The Historical Society of the U. S. Courts in the Eleventh Circuit 11th Circuit Historical News Volume XII, Number 3 http://sites.google.com/site/circuit11history Winter 2015 A marvelous life: The Story of Judge Peter T. Fay By Deborah J. Gander Editor’s note: This article is based on a two-day interview of Judge Fay conducted by Dean C. Colson and Deborah J. Gander in December 2014. Peter Thorp Fay describes his his brother, Jim, was two-and- life as one of “happy accidents,” a-half years younger. Pete led which fairly communicates that a happy life, unaffected by the his life has been both charmed deep poverty he, his family and in ways that seem almost so his country were struggling far-fetched they could only be through in those years. fiction, yet also peppered with “Everyone was poor,” he said, so devastation, disappointment and he thought nothing of it. “You sometimes deep-seated fear. literally lived on pennies, and Judge Fay has lived through the nickels and dimes.” times that defined our nation over His father moved the family nearly the past century, and he to one of three homes on Rio has been shaped by these events Vista Isles, now the location in amazing ways. Each of these of multimillion-dollar homes events inevitably led to the next but back then just a remote series of encounters; had even one area of Fort Lauderdale that been missing, might the whole the neighborhood paper boy story have turned out differently? did not want to service. So the Fay’s life began Jan. 18, 1929, paper boy subcontracted Pete, in Brighton, N.Y., a suburb of a third-grader, and gave him Rochester, and he might have 10 cents per week to ride his remained there had the Great bike up and down the island for Depression not devastated three hours a day delivering the his father’s insurance business Fort Lauderdale Daily News in and wiped out everything the Clockwise from top left: The Fay family, circa 1970, with the afternoons, and the Miami Mike, Pat, Pete, Darcy and Billy; Judge Fay introducing Herald at 5 a.m. on Sundays family had. His dad, showing the President Ford in Miami Beach during a swearing-in excellent judgment his son would ceremony for thousands of new citizens in the mid- (requiring him to be up by 4:30 inherit, decided that, if his family 1970s; Fay at work with the Air Force in 1953; from left, to start on time). Hard work must start over with nothing, Bill Frates, Ray Pearson, Pete Fay and, seated, Bob Floyd started early, but it paid off. Life it may as well do it someplace on the night in 1968 that Fay became a limited partner in was good. sunny. In the mid-1930s, they the Miami Dolphins; from left, Pete and Pat Fay, Richard In what sounds like a tall tale and Pat Nixon, and Bill Hicks on Key Biscayne in the late all moved to Fort Lauderdale, a 1950s; Fay playing basketball for Craig Air Force Base; straight out of “Big Fish” or other very small town with only a few and, in the center, Fay waterskiing barefoot in a show at Hollywood movies, Pete had the thousand permanent residents. Cypress Gardens in July 1950. (From the Fay family photo unbelievably good fortune to Pete was in primary school, and collection) live across the street from world See “Judge Peter Fay,” page 18 Historical News is produced as a courtesy by The Florida Bar. Message from the president Judicial integrity – an international initiative The International Bar Association extensive 46-question survey was distributed to all IBA commenced an important initiative members to be completed by the end of October. on judicial integrity during the past As the legal world becomes more global and with year. According to the IBA, while cross-border legal matters becoming more prevalent, the vast majority of the worldwide the ethical predictability of a country’s judicial system judiciary conducts its efforts becomes of greater interest to us all. Both the lawyer and “with the utmost integrity and the client need to know how they will be treated by the are tireless in their efforts to fight local court system before they need to use it. If people corruption where it occurs,” in a and businesses are to sell products or invest money, for great many jurisdictions corruption example, they need to know how they will be treated in hampers the judicial process and the courts if they need to access the judicial system to LEONARD H. GILBERT can produce results that pervert collect their money or enforce their contracts. the resolution of disputes and the enforcement of the law. One of the many purposes of the The IBA Initiative will certainly be helpful to all of us, initiative is to encourage impartiality and independence and the IBA is to be congratulated for taking on this in judicial decision-making throughout the world. project to fight corruption and encourage independence and impartiality in the judiciary worldwide. Through the initiative, the IBA will raise awareness in locations where judicial corruption is tolerated, educate the public on the causes and consequences Leonard H. Gilbert of corruption, and promote the highest standards of President integrity among both judges and lawyers within and without these jurisdictions. The IBA will take into account how various countries successfully eliminated judicial corruption as well as what those countries did to prevent IN THIS ISSUE: the recurrence of such conduct. At the IBA meetings in London and Singapore, an The story of Judge Peter T. Fay. .....................................................