InsideTrack

Broward County Court Judge Stacy M. Ross named to replace the late Circuit Judge Susan Aramony

Governor Rick Scott promoted Broward County Court Judge Stacy M. Ross to replace the late Circuit Judge Susan Aramony.

Ross, 43, has been a judge since 2005 and previously served as a prosecutor.

She received her law degree from Nova Southeastern University and her bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida.

Scott said Ross “has consistently demonstrated a keen understanding of the law during her service on the bench and as a prosecutor. I am confident that this experience and her legal skills will continue to be a great asset to Broward County as she continues her service to our state.”

Aramony was a family division judge who died in April.

Carlos Guzman sworn in as county judge Carlos Guzman Sworn In As Miami-Dade County Judge

Miami-Dade County Court Judge Carlos Guzman endured good-natured barbs from friends and family before promising to "work my tail off for you and this wonderful country" at his investiture. Omar Ortega, a colleague of Guzman's at the Miami-Dade state attorney's office and now a partner at Dorta and Ortega in Coral Gables, said his friend's resume includes stints as an FBI agent, a teen haircut model and a orange-striped theme park character. "My daughter got into a fight at preschool because she said she knew Tigger," Ortega said. Maria Guzman, an assistant federal public defender in Orlando, relished her role as the older sister who objected when their parents said they planned to name him Javier. "He is named from my very favorite sitcom of the time, The Flying Nun," she said. "There was a character named Carlos — true story." Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Milton Hirsch used the Bible from his investiture to administer the oath of office Friday. "Don't worry, Barack Obama had this problem, too," Hirsch said when Guzman stumbled over the words.

Betty Capote got to the Miami bench on first try

Miami-Dade County Court Judge Betty Capote's trip to the bench was comparatively easy — no glad-handing at countless campaign stops or repeat applications to the Judicial Nominating Commission.

She applied for the job last September after 11 years as an assistant state attorney and was appointed in November.

"It's very rare to get out of the JNC on the first time and be approved on the first time," Ramon Abadin, a partner at Sedgwick in Miami, said at Capote's investiture Friday.

Holland & Knight attorney Anna Marie Hernandez, treasurer of the Cuban American Bar Association and a childhood friend, said Capote cut short a vacation in Japan for her JNC interview last fall.

"I often wondered if she'd be a lifer at the state attorney's office because she loved it so much," Hernandez said.

Capote remembered running around her house as a young girl banging a wooden mallet and yelling, "Objection overruled, objection overruled."

She thanked her grandfather for sending her father, then 8, from Havana to Miami in Operation Pedro Pan in the early 1960s and her father for working long hours to make it all happen.

"These are stories that are not unique to us here in Miami, but they have to be repeated," she said.

5-Day-Old Baby Can't Keep Lawyer Away From FAWL Event

Stefanie Mederos is one of Sheril Colombo's associates and mentees at Wilson Elser.

So when Colombo was sworn in as the president of the Miami-Dade chapter of the Florida Association for Women Lawyers on Thursday, Mederos was at the front table — even though she just gave birth to her first child five days before.

"It was important for me to be here," Mederos said. "I wasn't supposed to give birth until this week. My daughter came early."

Nearly 200 people attended the annual installation and awards luncheon. Among the guests were Colombo's 5-year-old daughter, Giada.

Colombo, a Miami partner, plans to push for equity for women in the legal profession as president, help promote women for judgeships and serve as lobbyist on legislative matters that affect women, such as the recently vetoed alimony bill opposed by FAWL.

Judge Ivonne Cuesta's Investiture Gifts: An Apple, A Coke

When a 7-year-old Ivonne Cuesta reached U.S. soil during the 1980 Mariel boatlift, she was handed things she had never seen before — a can of Coke and a red apple. She asked her mother what they were and was told "symbols of democracy."

The new Miami-Dade County Court judge got another Coke and apple Friday, this time in a plastic case to decorate her office.

"I don't remember if you said it was a Coke or a Diet Coke," County Court Judge Don Cohn said as he presented the gift during Cuesta's investiture ceremony.

Madeline Acosta of Acosta & Diaz in Miami Lakes said Cuesta's objectivity would make her a good judge.

"I've never seen her lose her temper. I've seen her get mad, I've seen her get upset, but I've never seen her lose her temper," Acosta said. Their friendship started when both took their first legal jobs at the public defender's office in 2001.

Cuesta, who is assigned to criminal court in the Hialeah Courthouse, recalled how the late Circuit Judge Julio Jimenez handled his courtroom.

"He let you practice your craft of lawyering, and he got out of the way. That's the kind of judge I want to be," Cuesta said.

