The Sages in Florida: Stories About Fellows of the American College of Trial Lawyers in Florida

By Xlibris US

THE AMERICAN COLLEGE
of Trial Lawyers (ACTL or
the College) was established in 1950. Two years later, the first Florida
lawyer was admitted to membership.
It is a high honor to be invited to become a Fellow of the College.
Only those lawyers who are actively engaged in trial practice as their
principal activity and who have done so for at least fifteen years are
eligible for an invitation. The total number is limited to no more than
1 percent of the lawyers licensed to practice in the state of Florida.1
At the present time there are 204 active and retired Florida Fellows.
Every Fellow inducted through 2013 is listed in the Appendix.
We have attempted to credit all the sources of the anecdotes
and written materials used. One particular source deserves special
mention. The Florida Bar has a center for professionalism named in the memory of Henry Latimer. Its work includes live video interviews
of leading Florida lawyers in order to memorialize their views on
civility, professionalism, and law school curriculum. The Latimer
Center graciously provided us with copies of some of these videos,
and an outstanding Jacksonville court reporter, Susanne DiBerardino,
made transcripts for our use. She did a magnificent job, with her only
compensation being our sincere thanks. References to these videos
will be referred to as the Latimer interviews.
It is our hope that this book will be interesting to the reader, help
publicize the important work of the College, and become a tool for
mentoring new lawyers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 20, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499008555

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 by the American College of Trial Lawyers.

ISBN:                  Softcover                     978-1-4990-0859-3

                            eBook                          978-1-4990-0855-5

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Rev. date: 05/13/2014

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Contents

A Note to the Reader

Contributors

Introduction

Chapter 1   Cody Fowler The First Florida Fellow

Chapter 2   Chester Bedell Representing A Fellow Fellow

Chapter 3   Chesterfield Smith A Mentor

Chapter 4   William Reece Smith Jr. Service To The Public And Profession

Chapter 5   Raymond Ehrlich

Chapter 6   William S. Frates A Consummate Trial Lawyer

Chapter 7   Bernard J. Masterson Civility

Chapter 8   Richard T. Earle Jr. Maintaining Integrity In The Judicial System

Chapter 9   C. Harris Dittmar Loyalty To Client

Intermission

Appendix

A Note to the Reader

T HE AMERICAN COLLEGE of Trial Lawyers (ACTL or the College) was established in 1950. Two years later, the first Florida lawyer was admitted to membership.

It is a high honor to be invited to become a Fellow of the College. Only those lawyers who are actively engaged in trial practice as their principal activity and who have done so for at least fifteen years are eligible for an invitation. The total number is limited to no more than 1 percent of the lawyers licensed to practice in the state of Florida.¹

At the present time there are 204 active and retired Florida Fellows. Every Fellow inducted through 2013 is listed in the Appendix.

We have attempted to credit all the sources of the anecdotes and written materials used. One particular source deserves special mention. The Florida Bar has a center for professionalism named in the memory of Henry Latimer. Its work includes live video interviews of leading Florida lawyers in order to memorialize their views on civility, professionalism, and law school curriculum. The Latimer Center graciously provided us with copies of some of these videos, and an outstanding Jacksonville court reporter, Susanne DiBerardino, made transcripts for our use. She did a magnificent job, with her only compensation being our sincere thanks. References to these videos will be referred to as the Latimer interviews.

It is our hope that this book will be interesting to the reader, help publicize the important work of the College, and become a tool for mentoring new lawyers.

Jacksonville Beach, Florida

January 2014

John F. Corrigan, ACTL

C. Rufus Pennington III, ACTL

George E. Buddy Schulz Jr., ACTL

Contributors

Moore, Hill & Westmoreland, P.A.

David T. Knight/Carla C. Knight

Gordon James III

Edward K. Cheffy

Scott N. Richardson, P.A.

David Ackerman (Ackerman, Link & Sartory)

Charles P. Pillans

Michael Tanner (Tanner and Bishop, P.A.)

Patricia Elaine Lowry

Ross McCloy (Harrison Sale McCloy)

Wanger, Vaughan & McLaughlin, P.A.

Carl Rufus Pennington III

Introduction

T HIS WILL NOT be a history of the American College of Trial Lawyers in Florida in the academic sense. The history of the ACTL during its first fifty years has already been written. ²

Rather, these are stories about Fellows of the College who tried cases in the state of Florida. Some of these stories are autobiographical or biographical, some are serious, and some may be humorous. However, all the stories have one thing in common—each illustrates how these Florida lawyers incorporated into their practice the ideals upon which the College was founded and still flourishes. The ad hoc committee hopes this work will be supplemented in future years to include stories about Florida lawyers who are still active at this time.

These ideals are not new. Even in the early days of the Roman Empire the search for presenting laws in the right manner and in advancing the system of legal jurisprudence was under way. Ulpian in the third century wrote:

Justice is a steady and enduring desire to give every man his due. The basic principles of the law are these: to live honorably, not to injure any other person, and to render to each his own. Jurisprudence is the knowledge of things divine and human, the science of what is right and wrong.³

Many thousands of lawyers in Florida strive to uphold the high standard of ethical conduct demanded by our profession. What is unique to the College is a constant reminder to do so in their everyday relationships with the courts, the judges, the clients, and their fellow lawyers, including their opponents, all that is codified in the Code of Trial Conduct written and published by the College.

There is also the extra attraction of the camaraderie, one of the mainstays of the College. One proof is that the basic idea for the method of presentation in this book originated in an Irish pub in Jacksonville Beach, Florida.

Chapter 1

CODY FOWLER

The First Florida Fellow

I will emphasize the necessity for building a reputation for honesty, integrity, dependability and fairness.

T HE HISTORY OF the American College of Trial Lawyers in Florida starts with Cody Fowler. He tells the story of his invitation in his own words: ⁴

I was returning to the convention hotel from an evening speaking engagement during the 1950 meeting of the California Bar Association, which I attending while I was president of the ABA, when the president of the California Bar (Mr. A. M. Archie Mull, from Sacramento) told me there was a group of men who would like to see me. We stopped at a suite where six or eight men were drinking and eating wild duck. After I was introduced, I was asked, "Are you