My wife does not read this blog. I understand. She’s busy. Friends or family will tell her they enjoyed something they read on the blog and she will smile and thank them, but she really has no clue what they are talking about. I showed her my website when it first went up last fall. Yes, dear, it looks very …
In 24 days I will be sitting down to take another bar, this time in Virginia. The idea, which seemed like a pretty good idea when I came up with it last fall, is that I will be able to extend my criminal law practice from D.C. into Virginia, which is also where I live. Strangely enough, I have only …
A loyal reader (okay, it’s my brother-in-law George) has asked me to explain the difference between murder and felony-murder. George learned of the distinction while reading about yesterday’s not guilty plea in the Yale graduate student murder case. For those of you who are not familiar with the case, Raymond Clark III was charged last week in connection the murder …
It is a sad but well-known fact among criminal defense lawyers in many jurisdictions that if you insist on a jury trial and lose, you will get a stiffer penalty than if you lose the same case in front of a judge. That’s right: Same facts. Same verdict. Different sentence. This is a variation of the so-called “trial tax,” which …
I was sorry to learn this morning that one of my favorite legal bloggers – Michael McLees of Fast Texas Divorce – has decided to discontinue his blog. Writes McLees on a recent entry: “I’m just not sure that [the blog] contributes anything to my practice and since the novelty has worn off, it just isn’t fun anymore.” McLees also …
This guy has his eye put out in an accident. He can’t afford a glass eye, so the eye doctor puts in a fake eye made of wood instead. The guy is very self-conscious about his wood eye, but finally his friends talk him into joining them at a dance. It is time, they say, for him to get back …