A hint at things to come

I'll let this story speak for itself.

Excerpts:

Two Manatee County sheriff's deputies spent the past five months targeting the upper hierarchy of the county's largest street gang, hoping to strike a fatal blow to the group....
But a new law meant to save the state $70 million could jeopardize the prosecution of some of the alleged gang members caught in the sweep. Few lawyers will take the state's offer of $2,000 to defend the suspects in a case likely to drag on for months.

And without defense lawyers, the case will go nowhere, criminal justice leaders say....
Walt Smith, the court administrator for the judicial circuit that includes Manatee and Sarasota counties, even took a rare step and called lawyers asking them to take on the complex case.

"So far there are no takers," Smith told the area's top justice leaders at a meeting last week.

Under the old law, state payment for defense lawyers was not lavish. They could get $60 to $75 an hour, plus compensation for expenses....
In Manatee County, there are only five lawyers left who will take the public defense cases. Those lawyers were assigned to the case, but there is one defendant who still does not have a lawyer and three yet to be arrested, Smith said.

emphasis added.

Quiet blogging

There hasn't been a new post here in a couple of days simply because I've been busy with important matters, both professional and personal. That is not to say that there have been no developments in the ongoing process of putting together the new Regional Counsel system.

I'll have more comments soon on the 15 candidates for the Regional Counsel slots after some more gathering of information.

The DependencyDefense.com site proper is almost ready to move toward my vision for it. I intend it to be a place with resources for those in Florida who are involved in dependency defense. I'm putting together a library of case law of particular interest, and already have a message board ready to go as soon as I think there are enough people who want to join it. The message board will be password protected and sections will not be visible by the public so that private defense attorneys and even employees of the Regional Counsel can trade ideas on dependency defense.

A handful of private lawyers have asked to be included in the directory, which is not yet part of the website. I'm encouraged by that, since the website is not advertised in any way and yet some have found it and responded.

On another note, I was talking with one of the attorneys who had been on our local rotation list who is moving on, and it really started to hit home that the loss of a large pool of legal talent and experience has already happened under this new system. Locally, most of the really good attorneys (with exceptions, of course) have decided to do something else and no longer defend parents in dependency cases. It was never really lucrative to begin with, and something that took an almost inexplicable enthusiasm for an undervalued specialty in the law.

I think that once that talent and experience is engaged in other work in order to save what most often are small practices, it will be lost for good. That's the point of DependencyDefense.com, and not just this blog: I want to help preserve what's left.

I'll have more interesting posts up by the end of the weekend about some reports I've gotten about the JNC interviews and items of interest about some of the remaining nominees.

Q&A on Senate Bill 1088

The JAC website has put up a pdf file list of questions and answers about how things will work for court-appointed counsel. I admit that, even though I pay someone to help me with my billing, sorting out what gets billed at what rate depending upon when I was appointed or when the case reached disposition, or converted from a dependency to a TPR case, remains confusing, but the answers all seem to be here at this linked document.

Of particular interest is the dependency section on page 15.

Also of interest is what seems to be the answer to the question of what happens if the new Offices of Regional Counsel aren't really up and running come October 1:

"For appointments on or after October 1, 2007, through December 31, 2007, the court may appoint private counsel without referring the case to Regional Counsel, only if the court makes a written finding that Regional Counsel is not sufficiently operational at the time of appointment to assume representation for that particular case"

The names of nominees for Regional Counsel confirmed

The information I got and posted here was, indeed, accurate. This press release says that the Governor has sixty days to choose the five Regional Counsels. Let's hope for their sake that the Governor makes the selections a bit sooner than that, as sixty days would give the new Regional Counsels exactly one week to set up a multi-state, multi-responsibility law firm completely from scratch.

Initial impressions on the Regional Counsel Nominees

In news that I believe was first posted here, the JNC has whittled down the 34 applicants for Regional Counsel(s) to 15, as reported in the post below.

The first thing that jumps out at me is that some of the nominees no longer seem to live where they lived when they filled out their applications, or else have committed to relocating if selected.

A full one-third of the nominees (unless I am just lousy with a map) are nominated to possibly serve as Regional Counsel in a different region than the one they currently report to the Florida Bar as their place of work.

