InsideTrack

Judge makes Paris feel comfortable, even in killer heels

Chief U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno drew one tough assignment — make Paris Hilton feel at ease in his Miami courtroom.

Known for his topical banter, the judge was off the wall making Hilton laugh as the trial began.

She arrived with bodyguards in a gas-guzzling SUV and got no special perks from the court. The celebrity party girl walked in wearing a black-and-white ensemble and killer heels.

Moreno must decide whether the star of "The Simple Life" should pay $8 million demanded by a receiver in a fraud case for a production company that went belly up. She is accused of doing a lot less than her contract required to promote the movie bomb "Pledge This!" featuring Hilton as a sorority president at the fictional South Beach University.

25 Miami-Dade circuit seat finalists made the cut; interviews this month

Interviews are set for 25 finalists seeking to replace retiring Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Thomas Wilson Jr., who is leaving Oct. 1.

Applicants will be questioned July 27-28 at Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton’s Coral Gables offices.

The Miami-Dade Judicial Nominating Commission received 43 applications. Four finalists also are candidates hoping to pre-empt what already promises to be a contentious election season: Miami criminal defense attorneys Miguel de la O and Milton Hirsch, family lawyer Patricia Kopco and Samantha Ruiz Cohen, who is of counsel with Bennett Aiello Cohen & Fried.

The other finalists are:

Antonio Arzola

Victoria R. Brennan

Tanya J. Brinkley

Joseph I. Davis Jr.

Robin Faber

Alan S. Fine

Robert B. Galt III

Darrin Phillip Gayles

Steven Grossbard

Andrew Stuart Hague

Norma Shepard Lindsey

Bronwyn C. Miller

Anita Margot Moss

Gordon Murray

Edward Newman

Maria D. Ortiz

Alan D. Sackrin

Lourdes Simon

Marie Jo Toussaint

Lisa Sharon Walsh

Deborah White-Labora

Attorneys who applied but didn’t make the cut:

Olanike Annette Adebayo

William Altfield

Maria T. Armas

Beverly D. Eisenstadt

Ivy R. Ginsberg

Michaelle Gonzalez Paulson

Monica Gordo

Bonita Jones-Peabody

Kristi Flynn Kassebaum

Andreas M. Kelly

Robert James Kuntz, Jr.

Fleur J. Lobree

Stephen Mechanic

Alicia M. Otazo-Reyes

Jeffrey Joseph Pardo

Margaret A. Rosenbaum

Mercedes Saladrigas

Alan Adrian Taylor