Florida Bar Journal articles from April 2007

Florida Bar Journal archives from April 2007

An invaluable resource for all your appellate needs.(Florida)
April 1, 2007... The Appellate Practice Section of The Florida Bar is an organization of approximately 1400 attorneys devoted to promoting excellence in appellate practice in Florida's state and federal courts. Its members include civil and criminal lawyers,...

The trial is the beginning of your appeal.(Florida)
April 1, 2007... 'Objection!" Ahh, that magic word that an appellate lawyer wants to see when reviewing trial transcripts for purposes of taking an appeal. Appeals do not really commence when the notice of appeal is filed; they are born at the trial level and...

To appeal or not to appeal - that is the client's question.
April 1, 2007... An apocryphal story from the days before e-mail and faxes tells of an attorney who sent a telegram to a client, who was not present when the jury returned, advising the client that the client had won the trial. The per-word cost of telegrams...

Seeking appellate review - how to perfect your appeal.
April 1, 2007... The unfortunate order has just come in the mail. Your client just lost, but you are convinced that the trial court has committed reversible error. You tell yourself (and your client), "If only we can get to the appellate court, all will be...

Effective brief writing and oral argument: gaining the inside track.
April 1, 2007... This article is designed to help all practitioners become better brief writers and better presenters at oral argument. To that end, no matter how many briefs a practitioner has written or how many arguments he or she has made, it is always...

The World Wide Web and e-filing in Florida.
April 1, 2007... In the mid-1990s, the World Wide Web (1) exploded onto the scene as an entirely new medium. Its potential for disseminating large quantities of information quickly and interactively had barely been tapped. More than a decade later, the Web has...

Motion practice in the district courts of appeal.(Florida)
April 1, 2007... Motion practice is a function of both trial and appellate litigation. In the trial court, the primary method of moving a case forward and preparing it for trial occurs through the use of pretrial motions. Pretrial motions can be critical in...

Appellate standards of review.(Florida)
April 1, 2007... Since 2000, when Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.210(5)(b) was amended, all briefs filed in Florida appellate courts must include explicit reference to the standard of review applicable to each issue raised in the appeal. And, while the...

Which writ is which? A trial attorney's guide to Florida's extraordinary writs.
April 1, 2007... In the course of trial practice, an attorney may receive an interlocutory ruling for which there is no right of immediate appellate review, but without such review, the client's case is severely prejudiced or even destroyed. If, upon reviewing...

Standards of review under the Florida Administrative Procedure Act.
April 1, 2007... Determining the appropriate appellate standard of review under the Florida Administrative Procedure Act (APA) always begins with F.S. [section] 120.68 (2006), which governs judicial review of APA proceedings. Although the statute provides...

Jurisdiction is jurisdiction: a warning to litigators.(Florida)
April 1, 2007... "Without jurisdiction the court cannot proceed at all in any cause. Jurisdiction is power to declare the law, and when it ceases to exist, the only function remaining to the court is that of announcing the fact and dismissing the cause." ...

Two new issues in post-BAPCPA 13 cases. (Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005)
April 1, 2007... Along with most other bankruptcy attorneys, I have had to apply a number of new or amended provisions of bankruptcy law in the year since the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (Pub. L. 109-8) (BAPCA) became...

Guerrilla research.(Florida)
April 1, 2007... If, as Sebastian Stark of TV's "Shark" says, "Trial is war; second place is dead," then a lawyer's weapons need to be really, really sharp. The media image is of "lawyer as orator" and "lawyer as investigator," but the truth is that the...

Private building inspectors.(Florida)
April 1, 2007... Wouldn't it be great if we could speed up construction without sacrificing quality? With all of the construction in Florida and not enough inspectors, owners and contractors have been screaming for relief from delayed plan review and delayed...

Reasonable accommodations for attorneys with disabilities.
April 1, 2007... Four years ago, The Florida Bar embarked on a mission to increase diversity in the legal profession so the Bar reflects the racial, ethnic, and gender makeup of society. (1) At that time, we discovered that over 20 percent of the population of...

Third world countries and the rule of law.(Florida)(President's page)
April 1, 2007... He called Miami a "Third World country." Sitting in the comfort of The Breakers in Palm Beach, U. S. Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado) said, "You just pick it up [Miami] and take it and move it someplace. You would never know you're in the...

A primer on counties and municipalities.(part 2)
April 1, 2007... A previous discussion in the March issue of the Bar Journal considered the nature of counties and municipalities and the sources of their powers to govern and regulate. Because counties and municipalities occupy overlapping territories and...

New rules on amicus curiae briefs: amicus participation: avoiding the fish-eyed stare.(Florida)
April 1, 2007... The role of amicus curiae in the judicial process has changed over time, and the recent amendments to Rule 9.370 recognize that evolution. An examination of the provisions of that rule provides an opportunity to address those changes, as well...