Most notably, District 3 had to import an applicant from District 2 and another from District 4 to make up the desired three finalists (sorry, Mr. George -- we thought you had it clinched). In other news, either both Maitland and Tallahassee are now under the 2nd DCA, and Pensacola under the 5th (and so on), or else six out of the fifteen nominees have declared their willingness to move if they get the job.

I'm surprised at that, given the salary offered for the job, and surprised at at least one of the names that is not on the list.

We'll keep you posted. Anyone with anything more to report can reach DependencyDefense.com at cam - at - dependencydefense.com

The Nominees for Regional Counsel

The Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC), after interviews last Thursday and Friday, has settled on the names to pass on to the Governor for the five "Offices of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel".

What I believe to be a reliable source tells me that these are the finalists, by region:

FIRST DISTRICT
Jeffries Duvall
Jeffrey Lewis
John Tomasino

SECOND DISTRICT
Ngozi Acholonu
Jackson Flyte
Michael Reiter

THIRD DISTRICT
Mariza de Guzman Cobb
Joseph George
Belinda Noah

FOURTH DISTRICT
Richard Fetterer
Jennifer Hixson
Philip Massa

FIFTH DISTRICT
Joseph D’Achille
Jeffrey Deen
George Stopp

A conversation with one of the candidates

One of the candidates for one of the five Regional Counsel positions contacted the author of this blog wanting to chat about dependency issues prior to his interview with the JNC. I won't disclose who the gentleman is at this point, but I can say that it was a very worthwhile phone conversation that I just had with him. If he ends up being named as one of the Regional Counsels, the publication of this blog and starting DependencyDefense.com will have been well worth it, in my opinion.

Why? Because in the process of reviewing the candidates in the two posts below, it is clear that those with significant dependency defense experience are in the minority. Given the scope of the duties of the Regional Counsels, this is no surprise. All the more reason, then, that I appreciate a candidate who is making efforts to get up to speed on the challenges and value of effective defense counsel for parents in dependency cases.

Whoever gets these jobs will be faced with a wide array of responsibilities, all of which profoundly affect the clients the Regional Counsels are charged with representing (more on that at the DependencyDefense.com site). Just one category of those responsibilites is dependency cases, and I respect the candidate who seeks out expertise in the field to inform him or her.

The particular candidate with whom I spoke was articulate and educated on dependency issues already, but seemed to appreciate the point of view that I, as a current member of the dependency defense bar, could present to him.

Once the finalists are announced, I'd be more than happy to have similar conversations with those still up for consideration. The author of this blog can be reached at cam -- at -- dependencydefense.com (write the email address in the usual way; it is written here the way it is to foil the spambots).

Brief info. on the Regional Counsel candidates, cont.

Seeing as the interviews begin in two days, now seems to be a good time to finish what was started in the post below.

Without further ado....

Fourth District (continued); last 4 of 8 candidates:

4. Clyde G. Killer of Fort Pierce. Admitted to Fla Bar in 1968. It is not easily ascertainable (by my internet search) with any certainty what Mr. Killer is doing presently, but according to this he has been an assistant state attorney and was once a journalist.

5. Phillip J. Massa of West Palm. Admitted to Fla Bar in 1990. According to his Bar profile, currently works for the Attorney General. A search of Palm Beach county clerk records reflects that he has taken cases in the past as a court appointed attorney. Not much more easily found information.

6. Michelle Migdal of Delray Beach. Admitted to Fla Bar in 1986. According to FindLaw, her firm specializes in family law. Ms. Migdal seems to have been on the defense rotation in the 15th circuit for some time, and indeed attended her local ISC (Indigent Services Committee) meetings and contributed comments as a defense attorney. Serves on the Family Law Practice Committee of the Palm Beach Bar Association.

7. Judith Migdal-Mack of Boynton Beach. Admitted to Fla Bar in 1985. Is a member of the same law firm as the Ms. Migdal in number 6, above. Also accepts "rotation" cases in juvenile defense (or at least did some years ago).

8. Melody Stickel-Martinez of Pembroke Pines. Admitted to Fla Bar in 1997. Almost has a website. According to one listing specializes in family, bankruptcy, wills, trust and probate. Findlaw lists her as a sole practitioner (not that there's anything wrong with that -- your author is a sole practitioner). A couple of sites like this stress the importance of providing services in a a service oriented manner.

