Overheard at the Dependency Summit

In a workshop at Thurday's Florida Dependency Summit, 3rd District Regional Counsel Joseph George offered some comments in the group discussion.

The leader/instructor asked him to explain his office, and in doing so he proclaimed that "there are no more private attorneys" defending parents in dependency court. Your blog author can tell you that rumors of his lack of existence are wildly exaggerated.

Mr. George also stated that "We (the Regional Counsel attorneys) are not just parents' attorneys; we are a DCF partner." He said that twice. I don't wish to make too much of that, in the context of the discussion one could hear that to mean that he seeks to reunify parents....just like DCF does. I guess. Personally, I think my clients don't want to hear that I'm a DCF partner. They want me to work to mediate solutions sometimes, yes. They more often want me to oppose and fight DCF, thus the whole "defense" in defense attorney thing. Partner with DCF? I don't think they want that. And really, had I sat for an interview to be the Regional Counsel, I wouldn't have thought that they'd want to hear that one of my goals in largely replacing the private defense bar would be to partner with the opposition. Seriously, have any elected Public Defenders ever gone to a convention of prosecutors and law enforcement and told them that the Public Defender is their partner?

Enough of that.

Lastly, and the most fun:

In a small room that contained 15th Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Kathleen Kroll and Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Peggy Quince, Mr. George referred to his attorneys handling dependency cases as "My girls -- I mean attorneys".

A low "ooooooh" was heard from many in the room.

Incidentally, one of the points in the discussion (it was about media relations) made by the instructor was that, essentially, privacy is an illusion in this age (I agree) and that, in fact, what went on in the workshop may well be on the web before the end of the day.

So there you go.

See you at the summit!

If you happen to be at the Florida Dependency Summit 2008 over the next three days, I hope to bump into you.

I'll be the guy in a tie clutching his brand new copy of Chapter 39.

Seriously, if anyone wants to leave a comment here, I'll check an maybe we can get together and compare notes Thursday afternoon.

I'm not dead

You may have noticed very few posts lately.

It's not that there isn't news; it's not that there aren't things to blog about.

It's about being BUSY. So I apologize.

Here, in a flurry, are some things on my mind about dependency defense:

1. That Las Vegas seminar is coming up. There are only a few days left to register and get a discount for being part of a group. Get in contact with me and I can hook you up with that.

2. JAC. What can I say? These days, I'm stunned when I don't get an audit deficiency for the simplest of flat rate cases. My bookkeeper quit; it's just too much hassle dealing with JAC. My other two assistants can't keep up with the audit deficiencies. So, JAC wins. I no longer even know how much they owe me and can't find enough time to schedule enough hearings over contested fees. You win, JAC; you've made up a reason to avoid complying with your contract with me on scores of cases, and finally got me to think about how to withdraw with honor from defending dependency cases.

3. The Regional Counsel attorneys in my county (that being Orange) are good folks. They tend toward the zero experience in dependency cases, but the ones working it now are doing a pretty good job. I've enjoyed, in fact, my role as de facto mentor for some of them. Interesting rumor: the waiver cases (regarding parental notification for a minor getting an abortion) in the region are all being sent to Orange County because there aren't attorneys in neighboring counties to handle them. I'm not sure what significance that has, but it is interesting.

4. Speaking of JAC, they recently gave me an audit deficiency for not including in my billing the form that I myself came up with, drafted, and distributed on the Dependency Defense website. It seems that it is now required, so pardon me if I pat myself on the back for having thought of the need for it a year ago. Use this link to find the form in MSWord form so you can adapt it to your needs (see the section of that page labeled "forms").

5. Is anyone going to the dependency summit in Orlando at the end of August? Let me know, and we can get together and compare notes.

6. The best source of information about the Russo-Georgian War is at this link.

7. The ICPC is broken. Much, much more on that later.

Who should replace Bob Butterworth at DCF?

As you probably know, DCF Secretary Bob Butterworth resigned this week, effective August 15.

The question is, who do you readers think should take over?

I nominate Alan Abramowitz. I'll write more on that later.