday [May 8]. Cohen is one of two Broward judges who has recently received suspension orders after violating rules about campaigning for office. Judge Stefanie Moon is the other. Gary Farmer, Jr., is the third Broward Judge disciplined in recent orders, after he admitted to cracking what he calls “bad jokes” that others found offensive. While it’s unusual to have three judges from one circuit facing discipline like this all at once, there are more than 90 judges in Broward, 10% of the statewide total and the most of any circuit outside Miami-Dade.
-
Legal Discipline
REFEREE RECOMMENDS FLORIDA SUPREME COURT DISBAR EX-JUDGE
Daily Business Review | Article | May 08, 2025
A referee recommended that the Florida Supreme Court disbar former state court judge Henry George Ferro from the practice of law, asserting in her report that Ferro was guilty of multiple rule violations. Florida’s Eighth Circuit Court Judge Susanne Wilson Bullard filed her referee report this week, which stemmed from multiple alleged incidents of misconduct. In one instance, Ferro allegedly made false claims on social media about a local judicial candidate, alleging without evidence, that the candidate’s daughter received special treatment because of her mother’s current role as a judge and her past role as a prosecutor. In her report, Bullard also alleged that Ferro accepted a retainer fee a former client but failed to file the civil complaint until approximately five months later and referred in detail to multiple incidents in which Ferro directed offensive and profane language at the opposing counsel and made a sexually explicit reference to the opposing party.
-
Civil Justice
UPDATE: FLORIDA PAYS $40K TO TOP WORRELL STAFFER FIRED ON MATERNITY LEAVE
Orlando Sentinel | Article | May 08, 2025
The state will pay $40,000 to Keisha Mulfort, an aide to top prosecutor Monique Worrell who sued after law enforcement officials stormed her house and her new supervisor fired her while she was on maternity leave. Mulfort had served as Worrell’s chief of staff but was terminated one day after Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Andrew Bain to replace the suspended Worrell as Orange-Osceola State Attorney. Orange County deputies arrived at Mulfort’s home during her maternity leave demanding she return agency-issued devices, vehicles and access cards as well as relinquish access to the office’s social media accounts. At the time, she was in contact with the office through her attorney, who had sought to amicably resolve the matter of turning over access to the online profiles. Mulfort’s suit claimed the moves against her violated her rights under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. The Florida Office of the Attorney General negotiated the April 21 settlement agreement in which the State Attorney’s Office denied any wrongdoing.
-
Legal Profession
SYLVIA WALBOLT RETIRES: MORE THAN 60 YEARS OF BREAKING BARRIERS IN LAW
Daily Business Review | Article | May 08, 2025
Sylvia Walbolt, a legal pioneer and Carlton Fields shareholder, has retired after a career spanning more than 60 years, leaving an indelible mark on Florida’s legal landscape. As the first female attorney at Carlton Fields, Walbolt broke barriers in a male-dominated field, arguing for change in Florida’s same-sex marriage and adoption laws, and securing reversals of $1 billion judgments. Joining the firm in 1963 as its 12th lawyer, Walbolt was the sole woman in her University of Florida law school class, graduating first in her class. Later, she became Carlton Fields’ first female partner, a distinction that often came with great anxiety in the early days. Over the decades, Walbolt held groundbreaking roles, including chair of the firm’s Board of Directors, the first female president of the Florida Bar Foundation, the first woman in a leadership position in the ABA Section of Antitrust Law, and the second woman elected to the American College of Trial Lawyers.
-
Legal Profession
JACK HEEKIN, LAWYER TO SEN. SCOTT, NOMINATED TO BECOME U.S. ATTORNEY FOR NORTH FLORIDA
Tallahassee Democrat | Article | May 08, 2025
John “Jack” Heekin, deputy chief of staff and general counsel for U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida, has been tapped as the next U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Florida. President Donald Trump nominated Heekin to the post, according to a statement from Scott’s office. He replaces Michelle Spavin, who was named acting U.S. attorney after Trump’s inauguration. Heekin began his legal career as a prosecutor in Palm Beach County and went on to serve as chief deputy general counsel and then deputy chief of staff under Scott when he was governor. Heekin is also a member of the District of Columbia Bar, the U.S. Supreme Court Bar and the Republican National Lawyers Association, according to his bio on the Federalist Society website. The Northern District of Florida, one of three in the state, spans 23 counties, stretching from Pensacola through Panama City and Tallahassee and south to Gainesville.
-
Legal Profession
ROMAN MARTINEZ SHARES AN INSIDE VIEW OF U.S. SUPREME COURT
Jacksonville Daily Record | Article | May 09, 2025
At the 2025 Jacksonville Bar Association Law Day lunch and meeting May 1, keynote speaker Roman Martinez shared his perspectives on the nation’s highest court from behind the scenes as a law clerk and what it is like to stand in front of the nine justices while arguing a case. Martinez is the global chair of the Supreme Court and Appellate Practice at Latham & Watkins in Washington, D.C. Martinez has argued 15 cases in the Supreme Court, including cases in the fields of the First Amendment, administrative arbitration, copyright, patent law, criminal law, civil rights, employment and civil and criminal procedure. “Being a law clerk for Chief Justice (John) Roberts was a dream apprenticeship for a young lawyer,” he said. “I enjoyed clerkship so much that I decided to practice appellate law. Being in front of the court is fun,” Martinez said.