And finally we get to your author's home turf.

Fifth District; 8 applicants:

1. Ngozi C. Acholonu of Maitland. Admitted to Fla Bar in 1998. His Bar profile says he works at this firm, but is not listed on their website as one of their attorneys presently. Seems to have once been assistant county attorney in Polk County. According to this article, he was once an assistant public defender in Polk County as well.

2. Jane C. Almy of Daytona Beach. Admitted to Fla Bar in 1996. If this is the same attorney (and the Bar lists only one "Almy"), she was hired this year to the position of General Magistrate for family court services in Volusia County. I found two blogs (you can't trust those) that mention someone's experience appearing before Magistrate Almy-Loewinger. I won't link to those. Ms. Almy also seems to have previously been an assistant public defender.

3. Shirley L. Cummings of Groveland. Admitted to Fla Bar in 1992. Is also a member of the Georgia Bar. Is mentioned by the Orange County Bar for accepting pro bono cases. Nothing else easily found by simple internet searching.

4. Joseph N. D'Achille, Jr. of Orlando. Admitted to Fla Bar in 1981. Board certified in criminal law, both trial and appellate (one of only 12 in Florida). Has been on the rotation list in Brevard County for criminal cases. According to this Bar article, Mr. D'Achille has a long career and commitment to defense work.

5. Jeffrey D. Deen of Oviedo. Admitted to Fla Bar in 1985. A bio can be found at this link. Is a member of the National and Florida Criminal Defense Attorneys organizations, has been published, has appellate experience, and was once an assistant state attorney. The link is a good summary, so I won't repeat it all here. He once applied to be a US Attorney, as well.

6. Judith L. Kinney of Cocoa. Admitted to Fla Bar in 1987. Ms. Kinney is currently an assistant public defender in the 18th circuit. Is or was a member of the FACDL. There is not much else easily available on a simple web search, but my personal recollection is that she was previously in private practice.

7. Heather Morcroft of Orlando. Admitted to Fla Bar in 1987. Currently on the Seminole County defense rotation list for appeals. Authored "The GAL's Role in Ensuring Continuity of Health Care" for the ABANet. Has extensive work as a Guardian ad Litem for juveniles. Is noted for her advocacy of Wiccan groups.

8. Daniel W. Perry of Orlando. Admitted to Fla Bar in 1983. Has a website that shows him to be a person of diverse expertise and interests. Judge Perry is, well, a former Circuit Court Judge. Some of his many websites seem under construction, but here at DependencyDefense.com we are empathetic. As the very last entry in our synopsis of applicants for Regional Counsel, we will let his own website do his talking for him.

Brief information on the Regional Counsel candidates

As mentioned in the post below, thirty-four attorneys have applied for the new regional counsel positions. Interviews will be next week, on the 19th and 20th of July. Once the JNC chooses the finalist names for consideration by the governor, DependencyDefense.com will e-mail the finalists to see if they will respond to questions about how they intend to handle the dependency court portion of their duties.

In the meantime, I'll list some brief information about each candidate as available through simple web searches, grouped by district [any inaccuracies are unintentional]:

First District; 10 applicants:

1. Angela M. Ball of Perry. Admitted to Florida Bar in 1989. According to this unverified yahoo listing, specializes in bankruptcy, criminal defense, divorce, estates, personal injury, real estate and wills.

2. Jeffries H. Duvall of Tallahassee. Admitted to Florida Bar in 1975. According to FindLaw, has had a long career and specializes in criminal law. Fla Bar member search reflects that he currently works for AHCA (Agency for Health Care Administration). Is mentioned in a 1997 Florida Supreme Court decision as having been an assistant public defender.

3. Jeffrey E. Lewis of Pensacola. Admitted to Florida Bar in 1984. His phone number listed with the Bar suggests that he currently works in the Office of the Public Defender in the First Circuit.

4. Howard Lidsky (misspelled as "Lindsky" in the JNC press release) of Gainesville. Admitted to Florida Bar in 1993. Belongs to criminal law section. Also listed as specializing in elder law. Google search reflects someone active in his community.

5. AuBroncee Starlin Martin of Gainesville. Admitted to Florida Bar in 1998. Has a cool name. Sits on the Voluntary Bar Liason Committee of the Fla Bar. Is or was the president of the 8th judicial circuit bar association. Sits on 8th circuit bench/bar committee. One e-mail address suggests works for the public defenders office in Alachua County.

