It’s not like what you see on TV.
“People see judges on television and think it’s all criminal cases and personal injury, but we run court 365 days a year,” said 4th Circuit Chief Judge Mark Mahon on Monday, addressing the Rotary Club of Jacksonville.
Mahon, a former member of the state House of Representatives and private practice attorney, was appointed to the bench in 2007 and then retained by voters for six-year terms in 2010 and again in 2016.
He was elected by his fellow judges in December 2014 to serve as chief judge, replacing retired Chief Judge Donald Moran.
There are two court sessions each day at the Pretrial Detention Facility, seven days a week, including holidays, Mahon said. That’s because people who are taken to jail have the right to appear before a judge within 24 hours of their arrest.
The family law court also works 365 days a year to serve people who need emergency protective and restraining orders. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office needs a judge to sign arrest warrants and search warrants at all hours and often bring the documents to his home for his signature, Mahon said.
There are about 3,200 felony cases pending in Duval County, including 130 homicides and 14,000 cases in family court, many involving people who don’t have an attorney and are representing themselves.
There are 57 courtrooms and 47 hearing rooms in the Duval County Courthouse, presided over by the eighth-lowest number of judges per capita in the U.S., Mahon said.
Even taking those statistics into account, he described the local judicial system as “a boat gliding smoothly.”
“And I’m the guy who sits in the back yelling ‘row’,” Mahon said.
University of North Florida President Emeritus and former Jacksonville Mayor John Delaney will lead the Rogers Towers law firm’s new statewide Education Practice Group.
It will focus on the legal, political and public relations needs of all sectors of education from the 67 public school districts to public universities and private colleges.
“Billions of dollars are spent on education in Florida and it’s heavily regulated by the state. There’s no shortage of need,” Delaney said.
A past president of the Florida Association of Colleges and Universities and current chair of the Florida Campus Compact, a coalition of colleges and universities, Delaney said he has the contacts needed to offer the law firm’s services to the industry.
“I know most of the other presidents,” Delaney said.
Joining Delaney in the practice group are Managing Director Fred Franklin Jr.; Eric Holshouser, a board-certified labor and employment lawyer; and immigration attorney Lori Patterson.
“It’s a good placement for the firm. Other than white-collar crime, there’s nothing that we don’t handle,” Delaney said.
Jay Brown, deputy chair of the Akerman law firm’s Bankruptcy and Reorganization Practice Group, will serve as 2019-20 chair of The Florida Bar’s Business Law Section.
The section is a resource for Florida business lawyers who network with their colleagues around the state and who seek practical information about developments and changes in business law.
The section is involved on the legislative front in matters that affect the Bar’s interests, Brown said.
Topics for the upcoming legislative session could include issues related to cryptocurrency and expanding financial literacy from an elective in Florida’s public high schools to a requirement for graduation, Brown said.
Creation of a “business court” system in Florida is another topic of interest. The section formed a task force of judges and attorneys who began looking at the matter last year. Among its 13 members are 4th Circuit Judge Virginia Norton and attorney Braxton Gillam of Milam Howard Nicandri Gillam & Renner.
“Jacksonville is well-represented,” Brown said.
He is the latest in a line of Akerman attorneys who previously served as chair of the section, including corporate partners Stephen Roddenberry and Philip Schwartz and the late Bill Van Nortwick.
Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin shareholder James Hanratty was board-certified in civil trial law by The Florida Bar.
He is the managing attorney of Marshall Dennehey’s Jacksonville office and has tried more than 150 civil jury trials throughout his more than 25-year career.
Dana Jacobs joined Coker Law and will practice insurance defense, premises liability, automobile and trucking accidents and wrongful death.
She graduated from the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where she was a member of the moot court team and received the “Best Oralist” and “Best Team” awards in the Final Four Competition.
