Epstein and Robbins is a law firm located in the Blackstone Building. It has been in business for 27 years.
MEET THE FIRM
David Robbins is the firm’s principal. He has two associate attorneys: Becky Barlow and Susan Cohen.
WHERE IS EPSTEIN?
“He’s still a lawyer, but David [Epstein] hasn’t practiced with me for more than 10 years,” said David Robbins. “We kept the name.”
WHERE DID THEY LEARN THE TRADE?
Robbins attended the University of Florida, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and his law degree. Cohen is also a UF alumnus. Barlow graduated from the Washburn University School of Law in Kansas.
HOW LONG HAVE THEY BEEN WITH THE FIRM?
“Becky Barlow has been with me four years. Becky worked for me for about a year and a half. She moved to Key West and was a public defender there. Then she was a public defender here for about a year or two before I stole her away. Susan Cohen has been with me for three years. She’s from Gainesville. Then she got married and was a juvenile prosecutor for about 13 years in Virginia. After moving back to Jacksonville, she was the supervisor in the State Attorney’s Office juvenile division for about three years.”
AND YOU?
“I worked for the State Attorney’s Office here for three years after law school. Epstein had been in private practice for about a year. We decided to form a law firm.”
WILL THEY ADD
ANOTHER ASSOCIATE?
“I’m thinking about it. It’s possible. I could probably use one more full-time lawyer.”
WOULD THEY ADD ANOTHER PARTNER?
“That would be remote.”
WHY DID HE GO TO
LAW SCHOOL?
“I always thought I wanted to be a lawyer,” said Robbins. “I have no idea why; it was just meant to be. You have to have a certain personality disorder to be a criminal defense lawyer.”
WHAT IS HIS AREA OF PRACTICE?
“Most of my practice is DUI defense,” he said. “We do all crimes but 80 percent of our practice, at least, is DUI defense. DUI is the hottest crime that we have in this country, equaled only by domestic violence.”
WHY IS DUI SUCH A CHARGED ISSUE?
“Because it becomes very politically involved. You have harsher penalties now for DUIs than you do for a lot of felonies. For example, to be arrested for a non-violent felony punishable for up to five years in jail and you had no prior record, the government has a program where you get diverted away from the court system. You have informal probation and at the end of that, the government agrees to drop the charge. If you get arrested for a DUI, you blow a .08, there’s no accident, you’ve never been arrested before in your life, it’s a mandatory criminal conviction, which means it’s on your record for life, unless you beat it. Now what’s the rationale for that?”
WHY CHOOSE
THIS SPECIALTY?
“I wasn’t smart enough to say this is the up-and-coming crime 15, 16, 17 years ago. We started doing it and became successful doing it, then we started getting publicity about some of the creative things we had done and it kind of snowballed from there. Next thing you know, we’re doing things that have statewide implications. We used to do criminal and family, but we eliminated family law about a year or so ago.”
WHY DROP FAMILY LAW?
“It was too tough to do. We were doing a lot of child custody cases. The criminal side was extremely busy. It was overwhelming so we had to give it up.”
WHO ARE YOUR CLIENTS?
“Law students, medical students, graduates, lawyers, doctors, policemen, salespeople, truck drivers, business people, military people, children, people whose lives will be affected far beyond a first penalty DUI. We represent everything.”
DOES HE ADVOCATE RELAXING DUI LAWS?
“My position is, if they want to do this fairly, just pass a law that says there’s no drinking at all when driving. The breathalyzer is a piece of junk. The state has finally approved machines that are more up-to-date. The ones we use now, the technology is from 1983. Field sobriety exercises are designed for people to fail and are strictly objective. I am in favor of giving the judges more discretion in sentencing first offenders. For someone who was not involved in an accident and who has no prior record, the judge should have the authority to withhold adjudication of guilt so that person does not have a permanent criminal record and can have the record sealed as they do for felons.”
PROFESSIONAL TIES
“I speak several times a year for The Florida Bar and I do a seminar every year in Miami for the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.”
WHAT IS HIS STRATEGY?
“We subdivide the case, then look at every issue within those subdivisions. The first issue would be whether the officer had the right to stop the car. After the stop, what did the officer see to believe the person was impaired by alcohol, not just drinking? Did the officer know how to give a field sobriety test? Videotapes, audiotapes, breathanalyzers, urine tests — all that evidence you look at. The state’s experts said the breathalyzer was unreliable, unscientific and indefensible before the law.”
WHAT METHOD
WOULD HE USE?
“Blood is probably the most accurate, but the government can’t afford that. They look for the cheapest way to convict the most number of people the fastest. It generates a tremendous amount of revenue for the state.”
WHAT CHALLENGES
DOES HE FACE?
“There’s always a challenge because every issue we raise, the government has to respond to it. You’re constantly challenged to be creative. With this type of practice, the police, prosecutors and judges are all under more pressure. As a result there is much greater scrutiny by the press. [State Attorney Harry] Shorstein’s office is very tough on DUI offenders, too. My greatest challenge is how to make the system look at each person as an individual. This system is geared for speed because of the volume. As a result, a lot of people get caught, mashed.”
— by Monica Chamness