A couple of months ago, Carol D. of Public Defender Revolution told the story about a judge who tried to force her to trial on a case when she wasn’t ready. This put Ms. D. into a very difficult position. She couldn’t put her client’s interests at risk by proceeding unprepared to trial. She therefore had no choice but …
I have written a number of entries over the last couple of months about the case of Donald E. Gates, a man who was imprisoned for 27 years for a crime the evidence now shows he did not commit. Gates was convicted in large part on the basis of false testimony by FBI analyst Michael P. Malone. Donald Gates, as …
There is always a lot of discussion over at the ABA listserv Solosez about client relations. People talk about the need to sometimes fire a client, which, from what people say, almost seems like a rite of passage for most lawyers. Consider me now initiated. Today I had to fire my first client. I was reluctant to do it. It …
In an entry today called “Don’t Blame Clients For What Lawyers Do,” Scott Greenfield writes of the “huge rift” within the legal profession “between those desperately seeking business and those desperately seeking to provide clients with excellent representation.” As an example of the lawyers on the “seeking business” side of the divide, he cites lawyers who offer free consultations to …
A couple of weeks ago, I changed the message on my office voice mail. My 19-year-old daughter had done the original recording, but, after listening to it back, we both agreed that her voice sounded too girlish. So, instead, I asked my former sister-in-law if she could do it. I thought my sister-in-law’s British accent would sound classy. I also …
In talking with another lawyer during my training in Houston, the other lawyer was surprised that I could know so much about the author of D.A. Confidential without being aware that he speaks with a British accent. That’s the thing about following a blog. You can find out an awful lot about the blog’s author without ever meeting the person …
Yesterday I posted about the guy who drove his Lexis onto our brick wall and then left it there. I assumed he had been drinking. I assumed we would never see him again. And, as suggested by another participant at the training here, I assumed the police would soon be getting a call about a stolen car. This led me …
You often hear criminal defense lawyers who are just starting out say that they will initially handle drinking-and-driving offenses, like DWI or DUI, until they get their feet on the ground. The cases are, they say, straightforward and lucrative. Once they get themselves established, well, then they can move on to more complicated felony cases, like attempted murder, drug distribution, …
There is nothing more gratifying for a criminal defense lawyer than the moment on cross-examination when the prosecution’s key witness begins to sweat. The witness gets that panicked or confused look in the eye and keeps glancing over at the prosecutor as if for help. Uh oh, the look says. This is not going as planned. Defense counsel knows a …
My niece attended her first baseball game when she was four or five years old. After the first inning or so, she announced that she was done with baseball. I am done with Avvo. As reflected on the ABA listserv for solo practitioners, Solosez, other lawyers seem to have all sorts of concerns about this legal networking and referral service, the …