BINDER CLIPS FOR ANYTHING!
Happy Friday.
Julie
www.islersombathy.com
Legal Stuff
Copyright 2014 Julie Ann Sombathy All Rights Reserved
www.islersombathy.com
Legal Stuff
Copyright 2014 Julie Ann Sombathy All Rights Reserved
Showing posts with label Lawyer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lawyer. Show all posts
Friday, March 7, 2014
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Electronic Filing System and Confidential Information
Since the time there have been courts, there have been court files. And court files often contain very private, sensitive information such as bank account numbers, your social security number, full name, and date of birth. Before the internet, this was not that big of a deal. In order to access this information, a person had to first know it was in a court file, and then either appear in person or write and request copies of the pleadings or evidence in the file. In other words, there used to be a paper trail leading back to the person requesting the copies of the pleadings or evidence. There was no anonymity.
With the advent of the internet, online court records, online official records and for the state court system in Florida, a unified electronic filing system implemented in 2013, there is almost total anonymity and zero privacy. Luckily the courts have addressed this issue with Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.420 which allows a party (or in some cases a non-party) to protect their sensitive information. Otherwise, anyone with a password and minimal computer skills can access the court files of any Florida court and print copies of anything scanned for that court file. Without getting too specific, the Clerk has some capability to research the history of activity of a username and password such that an unauthorized access can only be caught but only if the true owner of the username and password becomes aware of the misuse fairly quickly.
In my experience, there are two situations in which the clerk of court does not scan everything that is filed. First, the clerk does not scan old pleadings in dormant files. This is a matter of manpower. Whenever we access a file that has not been scanned, we just call and they scan it. Second, the clerk sometimes does not scan a file as a courtesy to someone involved. If you call and ask that the file be scanned, they will. But as long as no one is asking, that file just does not get scanned. This happens everywhere, not just in the county where I reside.
Rule 2.420 creates categories of certain types of information which may be protected. To protect your information, you have to file a notice of filing of confidential information which designates the type of information and the location of it in your pleading. This allows the clerk to redact or not scan portions or all of any pleading (depending on the case) containing the information. Basically, your notice is a road map for the clerks, who locate and redact the confidential information in each pleading prior to making the scanned pleading available online. So for example, if you are going to trial and intend to introduce bank statements and loan applications as evidence, then you need to do a Notice of Filing Confidential Information. Otherwise, the clerk's office will scan your documents as exhibits, thus making them available to anyone with a user name and password and rendering you very vulnerable to identity theft.
If an opposing party files pleadings or documents containing your private information like bank account numbers, social security number, or date of birth, Rule 2.425 provides a remedy in two ways. First, the aggrieved party can ask the court to require redaction or sealing of the offending records. Second, the court can issue sanctions against the filer as Rule 2.425 requires that parties minimize the filing of documents containing sensitive information.
If the quantity and location of the information is so pervasive in the document that redaction would be impractical and burdensome, then I recommend filing a Notice Filing Confidential Information but taking it a step further and asking the court to seal the pleadings. For example, when proof of my client's damages required admitting into evidence copies of correspondence and proof of payments to the IRS, I asked the court to seal the exhibits rather than attempt to locate and describe each piece of confidential information. The court has the discretion to do this under Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.425, but it is a very drastic action and should only be requested in extreme circumstances.
If an opposing party files pleadings or documents containing your private information like bank account numbers, social security number, or date of birth, Rule 2.425 provides a remedy in two ways. First, the aggrieved party can ask the court to require redaction or sealing of the offending records. Second, the court can issue sanctions against the filer as Rule 2.425 requires that parties minimize the filing of documents containing sensitive information.
If the quantity and location of the information is so pervasive in the document that redaction would be impractical and burdensome, then I recommend filing a Notice Filing Confidential Information but taking it a step further and asking the court to seal the pleadings. For example, when proof of my client's damages required admitting into evidence copies of correspondence and proof of payments to the IRS, I asked the court to seal the exhibits rather than attempt to locate and describe each piece of confidential information. The court has the discretion to do this under Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.425, but it is a very drastic action and should only be requested in extreme circumstances.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Better Late Than Never: Best of 2013
Short and sweet: These were the top 3 posts based on page views on this blog for 2013.
