![]() Senate hearings about organized crime in Tampa. In more recent decades, the book focuses on the HCBA's involvement in school desegregation and U.S. Whitaker also was a progressive politician, advocating women's rights and attacking the Klan.Īs early as 1933, organized lawyers were worried about the unlicensed practice of law, which it called "lay racketeers constantly preying on the public." In 1947, the HCBA expressed concern that the telephone directory was offering bold-type listings for lawyers, a practice the group considered unethical. He argued that mullet, because they have gizzards, are not really fish, but some kind of aquatic fowl. The book recounts a trial in which he defended a group of young men charged with fishing out of season. Patrick Crisp Whitaker established his Tampa practice in 1918, and earned a reputation as a courtroom wizard. Bryant became the city's first black lawyer, though he spent most of his career in Key West.Īs it moves into the 20th century, the book chronicles the fight over the secession of Pinellas County, cigar worker strikes and the Ku Klux Klan. McFarlane, Melville Gibbons and Francis Robles, the area's first Hispanic lawyer. In Pursuit of Justice goes on to note the arrival of many other lawyers, such as Hugh C. He is buried under a very large tombstone in Oaklawn Cemetery. Oddly, no photograph could be found of Magbee, despite vigorous searches locally and in Tallahassee, VanLandingham said. Even then, he remained an active voice in Tampa as editor of the progressive Tampa Guardian. ![]() Magbee was never convicted, though he finally resigned the bench in 1875. "He's the only person ever impeached twice," VanLandingham said. ![]() He made a political comeback and went on to the state Senate and a career on the bench before his public drunkenness got him in more trouble. ![]() The soldiers' conduct inspired a "regulator" movement by Tampa's establishment, and Magbee became a target for opposing vigilantism and his artful defense of some men who made it to the court system. In 1858, things got very wild around Tampa as scores of volunteer militias began disbanding after the Third Seminole War. By 1855, Magbee had an annual income of $500. A year later, Magbee defended Jose Perfino in Hillsborough's first high-profile murder case. He was convicted of assault and battery in 1848, the same year he won election to the state Legislature. Magbee was a hard drinking, eloquent and ambitious 25-year-old from Georgia. Magbee and his exploits carry a good part of the first part of the book, for obvious reasons. But it presents many characters who shaped the practice of law in the area without ever ascending to general historical recognition.Īmong the most interesting was the first lawyer to practice in Hillsborough, James T. Knight, were lawyers who figure prominently in the book. Some familiar names in general Tampa history, such as businessman and Tampa pioneer Peter O. Such modern Bar dilemmas as non-lawyers practicing law, advertising, mandatory Bar membership, and the profession's image plagued earlier generations of lawyers. "Our intention was to put together a comprehensive, unbiased account."Īs much as Tampa's legal profession has changed in 150 years, In Pursuit of Justice reveals that in many ways it just echoes the past. "We didn't censor anything," said VanLandingham. About 1,400 copies were printed and are due for distribution this week. The book, written by local historian (and lawyer) Kyle VanLandingham and edited by lawyer Tom Elligett, was produced in commemoration of the Hillsborough County Bar Association's centennial. ![]() Wall is just one of several legal pioneers examined in In Pursuit of Justice, Law & Lawyers in Hillsborough County, 1846-1996. ![]()
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