Legal Notes

Jacksonville Area Legal Aid Executive Director Michael Figgins is asking City Council and the mayor’s office to consider an initiative that would prohibit what he says at the illegally posted “We Buy Houses” and “Foreclosure Rescue” signs that litter Jacksonville’s roads. Figgins says the signs “prey on the economic hardship of local homeowners in distress” and would like to see a designated day selected during which those signs would be removed. He’s also offering to use the JALA offices as a collection place.

Teaching classes

Attorneys G. Thomas Harper and Gregg Gerlach have been hitting the teaching circuit. The two — who together form the labor and employment law firm of Harper Gerlach — were in Orlando and Fort Lauderdale recently where they taught a Family Medical Leave Act master class and workshop to in-house counsel, human resource managers and business managers.

No Blue Collar Comedy at Florida Bar Convention

Comedian Bill Engvall, of Blue Collar Comedy fame, has been replaced by Saturday Night Live comedian Darrell Hammond as the performer for the Florida Bar’s June 23 “Justice in Jeans” dinner show. Hammond is the longest-tenured performer on the NBC sketch comedy show and is probably most famous for his impressions. His impersonation of Al Gore during the 2000 presidential campaign was so dead-on that Gore’s handlers made the candidate watch the famous debate skits featuring Hammond and Will Ferrell as George W. Bush. Engvall on his Web site said he canceled the performance to film an upcoming movie also starring Larry the Cable Guy. The movie, titled “Delta Farce,” tells the tale of a pair of National Guardsman billeted to Iraq but instead sent to Mexico. They don’t know the difference and hilarity ensues. Tickets for “Justice in Jeans” cost $60, $50 for members of the Young Lawyers Section.