Daily Business Review on the Regional Counsels

Alas, once again no discussion at all of the impact on dependency cases -- and the families impacted by them.

And once again, this link is via the Justice Building Blog.

There is perhaps too much to comment upon in this article. I recommend that you read it.

A couple of excerpts highlighting the article's main points:

First, is that with a "B"?:

Cragin Mosteller, spokeswoman with the Florida Association of Counties, said in a telephone interview that when the Legislature passed SB 1088, it created a swath of unfunded mandates that will end up accounting for an average of 8 percent of each county’s budget. The total figure for all costs passed-on to the state’s 67 counties is around $1 billion annually, Mosteller said.

Now, on to the particular problems in South Florida:

Miami-Dade County has allotted no money to fund the Conflict Counsel’s office space or supporting infrastructure. Critics also note that Crist’s choice to head the Miami office has no trial experience.
Some critics note that Crist’s newly appointed director of the Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel in Miami hasn’t worked a criminal case since he was a law student 22 years ago and has never tried a case of any kind before a jury.
As he prepares to begin work by a scheduled start date of Oct. 1, George is looking for commitments to fill the roughly 25 attorneys who will work under him. He has four so far, but is struggling to find lawyers qualified to take death penalty cases.

Read the whole thing.