1. The Story of Arnie and Ophelia
2. Thoughts on Women Attorneys and the Conundrum of Appearance
3. Faye's Story: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.
1. The Story of Arnie and Ophelia
2. Thoughts on Women Attorneys and the Conundrum of Appearance
3. Faye's Story: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Thoughts on Women Attorneys and the Conundrum of Appearance
I was sworn in by the late Judge Clinton Foster in September 1994. My husband, Bob, was two years ahead of me in law school and was working as an assistant public defender. Bob's entire case load was on Judge Foster's docket so Bob asked Judge Foster to do the honors when I got my bar exam results.
After the pictures and congratulations he told me to "make an appointment with my girl and come talk to me. I'd like to give you the benefit of my 40 years of practicing law." So I did. Judge Foster had a lot of good advice that day, but the one thing he said that has stuck with me for 19 years is this:
You are probably thinking that this was an awful thing for him to say and it was (I'm sorry Judge Foster!): it is sexist, for starters. But don't beat up Judge Foster too much.* For all the faults to be parceled from what he said, this bit of our conversation remains to this day to be one of the best lessons I have ever learned about the practice of law.
Whenever I have a conversation with a new woman attorney, I always tell this story. Why? Because it illustrates the main concept that influences how I present myself every day as an attorney.
Dress for your audience.
As an attorney, it doesn't matter how you feel about how you look for court. How you feel is totally irrelevant. You are there to do a job: if you are in the courtroom or chambers it is to convince the judge to do what your client wants or needs. If it is in trial, it is to convince the jury to see the facts your way and the judge to see the law the way that best benefits your client. In the negotiation room, it can be any of a number of goals depending on the particular dynamic. Meeting with clients? You want to develop a good rapport and impress them without being unapproachable.
Does it matter how you look when you are doing your job? I'm sorry but yes, it does. That is life. Everyone is influenced by the appearance of the people around them. I cringe when I hear younger women attorneys talk about how they are going to dress like they want and force everyone to deal with it. That's a nice sentiment. I guess. But this isn't Utopia, and our jobs as attorneys is to persuade. We teach our children that they shouldn't judge a book by its cover but the truth is that we all do it to some extent. Maybe not "judging" but we are influenced by how we perceive other's appearance. My goal with my appearance is always to wring the maximum benefit out of it in any given situation. If you are not doing that, for whatever reason, are you really doing your job well? I don't think so. I think you are letting a major advantage pass you by, and maybe hurting your client in the process.
Early in my career someone told me that the late Judge Bower's father was a "holiness" preacher. I don't know if that is true, but from that point on I wore only demure "Sunday" dresses or the rare dress and blazer combination in his courtroom. Same goes for Judge Foster. Both of our recently retired female judges were very sharp dressers, so I always made sure that my look was totally on point when I had court with Judge Costello or Judge Pittman. A law school classmate of mine was recently appointed to the circuit court. When I eventually have court before Judge Gay you may rest assured I will be wearing my best and that it will also be my most fashion forward because Shonna Gay knows her clothes and shoes. I know a private criminal defense attorney who once made her fabulous hot pink high heels the centerpiece of her closing argument. She won because she has skills not because the jury liked her shoes, but the point remains that she made an argument using the shoes on her feet to persuade the jury to come back not guilty.
This is not a concept that only works for (or against) women. Men do it too, it is just easier for them. Basically, all men need to do is wear a suit and tie, get a good hair cut, keep up their basic personal hygiene. Beyond that, throw away the clown ties (personal pet peeve) and buy some decent shoes. Depending on the situation, tone it down. If you work for the public defender, maybe don't wear a $1,000 suit. Simple things, really.
