2009 SOUTH FLORIDA BEST LAWYERS…

This is the latest insert…in the Miami Herald…a different publication…a different name…”Best”…not “Super”…and a different “top dog”…in Municipal Government…kinda like the Oscars…and the Golden Globes!…..

From the link…page 4 the methodology used..’.Published for more than  a quarter of a century’… ’78 specialties..representing all 50 states and District of Columbia’….these professional ‘have been chosen through an exhaustive survey in which thousands of the nation’s top lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers.’….It was published in Nov. 2008…’ based on 2.4 million evaluations of lawyers by other lawyers’…

‘The method used to compile Best Lawyers remains unchanged since the first edition was compiled more than 25 years ago’….’Best lawyers remains the gold standard of reliability and integrity in lawyer rating.’….

‘The nomination pool for the 2009 edition consisted of lawyers whose name appeared in the previous edition of Best Lawyers….new nominees solicited from listed attorneys……Lawyers voted for lawyers within the same specialty….Lawyers in closely related specialties…were asked to cross specialties…(HMMMM)…and national/international specialties were asked to vote nationally and locally….by phone/fax or e-mail’….

‘Voting lawyers had general guidelines…for determining the best…if a close friend or relative needed a real estate lawyer…(an example)…and you could not handle it…whom would you refer them to?….Guaranteed confidentiality…they were included comments …but ultimately a lawyers inclusion is based on subjective judgment of his or her fellow attorney’..

BCbythesea…favorite part of this “lawyerly” methodology….really says it all…when said and done…

‘ While it is true that the lists may at times disproportionally reward visibility or popularity, the breadth of the survey, the candor of the respondents, and the sophistication of the polling methodology largely correct for any biases’…

THE FAMILIAR NAMES…TO LBTS….

LAND USE AND ZONING LAW…Susan F. Delegal…

http://www.lawyers.com/Florida/Fort-Lauderdale/Billing,-Cochran,-Lyles,-Mauro-and-Ramsey,-P.A.-781721-f.html

LBTS connection…Oriana…Annexation…South/North Beach Civic Organization…

MUNICIPAL LAW…

Samuel S Goren…http://www.cityatty.com/profiles.html

LBTS connection…partner with former  LBTS Town Attorney Jim Cherof…

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PREVIOUS POST….(Weiss, Serota…our new Town Attorneys…)

SUPER LAWYERS…2008…gave the nod/BEST LAWYERS….2009…did not……….DELEGAL…MADE THEM BOTH…

http://www.law.com/jsp/law/ads.jsp?p=southfloridabest

more to come….

Tags: lawyers, local government, Local Politics, News, Scoops
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OH THOSE LAWYERS…AND THEIR BILLABLE HOURS…

http://www.afn.org/~afn54735/legalday1.html

1. ‘THERE ARE CRITICS:
2. Lawyers who work for local government grumble about petty politics and boring meetings. But the pay is decent and they never get stiffed.
3. They’ve rarely had to vie for local government business the same way as other professionals. Some critics say it’s because many of the public officials who make the laws — and write government charters — are lawyers. Others say local politicians are too deferential to the legal establishment, evidenced by the careless way many cities and county agencies review and pay lawyers’ bills. The state’s top legal official warns that local governments are failing taxpayers if they are not poring over legal bills. Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth said it’s the only way governments can get a sense of the quality of the work and can catch costly billing errors.
4. But even when agencies such as the North Broward Hospital District carefully check lawyers’ bills, mistakes slip through. The district paid the firm Conrad, Scherer & Jenne $2,500 when it was accidentally billed for 20 hours to review a letter in October 1996, records show.
5. “We’re going to make mistakes,” said Ken Jenne, a partner in the firm. “It’s mortifying when you find it. It’s just the way it is.” This type of billing blunder, uncovered by Sun-Sentinel reporters, appears to be rare. It can occur in the private and public sectors, but when it happens in government, taxpayers — not shareholders — foot the bill.———-
6. DETAILS MISSING

1. ‘Sea Ranch Lakes and Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, for example, use Josias, Goren, Cherof, Doody & Ezrol as their town attorneys. They paid the firm $80,264 last year. Neither town receives invoices with billable time or a breakout of which lawyers did what — just brief summaries of work performed. Bills are reviewed by the town attorneys, then by town officials. “I look at them pretty carefully,” said Lauderdale-by-the-Sea Town Manager Bob Baldwin. “It wouldn’t matter if they put their hours on the bill or not.” In Oakland Park, Donald J. Doody, a Josias, Goren partner who served as city attorney until April, billed the same way.’…..

Tags: lawyers, Local Politics, municipalities, Scoops
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