Her 4-year-old daughter led the assembled judges, family and friends in the pledge of allegiance. Coral Gables attorney John Kozyak of Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton, who spoke at the ceremony, said he tried to ease Acosta's concerns about being in the spotlight.

"I told her all they're going to remember is Emma doing the pledge," Kozyak said.

Ceremonial gavel passed from father to son

A ceremonial gavel with New Jersey roots is back in the office of a full-time judge.

Senior U.S. District Judge Alan Gold presented the crystal-hammered gavel today to Alan Fine at the new Miami-Dade circuit judge’s investiture Friday.

Gold received the gavel at his 1992 investiture, also as a Miami-Dade circuit judge, from Fine’s father, Irwin, a businessman who obtained it from his uncle, a Superior Court judge in New Jersey who was retiring.

Gold’s wife, Susan, and Alan Fine are cousins.

“I’ve been a custodian of this, and I think your dad knew” Fine would someday be a judge, Gold said.

Fine, an amateur race car driver and all-Ivy League swimmer in college, was appointed in December and assigned to dependency court.

“I feel like I’m the luckiest person in the world,” he said after taking his oath and donning his robe.

Carlos Martinez Misses Celebration After Florida Supreme Court Win

It was one of the two big court decisions of the year for Miami-Dade Public Defender Carlos Martinez, but he wasn't in town to celebrate.

Instead, he was on a vacation cruise.

"I joked at the office — you watch, it's going to be when I'm out of town on a boat in the middle of the Caribbean," he said Thursday after the Florida Supreme Court ruled his assistants could reject additional criminal cases when they're swamped.

Martinez, who had been anxiously awaiting the opinion since March, spoke to the Daily Business Review via Skype, which his office also uses to save time on police depositions and jailhouse interviews.

He chuckled at the timing of the opinion. "It's [as] just life would have it," he said.

In March, the U.S. Supreme Court handed Martinez's office another victory when it ruled police dogs cannot sniff for drugs from the front porch of a home without a search warrant.

Hurricanes' Dyron Dye May Be Interviewed Again Over UM Athletics Department Scandal

The NCAA investigation into the University of Miami athletic department has been quiet lately, but the drama is about to ramp up again.

Sources tell the Daily Business Review that NCAA investigators plan to summon Hurricanes defensive end Dyron Dye for a third interview about alleged improper benefits he took from convicted Ponzi schemer Nevin Shapiro during his recruitment. The interview has not been scheduled but is expected in the coming days.

Sources say Dye initially met with the NCAA in August 2011, the same month Yahoo Sports reporter Charles Robinson shook the college sports world with a report detailing Shapiro's involvement with UM athletes. Dye was asked to return for a second chat to discuss inconsistencies in his statements. The football player has since signed an affidavit claiming NCAA investigators intimidated and coerced him into testifying against the university.

Dye retained Wolfe Law Miami attorney Darren A. Heitner to represent him. Heitner declined to comment Friday.

The upcoming interview could result in another suspension for Dye, who is recovering from an Achilles injury, or additional embarrassment for the NCAA if it's determined investigators strong-armed Dye into testifying. Dye was suspended for the first four games of the 2011 season for accepting benefits from Shapiro.

The next potential Super Bowl Miami can host will be in 2018

The National Football League commissioner and Miami Dolphins owner and CEO said throughout the four-month push for public funding that Sun Life Stadium would not be awarded Super Bowl hosting honors in the immediate future without substantial upgrades at the Miami Gardens venue.

They were proven right Tuesday when the NFL awarded Super Bowl 50 to Santa Clara and Super Bowl 51 to Houston.

Skipping South Florida should have been no surprise after the Dolphins struck out in a bid for public assistance — an annual $3 million state sales tax rebate for the next 30 years and a 1 percent increase in Miami-Dade County bed taxes at mainland hotels to help fund $389 million in proposed stadium renovations.

The Florida Legislature, which needed to give the county the authority to raise the bed tax, let the stadium funding bill die this month.

The next potential Super Bowl-hosting opportunity for Sun Life Stadium would come in 2018 when Super Bowl 52 is played. Don't be surprised if the Dolphins and its team of high-priced lobbyists push for a second crack at public money next spring.

Goldberg Leaves Top Post at Broward Bar

Art Goldberg has stepped down as executive director of the Broward County Bar Association, a post he has held for over 15 years.

Deborah P. Fitzgerald, the bar president of the board of directors, confirmed Thursday that Goldberg had resigned earlier in the week. No explanation was given by Fitzgerald and Goldberg did not respond for comment.

Braulio Rosa, who had been the assistant executive director, was named acting director.