6. Edmund D. Quintana of Panama City. Admitted to Florida Bar in 1983. Board certified in civil trial. Admitted to Mississippi Bar, inactive there since 1980 . Is on rotation list for felonies in Calhoun County. Was in an article last month regarding one of his cases (look fast, the cache won't last forever).

7. Michael P. Reiter of Tallahassee. Admitted to Florida Bar in 1981. Self-reports as a sole-practicioner. Is on list to represent death row inmates in federal appeals. Has served as chief assistant capital collateral regional counsel.

8. George H. Stopp of Pensacola. Admitted to Florida Bar in 2000. No other reliable information easily found.

9. David J. Tarbert of Tallahassee. Admitted to Florida Bar in 1988. Seems to work for the State of Florida at the Department of Environmental Protection. FindLaw says he's got juvenile law experience, as well.

10. John A. Tomasino of Tallahassee. Admitted to Florida Bar in 1997. Is employed by the public defender in the 2d circuit as "technology director". Appears to have handled death penalty cases.


Second District; 7 applicants:

1. Richard L. Fetterer of Naples. Admitted to Florida Bar in 1989. Best guess is he works in his local PDs office. This ancient news article reflects that he has experience on the prosecution side as well.

2. Jackson S. Flyte of Winter Haven (Bar page says Bartow). Admitted to Florida Bar in 1992. Is a member of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Self-lists his areas as criminal, family, and public interest law.

3. James R. Jessell, of Fort Myers. Admitted to Florida Bar either in 1963 and specializes in real property, probate and trust, or admitted in 1991, depending upon whether J.R. Senior or J.R. Jr. is the applicant. I'll wait to see if he is selected before tackling that mystery.

4. Edward J. Kelly of Naples. Admitted to Florida Bar in 1990. He is the first of these listed here to seem to live in the digital age with a website for his firm. Former cop, what seems like plenty of crim law experience. I'll let his web-bio speak for itself. No dependency experience listed, though, which is the trend so far.

5. Belinda Noah of Tampa. Admitted to Florida Bar in 1983. One-ups the above entry in the digital age department and has a blog [the authors of the dependencydefense.com blog suggest one approach such a thing with great caution]. This article (about Dr. Noah's former candidacy for US Senate) contains a bio that does not include mention of either criminal or dependency law, but does list time as dep. general counsel for DBPR. [ed. note: on another of the entries in this list, I stumbled on a list of political contributions made by one on the list. I did not mention that, because I do not mean to editorialize here or opine about who is a good or bad candidate for Regional Counsel based upon political leanings. I do list Dr. Noah's political activity because it is both public and notable]. Another article about Professor Noah is here (and also happens to mention numbers 6 and 7 below as well)

6. Eric C. Pinkard of St. Petersburg. Admitted to Florida Bar in 1987. Works at a big firm that covers a lot of ground. Mr. Pinkard was an asst. state attorney, has been a professor of international law, and now handles corporate litigation. Here's that article again from above.

7. Charles H. Scruggs of Tampa. Admitted to Florida Bar in 1964. He was both a municipal and circuit judge. Oh, and here's that article again. Hats off to the St. Pete Times for caring enough to highlight the applicants for the Regional Counsel. This link, though I can't say how accurate it is, reflects at least some interest in and experience with dependency and TPR (termination of parental rights). Lots of experience here with Judge Scruggs. This page, if you search for him, shows him in a very positive light.


Third District; 1 (count 'em) applicant:

1. Joseph P. George of Miami. Admitted to Florida Bar in 1994. Notable for being the only applicant in the third district. Is a sole practicioner. Past pro bono award recipient. Self-reports a broad range of practice areas. Family law is mentioned at his Bar profile, but not dependency specifically.


Fourth District; 8 applicants:

1. Mariza de Guzman Cobb of Hollywood. Admitted to Florida Bar in 1996. Works for the Office of the Attorney General, specifically, if I am correct, in Childrens' Legal Services. I don't know what "LAF" stands for, but the phone number listed is in the Attorney General's Children's Legal Services inFort Lauderdale, so it seems to fit. Member of the Childrens' Services Council of Broward. Is on the Bar's Juvenile Court Rules Committee. [ed: it will be interesting to see if Ms. Cobb gets recommended. As this blog focuses on dependency issues, her background is interesting, and has already been appointed by the current governor to her Services Council post].

