Omar might have told University of Florida vice president, general counsel and university secretary Jamie Keith it probably wasn’t the best idea to cultivate Huntley Johnson as an enemy. At least not if you couldn’t finish the job.
The Gainesville Sun speculates that the battle between the two high-powered attorneys may have started over a complaint filed against Johnson’s client, UF football player Antonio Callaway.
According to an ESPN report, a woman who alleged that Callaway sexually assaulted her opted to file a complaint with the university rather than a police report about the incident.
Callaway was cleared last August after the alleged victim boycotted her Title IX hearing because a UF booster and student-athlete-turned-lawyer was overseeing the proceeding.
In January, the UF legal department hired Tallahassee attorney Mark Herron to investigate Johnson’s professional conduct. That same month, Johnson began requesting dozens of public records related to Keith, including her personnel file and emails.
Johnson filed a suit in February against the school and Keith. He did this, too.
Johnson submitted a statement to the school’s board of trustees saying that an investigation into Keith’s competence and ethics is needed and “respectfully suggest[ing] that she is not the right person to be the general counsel of the University of Florida.”
University of Florida General Counsel Jamie Keith, under investigation following a complaint alleging misconduct, has been placed on administrative leave.
UF spokeswoman Janine Sikes said it would be inappropriate to discuss the reason for the move while the investigation is underway. Keith continues to be paid her $389,500 annual salary, Sikes said.
Keith had agreed to take annual leave once the investigation by UF’s Office of Internal Audit was launched.
By the way, don’t miss reading the rest of that Gainesville Sun piece. You know when a story starts off with “… she so inflamed former UF Athletics Director Jeremy Foley that he wrote in an email to her four days before he retired on Oct. 1, 2016, that he was thankful he would no longer be working with her”, it’s gonna be a good one.
Get The Picture 
Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind. If you want to start playing hardball lawyer games, Jamie, best make sure that your target isn’t lots better at it than you are. Interesting that Foley, the publicly unflappable AD, was willing to take that pointed a shot at the general counsel on his way out.
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Am I slow? I don’t see where Keith instigated anything with Johnson.
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Johnson evidently disagreed with you.
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An investigation into his personal conduct? Or that the lawyer is from FSU territory? lol
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Her Bio: http://generalcounsel.ufl.edu/about-the-office/attorneys-and-staff/jamie-lewis-keith/
She has an impressive resume, but it’s all in the Northeast. I imagine that she has failed to understand the importance of football.
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So her background is consistent with FU’s pedigree, no?
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Any reference to The Wire gets my respect. Best show in television history.
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You want it to be one way, but it’s the other way.
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I also thoroughly enjoyed this oral history of the East / West basketball game from the show.
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She has the goods on someone (or multiple someones)! This scenario plays out all the time.
FU Admin is finally tired of dealing with her, but they can’t fire her, because then she’ll spill the goods. So they find an attack dog they can control – conveniently, super lawyer Huntley Johnson is nearby – and have him go at her like a rabid dog. They know she will counterattack and overstep (because that’s human nature) and, when she does, they put her under investigation and in the time-out corner. She chills out for a few months with her $400,000 paid leave, Admin calls off the friendly attack dog, she realizes how much she likes not working while still collecting a check, then everyone works out a deal to pay her some severance and keep her quiet.
Pretty standard operating procedure, although if you can’t tighten the reins on your attack dog when needed, things can spiral out of control pretty quickly!
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What if she decides to spill the beans and then go back to MIT where they applaud standing up to the jock culture?
A boy can dream.
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Some of you seem to forget Title IX and the power it pulls . Keith has a lot more legally on her side concerning this student and that’s the way I see it cutting, even in a Trump first year.
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