…1 expert panel -- including three chief justices and judges from eight countries, practicing lawyers and senior Message from the president ..............................................................2 government officials -- determined that a worldwide study on the occurrence of judicial corruption has Fishing with Judge Frank Johnson ...................................................3 never been conducted. The panel directed the IBA The Investiture of Judge Julie E. Carnes .........................................5 to commission a survey of its vast membership to determine the interaction among lawyers, judges Ceremony highlights Judge Jill Pryor ...........................................9 and other professionals who work with the judiciary. The results of the survey, together with a study of Voting Rights Act of 1965 ................................................................. 12 the available literature on the subject, will be used to In Memoriam: Douglas J. Mincher................................................. 13 produce a report on the methods of judicial corruption throughout the world. From the report, the IBA plans In a Peruvian prison ............................................................................ 16 to develop implementation activities designed to stamp out judicial corruption through efforts in specific Joseph E. Bulgarella appointed bankruptcy court clerk ....... 17 individual countries. Discussing the BCCI trial ................................................................... 28 The IBA showcased the initiative at its annual meeting in Vienna in October (attended by some 6,000 delegates), Judge Harvey E. Schlesinger honored ......................................... 31 with a panel discussion. The panel recognized the The NCBJ meets in Miami Beach ....................................................35 importance of an independent judiciary to determine cases fairly and to follow due process and, as a prelude Judicial heroes' courthouses named landmarks ..................... 36 to distributing the survey, explored many of the known causes of judicial corruption and the best practices to reduce or eliminate it. Following the conference, the 2 Fishing with Judge Frank Johnson By Patrick Sims Editor’s note: Patrick Sims served as law clerk for Judge Frank Johnson in 1974-75 and is now a lawyer in Mobile, Ala. When Carolyn Cox and I began working for Judge Frank We were anchored in an inside pool in quiet water, Johnson in Alabama’s Middle District in June of 1974, we maybe 100 feet apart. We got our skiff in and its motor soon began hearing him tell stories about fishing “those mounted with no trouble. We then watched as the VIP’s swift waters below the Wilson Dam” in northwest Alabama crew got their skiff in the water, but, as Curtis attempted with the likes of Judge Lecil Gray and Pert Dodd. We to pass the engine to Jimmy in the skiff, the handoff was also came to learn that he was an outdoorsman (having, fumbled and the motor fell into the drink. When the among other things, floated down the Alabama River from Judge and I stopped Montgomery to Mobile) and also a saltwater fisherman. laughing, I paddled Frank Minis Johnson Jr. was a After a while, I let him know that I also enjoyed fishing, over and, since the judge on the U.S. Court and particularly enjoyed making trips involving several water was only about three feet deep, days at Chandeleur Island, which is part of Louisiana, of Appeals for the Eleventh though due south of Biloxi, Miss. As I was finishing my fetched the engine, clerkship, we discussed arrangements for such a trip. brought it back and Circuit until his death in 1999. Central to much of the discussion hereafter is the late was able to get it He also served as a judge on Curtis Caver, formerly deputy clerk and later clerk of the running fairly quickly. Middle District. The Judge had hired Curtis as a deputy When I brought it the U.S. Court of Appeals for in 1973 and relied on him for the rest of his life for many back to the VIP, Jimmy things. reminded us of the the Fifth Circuit and the U.S. verity that it is best District Court, Middle District Chandeleur Island-Phase I to run a wet engine for a while to clear all of Alabama, where he was chief On our first trip to Chandeleur, the Judge and I went the moisture out.