2. Debra Gotlib of Jupiter. Admitted to Florida Bar in 2004. Works for the Florida Department of Children and Families, though not currently listed in Florida 411 (those listings are often unreliable). There is an attorney by the same name who once worked in the State of Maine as an assistant attorney general involved in child abuse issues, but I have no idea if it is the same attorney.

3. Jennifer Hixson of Vero Beach. Admited to Florida Bar in 1997. Her e-mail address reflects that she is a DCF lawyer, so there is another with direct dependency experience, presumably. As the only Florida lawyer by that name, this site may have (had) something to do with her. May also have practiced in Massachusetts. The Warm and Hixson site header states that the firm focused on misdemeanors, personal injury, and corporate law.

4. Clyde Killer of Fort Pierce. I will get to Mr. Killer tomorrow, as life is calling....stay tuned for the remainder of the list (we've got 13 more to go)

..This post is continued in the post above...

JNC releases names of Regional Counsel applicants

This is up as a press release at the Fla Bar site.

I recognize a few of these names. I would like to know which of these has substantial dependency law experience. Feel free to leave comments below.

Thirty-four applicants doesn't seem like it will be enough of a pool to find three qualified applicants in each of the five districts to send on to the governor. I've wondered from the beginning what will happen if the qualified applicants don't happen to live wherever the office will be, since each will have responsibility over several counties. Such speculation aside, here is the press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 10, 2007
CONTACT: Tina McCain Matte, Chair, Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission,
The Florida Bar
TELEPHONE: 239/275-5758

The Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission received a total of 34 applications for consideration for five newly created Offices of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel, established during the 2007 legislative session by Senate Bill 1088 and signed into law by Gov. Charlie Crist, under F.S.27.511. The offices will be created within the geographic boundaries of each of the five District Courts of Appeal.

By Statute, the Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission will recommend three qualified applicants for each Regional Counsel position to Gov. Crist, who will appoint the Regional Counsels subject to confirmation by the Florida Senate.

Interviews are scheduled for July 19 and 20, at the Florida Bar Offices in the Tampa Airport Marriott. Alphabetically, the applicants include:

Ngozi C. Acholonu, Maitland
Jane C. Almy, Daytona Beach
Angela M. Ball, Perry
Mariza de Guzman Cobb, Hollywood
Shirley L. Cummings, Groveland
Joseph N. D'Achille, Jr., Orlando
Jeffrey D. Deen, Oviedo
Jeffries H. Duvall, Tallahassee
Richard L. Fetterer, Naples
Jackson S. Flyte, Winter Haven
Joseph P. George, Miami
Debra Gotlib, Jupiter
Jennifer Hixson, Vero Beach
James R. Jessell, Fort Myers
Edward J. Kelly, Naples
Clyde G. Killer, Fort Pierce
Judith L. Kinney, Cocoa
Jeffrey E. Lewis, Pensacola
Howard Lindsky, Gainesville
AuBroncee Martin, Gainesville
Philip J. Massa, West Palm
Michelle Migdal, Delray Beach
Judith Migdal-Mack, Boynton Beach
Heather Morcroft, Orlando
Dr. Belinda Noah, Tampa
Daniel W. Perry, Orlando
Eric C. Pinkard, St. Petersburg
Edmund D. Quintana, Panama City
Michael P. Reiter, Tallahassee
Charles H. Scruggs, Tampa
Melody Stickel-Martinez, Pembroke Pines
George Harry Stopp, Pensacola
David J. Tarbert, Tallahassee
John A. Tomasino, Tallahassee

Orlando Sentinel writes up the new system

As usual, dependency defense is not mentioned until the very end, and in passing. I wonder how they already know the staff sizes for the offices when the heads of the offices have not yet been hired. That aside, I wonder what kind of support staff there will be with these numbers:

Orange and Osceola counties will have to figure out how a staff of 13, including attorneys, assistants and investigators, will handle its conflict cases. Volusia and the three other counties of the 7th Judicial Circuit will receive five employees for criminal cases. The offices also will be allotted a staff for dependency cases.

The entire article is here.