Polk Law Blog

Commentary from Polk County, Florida attorney Kemp Brinson

Month: April, 2011

Legal Documents in Case Against Atheists of Florida Officer

Earlier this month, I wrote about my thoughts concerning the arrest of EllenBeth Wachs, the legal affairs coordinator for the Atheists of Florida, Inc. She has been charged with holding herself out as qualified to practice law. Yesterday, my post was quoted in an op-ed by Glenn Marston in The Ledger, who was critical of [...]

Expanded Legal Analysis of County Charter Issues

A lot has happened in a very short amount of time on the legal issues involving the Polk County charter provisions that limit commissioners to two terms and that reduce their salary to about half what state law requires. In my initial post, which was quoted in a Ledger editorial, I disagreed with the conclusion of [...]

An Amusing Observation About Gender from 1890

So I was at the used bookstore yesterday and happened upon a most interesting volume of legal wit published in 1890 entitled: Legal Hygiene; or How to Avoid Litigation, Transcript of a Series of Lectures of Interest to all Persons who have Property or Expect to Acquire Any. The author is “A.J. Hirschl of the [...]

Charges Against Atheists’ Leader a Distraction

The State Attorney’s Office is proceeding with its prosecution of EllenBeth Wachs, legal affairs coordinator for the Atheists of Florida, Inc., a co-plaintiff in its lawsuit against the City of Lakeland concerning pre-commission meeting invocations. The charges are based on Fla. Stat. sec. 454.23, which states: