Broward County Lawyers | Broward County Bar Association

Presidents Message

When I moved to Fort Lauderdale in 1974, summertime still was marked by the absence of snowbirds and a much more relaxed schedule. In the legal community, trials were continued for virtually any reason, business was not too stressful, and everyone pretty much just waited for football season to start, since the Dolphins had just won two straight Super Bowls….we are still waiting for the third.

Judicial races are concluding – be informed and inform others. Summers since have grown much more hectic, and this summer in particular the pace has become feverish, with twenty judicial races up for grabs. Putting aside any editorials about why races are being contested and whether any individual is either challenging or being challenged for racial or ethnic strengths or perceived vulnerabilities, an important responsibility of lawyers in Broward is to work individually or with others to inform the public of whom you – if you are qualified by your experience – would recommend as the better candidate to serve our community.

Your Broward Bar has worked to make information available to the public, providing a platform for all candidates last May to create videos at the Bar offices that now are available on the Broward BarWebsite at www.browardbar.org. I urge all of you to check out the videos and get better acquainted with the judicial candidates so that you can make recommendations on an informed and intelligent basis.

Your Broward Bar also has worked with other local voluntary Bars in a project titled “Broward JudicialWatch”, organized by Nydia Menendez from the Puerto Rican Bar Association. TheWatch has planned two judicial forums, to be held at Nova Southeastern Law on July 22 (for circuit) and July 29 (for county court), and the public is invited to what promises to be a spirited and informative event for the public good.

The judicial primary will be August 24, and in virtually every instance the primary will be the final election, since all but two races have only two candidates. The public looks to the legal community for guidance in making these selections, and I cannot emphasize enough how important it is for each of you to gather information that you can share with your friends and relatives to ensure that this campaign is concluded fairly and intelligently, and that the voters select the judiciary based upon relevant information and appropriate reasons.

Roger and Me … or better, Roger and All of Us. We celebrated our annual dinner and installation on June 10, and some of you may have noticed a segment of the Association was missing. Our installation was held the same evening as the quarterly meeting of the Attorneys’ Real Estate Council of Broward County, where many of the finest “dirt lawyers” in Florida were telling stories about our very good friend, Roger Staley.

As you read in the May issue of The Barrister, your Broward Bar adopted a Resolution honoring the storied career of Roger Staley, who passed away on April 11. Roger was, to everyone who knew him, the epitome of the good lawyer to whom ethics was a way of life, and a friend and mentor beyond compare.

Roger ranked with the best of the best. Founder and first president of the Real Estate Council, Roger personally answered questions for any young (and notso- young) lawyers who happened to have the good fortune to know that in Roger they had an ally who, without charge, would spend hours providing answers to problems that never arose in law school or the case law.

A gifted storyteller, a character seemingly out of Damon Runyan who was a former bartender and frequently warned speeder who could talk his way out of virtually any predicament, Roger’s nature was captured in the eulogy given by Michelle Gomez, his partner at Saunders Curtis Ginestra & Gore (where Roger spent his entire career): “…when I would tell people where I worked or who I worked with, once I mentioned Roger Staley’s name, their faces would light up. They would share stories with me of how Mr. S helped them become the real estate attorney they are today or how, even though they never met Mr. S in person, he answered their calls for advice… He would always make time to share his knowledge and he enjoyed doing so.”

Roger had a profound impact on the BCBA, serving as its president in 1986 and 1987 -- more importantly, Roger was the guiding force along with Don Norman in the purchase of our Bar Center on Third Avenue. Loving the law and loving the Bar, Roger has left us all quite a bit better for having known him.

We at your Broward Bar are working to keep up with the times, and in that vein we have started up our own Blog – www.browardbarblog.org. While Roger probably never took time out to read or post anything on any Blog, I encourage you to spend a moment, if you have a reflection on Roger Staley, to share that moment with us at www.browardbarblog.org.