Practicing with Professionalism: A Discussion of Federal Best Practices

Judge John Antoon

Since becoming a judge in 1985, John Antoon has never forgotten the pressure experienced by trial lawyers and the importance of an efficient judicial staff. After serving as a lawyer in Florida for 14 years, Antoon was elected circuit judge in Florida’s 18th Judicial Circuit. He inherited a felony docket that had been neglected and needed immediate attention. “The lawyers and members of my staff worked long hours for many months,” he says. “I thought we were doing good work, and I was proud of our effort.” His colleagues twice elected him chief judge of the circuit, and the state trial judges elected him chair elect of the Florida Conference of Circuit Judges. He was known for showing respect to the trial lawyers who appeared before him and for his compassion and fairness. Antoon was appointed to the Fifth District Court of Appeal in 1995 and served as chief judge of that court from 1999 to 2000. During that time he was elected as president of the Florida Appellate Judges Conference. In 2000, Antoon was appointed to the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, where he now sits as a senior judge. As a child of the ’60s, Antoon was inspired to become a lawyer because of the history happening all around him. “The Civil Rights Movement was in full swing; there was so much going on, and I saw the courts as having a central role in ending racial segregation and ensuring opportunity for women,” he says. After earning his J.D. from Florida State University, Antoon served in the U.S. Army before beginning the practice of law in a small firm in Brevard County, where he grew up.

Judge Daniel C. Irick

Daniel C. Irick received an undergraduate degree from the University of Florida in 2000. He then attended the University of Florida College of Law, where he earned his J.D. degree, magna cum laude, in 2004. He served as a Senior Research Editor for the Florida Law Review and earned membership in The Order of the Coif. In 2004, Judge Irick was admitted to the Florida Bar and he proceeded to private practice, working in the civil litigation group of the Miami office of White & Case LLP. In 2006, Judge Irick accepted a position in Ocala as a term law clerk to Senior United States District Judge Wm. Terrell Hodges. In 2007, Judge Irick began a nine year career as an Assistant United States Attorney with the United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) for the Middle District of Florida. Judge Irick worked in the Criminal Division of the Orlando Office and prosecuted a broad array of federal cases, serving at various times as the assigned Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force prosecutor and the Joint Terrorism Task Force prosecutor. Judge Irick left the United States Attorney’s Office as the Deputy Chief of the Orlando and Ocala offices, as well as the National Security Cyber Specialist and the Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council Coordinator for the USAO. In 2016, Judge Irick was appointed as a United States Magistrate Judge for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Orlando Division.