She’s supposed to be the new face of the justice system in Broward County, but Chief Administrative Judge Carol-Lisa Phillips finds herself forced into the background of an all-too-familiar portrait of a judiciary attracting unwanted attention.
Through the decades, this was the county that gave us the judge who sobbed while issuing a ruling in the Anna Nicole Smith case, the judge who was found half-naked at a judicial conference, and the judges, plural, who had faced DUI charges.
But most of those cases were spaced out over months, if not years. Phillips, who ascended to the role of chief judge on May 1, has had to contend with disciplinary action against four of the judges under her oversight in just the last two weeks.
“It’s an embarrassment,” she said Wednesday during an interview in her office, “to the circuit and to all the judges who have been working so hard to restore the reputation of the circuit. It feels like we took 10 steps forward only to take 12 steps back.”
Broward County judges, from left, are Mardi Levey Cohen, Stefanie Moon, Gary Farmer and Lauren Peffer. (Courtesy) There’s the case against Circuit Judge Gary Farmer , whose off-color statements and chronic absenteeism led the Florida Supreme Court to issue an indefinite suspension without pay Wednesday even before his full case and defense had been heard.
There was the case against Circuit Judge Stefanie Moon , who was sitting on the bench when she questioned a lawyer about his failure to return a campaign-related phone call last spring.
There was Circuit Judge Mardi Levey Cohen , who admitted she spread false information about her opponent during her 2022 reelection campaign because she failed to confirm the details.
Finally, Broward County Judge Lauren Peffer found herself under fire for promoting a book during her campaign that disparaged the judges serving in the circuit serving the Orlando area.
She had not read the self-published book, and when pressed about why she thought it was worth mentioning, she disseminated a deepfake recording that, had it been genuine, would have implicated the chief judge of the Florida Supreme Court and other jurists in blatant acts of misconduct.
“I am very sad about the situation,” said Phillips, who had hoped to spend her first weeks on the job focused on preparing a budget and asking the Broward County Commission for adequate funding. “But we will work harder and we will do better.”
Broward has the second-highest number of judges in the state, with only Miami-Dade County having more.
It’s no surprise that Broward would have a higher-than-average number of judicial misconduct cases, Phillips said. But that doesn’t make the recent spate any more acceptable.
“I would like zero tolerance,” she said. “I would like zero mishaps. I would like zero mistakes.”
Achieving that will be a challenge.
Judges are required to go to a statewide “judicial college” when they first take the job.
Part of the training involves ethics and avoiding misconduct.
That might not have helped Peffer, whose alleged misconduct took place before she became a judge, but it should have given pause to the other three Broward judges.
“They should have known better,” said Phillips.
In addition to the training, each new judge is assigned a mentor to help navigate the first year or two in office.
Phillips promised to aggressively monitor the amount of time judges spend at work.
“I understand that there’s no time clock,” she said. But some judges have taken advantage of a lack of supervision to effectively turn their jobs into part-time work. “That is over,” she said.
The work of the Judicial Qualifications Commission, which investigates complaints against judges, remains secret until it files formal charges.
By then the misconduct could be old news in the courthouse.
But Phillips said she sees it as part of her role to address the issues before they become public.
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“Sometimes we don’t even find out about these issues until it’s too late,” she said. “But we’ll be taking these violations very seriously.”
Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457. Follow him on Threads.net/@rafael.olmeda .
