Florida

Forget Work/Life Balance: All Work Is Great Fun for Some, Says Consultant

Once a litigator, Yolanda Cash Jackson is now a more than full-time lobbyist and she loves it. The 51-year-old partner of Becker & Poliakoff in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., intertwines her work and social life, “relationship building” with a signature smile throughout a jam-packed schedule that could begin with a breakfast…

May 18, 2010 5:55 PM CDT

Ex-Law Firm COO Set to Enter Guilty Plea in Ponzi Case

The former chief operating officer for the law firm of Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein is set to enter a guilty plea. Former COO Debra Villegas has reached a plea deal, a prosececutor told the judge Thursday, the Daily Business Review reports. Villegas was charged in April with conspiracy to commit…

May 14, 2010 11:39 AM CDT

Fla. AG Defends $120K Payment to Expert Now Embroiled in Rentboy Scandal

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum is defending the state’s payment of more than $120,000 for expert witness testimony by an anti-gay psychologist now caught up in the so-called Rentboy scandal. The state had originally planned to pay George Rekers $60,900, but when he exceeded his contracted hours, the total fee…

May 12, 2010 1:40 PM CDT

Would-Be Buyers Ogle Ex-Attorney Scott Rothstein’s Forfeited Classic Sports Cars

As the Daily Pulp blog of the Broward-Palm Beach New Times reports a lawyer’s claim that disgraced ex-attorney Scott Rothstein stole $168 million of his $1.4 billion Ponzi scheme proceeds for his own personal use, there isn’t much doubt where some of the money may have gone. At least a…

May 10, 2010 11:28 PM CDT

Ex-Attorney Antes Up $250 from Garage Sale, Gets 4.5 Years in Client Theft Case

Last month, when a Florida judge delayed sentencing ex-attorney Jessica Miller in a client theft case, he offered a hint about what she might do in the meantime to win a more lenient punishment: Pay back some of the money. Today, when the 32-year-old Miller showed up in court again,…

May 7, 2010 6:23 PM CDT

Twin Who Stands In for Delayed Defendant Brother Gets 179-Day Contempt Term

It must have seemed like a good idea at the time. But a twin who reportedly showed up in a Florida courtroom today for his brother’s scheming to defraud trial when the true defendant was delayed wound up getting a 179-day contempt sentence from Circuit Judge Joseph Bulone, reports the…

May 4, 2010 10:31 PM CDT

Insurers Outraged at Law Firm’s Suits to Collect Very Small Amounts of Money

A Florida law firm doesn’t have many friends amongst insurance companies with a presence in Broward County. That’s because LaBovick & LaBovick has been suing them. Since forming its own collection agency last summer, it has filed more than 1,200 such lawsuits in the Fort Lauderdale-based court, most of them…

May 3, 2010 10:41 PM CDT

Man Accused of Murdering Rothstein Firm Partner Is Incompetent for Trial

The man accused of murdering a Florida attorney from a now-notorious law firm is incompetent to stand trial. Tony Villegas was declared incompetent last month by Broward Circuit Judge Michael Gates, after the prosecution and defense team agreed on medical findings by two forensic psychologists, defense attorney Al Milian tells…

May 3, 2010 9:41 PM CDT

Fla. AG Probes Large Foreclosure Law Firm re Possible ‘False & Misleading’ Mortgage Docs

The attorney general’s office in Florida is investigating a law firm with a high-volume foreclosure practice to determine whether it was in involved in “fabricating and/or presenting false and misleading documents in foreclosure cases,” reports the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.). A spokeswoman for the Tampa-based firm Florida Default Law…

Apr 29, 2010 10:59 PM CDT

$650K Clawback of Rothstein Firm Donations Sought from Fla. GOP, Other Politicians

A bankruptcy trustee in Florida is seeking the return of $650,000 in political contributions made by the former Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler law firm to various politicians and political causes. The largest single clawback, $237,000, is sought from the Republican Party of Florida, reports the Miami Herald. The firm, whose former…

Apr 29, 2010 9:18 PM CDT

Casey Anthony Loses a Lawyer, But Has Plenty Left on Murder Trial Team

Casey Anthony is losing a lawyer from her trial team, after he was placed on involuntary inactive status by the California State Bar because of his alleged mishandling of client trust account money. But even though Todd Macaluso won’t be able to represent Anthony in her upcoming Florida trial over…

Apr 28, 2010 5:09 PM CDT

Ex-Law Firm COO Faces Money-Laundering Conspiracy Case re $1.2B Rothstein Ponzi Scheme

The chief operating officer of the former Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler law firm has been federally charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering concerning the $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme that now-disbarred attorney Scott Rothstein ran from his South Florida law office. Once described by Rothstein as his right-hand woman, Debra Villegas,…

Apr 27, 2010 6:51 PM CDT

Judge Resigns, Avoiding Ethics Probe re Alleged Relationship with Prosecutor

A South Florida judge accused of failing to disclose a close relationship with a prosecutor who was trying a first-degree murder case in her courtroom has resigned her seat on the bench, thus avoiding the need to answer an ethics complaint brought against her by the state Judicial Qualifications Commission.…

Apr 22, 2010 9:05 PM CDT

‘Trial From Hell’: Prosecutor Posts on Facebook; Jurors Text; Bailiff Chats in Deliberations

A recent trial in a Florida felony gun case sounds like a fact pattern out of a law school exam problem: Jurors admittedly were texting and making cell calls during deliberations. A bailiff chatted with members of the deliberating panel during a smoke break, according to St. Lucie County Sheriff’s…

Apr 22, 2010 6:49 PM CDT

Feds Waited Too Long to Pursue In-House Lawyer in False Claims Act Case, Judge Rules

On the eve of trial, a judge dismissed a False Claims Act case against a onetime general counsel of Tenet Health Care Corp., finding that the government waited too long to pursue its case against Christi Sulzbach. A whistle-blower had accused the then-corporate integrity officer as far back as 1997…

Apr 22, 2010 3:58 PM CDT