My advice to women attorneys is ignore all the "how to dress" type articles out there. Don't even read them, all I ever do is get mad when I do. Invariably, another woman has made a list which consists of: Wear a skirt. Put your hair up. Don't wear pants. Wear hosiery. Wear makeup, but not too much (you'll look aggressive/slutty/frivolous/stupid) or too little (you'll look dowdy and no one likes a sexless spinster). Wear enough make up so you look "put together" or "polished" and above all else, "natural." Wear heels, but not too high because that's slutty and not too short because that's dowdy. Look attractive and soft but not too soft because you have to look serious and above all, don't look "manly" because the death of your career is some man thinking you are too aggressive. Make sure you look "feminine." Don't look trendy but don't dress dowdy either.
Who has time for that? Not me.
For women attorneys, there's a lot more to consider with respect to our appearance, and there is no one foolproof suit we can wear that works for any situation. So, I start every day with a review of who I'm going to interact with and how. When in doubt, I go for the more conservative clothes, hair and makeup. For shoes (my favorite part), in addition to the above considerations, I think about comfort and whether or not I can wear them all day if that is on the agenda.
In the end, I think women attorneys have an advantage here, however subtle.
My advice is this: use it.
Julie
*I loved Judge Foster to pieces and the point of this post is not to run him down in any way. He was a great jurist and attorney, and a good, decent human being. So please do not judge him by this one anecdote. He always did what he thought was the right thing, even when it wasn't popular or easy. He once found a couple suffering from AIDS guilty of cultivating marijuana (which back then was used to alleviate the side effects of the medications) and rejected their defense of medical necessity. He withheld adjudication, and sentenced them to one year of unsupervised probation and 500 hours of community service only to be discharged by rendering "care, comfort and concern to each other." The sum of Judge Foster's character was made of way more than this one off the cuff comment he made to me in the Fall of 1994.
Copyright 2013 Julie Ann Sombathy All Rights Reserved
After the pictures and congratulations he told me to "make an appointment with my girl and come talk to me. I'd like to give you the benefit of my 40 years of practicing law." So I did. Judge Foster had a lot of good advice that day, but the one thing he said that has stuck with me for 19 years is this:
"Let me tell you how I feel.
The thing I hate to see the most is a
woman attorney trying to act like a man."
Whenever I have a conversation with a new woman attorney, I always tell this story. Why? Because it illustrates the main concept that influences how I present myself every day as an attorney.
Dress for your audience.
As an attorney, it doesn't matter how you feel about how you look for court. How you feel is totally irrelevant. You are there to do a job: if you are in the courtroom or chambers it is to convince the judge to do what your client wants or needs. If it is in trial, it is to convince the jury to see the facts your way and the judge to see the law the way that best benefits your client. In the negotiation room, it can be any of a number of goals depending on the particular dynamic. Meeting with clients? You want to develop a good rapport and impress them without being unapproachable.
Does it matter how you look when you are doing your job? I'm sorry but yes, it does. That is life. Everyone is influenced by the appearance of the people around them. I cringe when I hear younger women attorneys talk about how they are going to dress like they want and force everyone to deal with it. That's a nice sentiment. I guess. But this isn't Utopia, and our jobs as attorneys is to persuade. We teach our children that they shouldn't judge a book by its cover but the truth is that we all do it to some extent. Maybe not "judging" but we are influenced by how we perceive other's appearance. My goal with my appearance is always to wring the maximum benefit out of it in any given situation. If you are not doing that, for whatever reason, are you really doing your job well? I don't think so. I think you are letting a major advantage pass you by, and maybe hurting your client in the process.
Early in my career someone told me that the late Judge Bower's father was a "holiness" preacher. I don't know if that is true, but from that point on I wore only demure "Sunday" dresses or the rare dress and blazer combination in his courtroom. Same goes for Judge Foster. Both of our recently retired female judges were very sharp dressers, so I always made sure that my look was totally on point when I had court with Judge Costello or Judge Pittman. A law school classmate of mine was recently appointed to the circuit court. When I eventually have court before Judge Gay you may rest assured I will be wearing my best and that it will also be my most fashion forward because Shonna Gay knows her clothes and shoes. I know a private criminal defense attorney who once made her fabulous hot pink high heels the centerpiece of her closing argument. She won because she has skills not because the jury liked her shoes, but the point remains that she made an argument using the shoes on her feet to persuade the jury to come back not guilty.
