On choosing a house. Or a lawyer.
Some clients will hire the first lawyer they reach by phone. Others will take more time. They interview multiple lawyers in person. They ask questions.
Starting a criminal defense practice after Covid
The changes now being effected in response to the pandemic — specifically the trend toward on-line hearings — could pose challenges for new lawyers seeking to start criminal defense practices in D.C.
Criminal defense in the Covid era
We will learn. We will adapt. But as with so many other things in our lives, there will be the pre- and the post-Covid eras. Things will never be the same.
I try cases
I have taken 63 cases to trial since 2015. I have secured outright acquittals in 23 of these cases – roughly 37 % – and partial acquittals in an additional 8.
Dealing with Stuart Schuman of the Defender Association
The file has been returned to me with a note from Stuart Schuman, the misdemeanor supervisor. Uh oh, I think, this can’t be good. I go down to see him.
Handling a U.S. Citation Case in D.C. Superior Court
Here is what every lawyer appearing in D.C. Superior Court should know about handling an arraignment for a U.S. citation.
Lists
I sit across from a colleague in her office at the Public Defender Service in D.C. A list of names from the jail is on her desk. Some of the names have been crossed out. Others have been… Read More
“The First Thing We Do, Let’s Kill All the Lawyers”
Back in my days with the federal government, before I had my own J.D., I hated working with the lawyers. It was not just that they spoke a strange language and treated each other as if they were… Read More
On the Benefits of a Flat Fee Agreement
Criminal defense attorneys often use flat fees; that is, we charge a set sum to cover the entire course of a representation. This includes arraignment, negotiations with the prosecutor, any legal research that needs to be conducted, preliminary… Read More
A New Perspective on Representing Indigent Criminal Defendants
Three months into my court-appointed work in D.C., I now have a completely different perspective on representing indigent criminal defendants. At the time I quit my job as a public defender in Philadelphia after a three-year stint there,… Read More
