Florida

Starting at $40K, FL Jobs a Stepping-Stone

Young attorneys working as assistant prosecutors and public defenders in South Florida make only about $40,000 annually when they first start work. So, within five years, most have moved on to other jobs. In Broward and Miami-Dade counties, roughly 20 percent a year depart for greener work assignments elsewhere, and…

Sep 11, 2007 7:01 PM CDT

Claim of Midnight Trip Delays Noriega Extradition

A federal judge has delayed the extradition of former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega to France following a defense claim that the government planned to sneak him out of the country to avoid further litigation. Noriega has served a U.S. sentence for narcotics trafficking and was awaiting extradition to France for…

Sep 6, 2007 12:44 PM CDT

FL County Fires Attorney Over Land Deal

A longtime attorney for a county on Florida’s Gulf Coast has lost her job over her involvement as a legal adviser in a controversial land deal between Pinellas County and its property appraiser. Susan Churuti, 52, admitted at a meeting today that she could have better handled the matter—in which…

Sep 5, 2007 12:21 AM CDT

FL Lawyer to Plead in Corruption Case

A Florida lawyer whose job as Broward Sheriff made him one of the most powerful political figures in the Miami area has resigned and reportedly plans to plead guilty to federal corruption charges. Sources said Ken Jenne, 60, decided yesterday to plead guilty to tax evasion “and mail-fraud conspiracy charges…

Sep 4, 2007 4:27 PM CDT

Law Grad Wins Case, Keeps on Truckin’

A would-be lawyer with a green pickup has succeeded in overturning a Florida city ordinance that barred him from parking overnight in residential areas. Lowell Kuvin, who is waiting for bar exam results after graduating from Miami’s University of St. Thomas School of Law, won his case last week before…

Aug 31, 2007 2:40 PM CDT

Was Judge’s Opinion Unethical?

Should a judge face an ethics complaint based simply on what he writes in a court opinion? No way, says Bruce Rogow, a law professor at Florida’s Nova Southeastern University. But attorney Wally Pope says the answer to that question depends on what the opinion says. The two lawyers are…

Aug 30, 2007 7:01 PM CDT

Stop Sign Issue Halts Divorce Case

There were some unexpected legal developments today in a long-running divorce battle in South Florida. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Paul Siegel apparently blew a stop sign and drove into a local intersection, colliding with a vehicle driven by former Miami Mayor Joe Carollo. Carollo had been scheduled to appear before the…

Aug 30, 2007 12:18 AM CDT

Astronaut Nowak Claims Insanity

Former astronaut Lisa Nowak is expected to claim insanity in her trial for attacking a romantic rival with pepper spay in an Orlando parking lot. A notice made public yesterday states that Nowak has major depressive disorder, obsessive-compulsive behavior, severe insomnia and Asperger’s syndrome, the Orlando Sentinel reports. Asperger’s makes…

Aug 29, 2007 1:34 PM CDT

No Jury Duty for Janet Reno

These days, it isn’t all that unusual for a lawyer, or even a judge, to serve on a jury. But there are still a few justice system figures who apparently can still expect to be eliminated from the prospective panel pretty quickly. Among them: former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno,…

Aug 27, 2007 10:15 PM CDT

Law Firm Grants Scholarship—and Summer Job

A major international law firm that started out in Florida has endowed a scholarship at one of the state’s law schools that not only pays a second-year student’s tuition but guarantees him or her a summer job. Holland & Knight hopes that its law school scholarship at historically African-American Florida…

Aug 24, 2007 8:09 PM CDT

FL Condo Fraud Squad Nabs Board Prez

Stealing $50,000 doesn’t put the perpetrator on the FBI’s Most-Wanted list. But an alleged embezzlement of that amount by a condominium board president is big news in South Florida. That’s because such crimes apparently aren’t unusual among the state’s many condominium associations, and fed-up condominium residents are hailing efforts to…

Aug 24, 2007 5:22 PM CDT

New Backdating Allegations

Lawsuits filed by shareholders of Citrix Systems in a Florida federal court contend the software company granted backdated stock options that gave windfalls to company executives. The company has notified the Securities and Exchange Commission it is investigating its practices regarding grants of stock options, the Daily Business Review reports.…

Aug 24, 2007 12:11 PM CDT

New Legal Strategy for Star Student in Deportation Case

With a lot of help from his friends and well-wishers, a star Miami student facing deportation with his family for overstaying their visitor visa has developed a new legal strategy. Juan Gomez, 18, his 19-year-old brother and their parents may have a good chance of successfully reopening their asylum petition,…

Aug 23, 2007 5:12 PM CDT

FL Firm Loses Malpractice Appeal

A Florida appeals court has upheld a $1.04 million malpractice verdict against a law firm sued by heirs of the Gannett newspaper fortune. The suit claimed Gunster Yoakley & Stewart hired firm client JPMorgan to do estate planning work for Charles V. McAdam Jr., driving up the costs of estate…

Aug 23, 2007 11:11 AM CDT

Law Students Worried About FAMU

Concerned about perceived problems, law students at Florida A & M University are criticizing—and in some cases leaving—the five-year-old taxpayer-funded institution. Vilma Martinez, for instance, has transferred from FAMU, in the state’s center, to Stetson University College of Law, on Florida’s gulf coast near her native Tampa, starting classes there…

Aug 22, 2007 7:09 PM CDT