This is not a concept that only works for (or against) women. Men do it too, it is just easier for them. Basically, all men need to do is wear a suit and tie, get a good hair cut, keep up their basic personal hygiene. Beyond that, throw away the clown ties (personal pet peeve) and buy some decent shoes. Depending on the situation, tone it down. If you work for the public defender, maybe don't wear a $1,000 suit. Simple things, really.
My advice to women attorneys is ignore all the "how to dress" type articles out there. Don't even read them, all I ever do is get mad when I do. Invariably, another woman has made a list which consists of: Wear a skirt. Put your hair up. Don't wear pants. Wear hosiery. Wear makeup, but not too much (you'll look aggressive/slutty/frivolous/stupid) or too little (you'll look dowdy and no one likes a sexless spinster). Wear enough make up so you look "put together" or "polished" and above all else, "natural." Wear heels, but not too high because that's slutty and not too short because that's dowdy. Look attractive and soft but not too soft because you have to look serious and above all, don't look "manly" because the death of your career is some man thinking you are too aggressive. Make sure you look "feminine." Don't look trendy but don't dress dowdy either.
Who has time for that? Not me.
For women attorneys, there's a lot more to consider with respect to our appearance, and there is no one foolproof suit we can wear that works for any situation. So, I start every day with a review of who I'm going to interact with and how. When in doubt, I go for the more conservative clothes, hair and makeup. For shoes (my favorite part), in addition to the above considerations, I think about comfort and whether or not I can wear them all day if that is on the agenda.
In the end, I think women attorneys have an advantage here, however subtle.
My advice is this: use it.
Julie
*I loved Judge Foster to pieces and the point of this post is not to run him down in any way. He was a great jurist and attorney, and a good, decent human being. So please do not judge him by this one anecdote. He always did what he thought was the right thing, even when it wasn't popular or easy. He once found a couple suffering from AIDS guilty of cultivating marijuana (which back then was used to alleviate the side effects of the medications) and rejected their defense of medical necessity. He withheld adjudication, and sentenced them to one year of unsupervised probation and 500 hours of community service only to be discharged by rendering "care, comfort and concern to each other." The sum of Judge Foster's character was made of way more than this one off the cuff comment he made to me in the Fall of 1994.
Copyright 2013 Julie Ann Sombathy All Rights Reserved
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Random Post about Shoes and Purses
I'm back. I took a break. Blogging is hard if you have Can't Stop Editing Syndrome.
I'll be posting again with some new stories from old clients and cases in the next few days.
In the meantime, some fun!
First, shoes that are fabulous. Fall is here (even if it is in the 90's in NW Florida), and every Fall I want accessories and clothes in deep purple, aubergine, eggplant. This year is no different.
These basic pumps by Louboutin are a great not too dark purple. LOVE.
Valentino started a collection called Rockstud in 2011. At first the collection was only for purses, but it has expanded to clothes and yes, shoes. My favorites are the kitten heel (I can't believe I wrote that).
Then there's the flat, which is also fabulous.
Lastly, the line also includes the Avoto in Nude. Gorgeous.
I love the cielo blue and the purple. The transparency of the blue (and most of the light colors) is actually fun. The purse is made completely of PVC rubber. It is a little heavy, but I've had leather bags that were way worse. They're pretty indestructible too (except for dyes).
There are full size and mini versions. I prefer the full size bag, called the Bauletto Satchel. The darker colors are less transparent, more opaque but still very pretty. The purple matches those Louboutins, doesn't it? Hmmm.
This bag is not for an introvert, as you will be stopped multiple times a day by total strangers to ask about the bag. It is also the most money I have ever spent on a purse ($250). These bags are not cheap, but I have enjoyed both immensely. If you can manage not to permanently track dye onto the PVC (like I did to the blue one), the resale value on EBay is ridiculous. I've seen the purse go for more on EBay than you can buy a new one online from a retailer like Macy's. Go figure.
So I hope you enjoyed the pictures. I'll be back later this week with a new story and a more serious, lawyerly topic. For now, have a great week.
Julie
Copyright 2013 Julie Ann Sombathy All Rights Reserved
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