Today’s Quote

Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.

-George Washington

Technorati Tags: government, philosophy

Ethical Fee-Setting

Legendary Houston criminal defense lawyer Percy Foreman reputedly said, “You can represent your client, or you can represent yourself.”
This should be every criminal defense lawyer’s prime directive: help the client. When we have professional decisions to make, we should always ask ourselves: “how will it help my clients?”
Some might argue that it is necessary for [...]

Extortion

A potential client called me this morning (Sunday). He had been to a strip club last night, and today a guy called him (from a caller-ID-blocked number) claiming to be from the human resources department of the club. The guy said that one of the dancers had complained that the potential client had sexually assaulted [...]

More On Lawyers Using Clients’ Names in Publicity

In an earlier post I mentioned lawyers who use former clients’ names in their advertising. Today I stumbled upon a post that Florida public defender Albert Clifford wrote on Ethical Blogging back in February. He wrote (in part):
I represent poor people who have no choice in their selection of me. I try to keep them [...]

More on TBI

If a person’s personality has changed because of a brain injury, is he still the same person?
In representing Vietnam and Gulf War veterans in criminal court, it’s been my observation that those most in favor of the current war are hardest on our veterans. Does anyone doubt that those who see all criminal conduct as [...]

Letter Lawyers

Exhibit 2 to the Motion for Summary Judgment in Pham v. Jones is a lawyer’s solicitation letter to potential clients. He quotes a price range of $100-$300 for most misdemeanor cases, and $500-750 for most felony cases.
The lawyer mentions “trial by jury” in the cover letter and twice in the brochure he includes with the [...]

Voir Dire Question

Voir dire is the process of selecting (or, more accurately, deselecting) a jury. When I begin a voir dire, I don’t have a plan; I know what topics I want to discuss, but I don’t know how I’m going to discuss them. At some point, I usually like to ask a question that everyone [...]

Lawyers Who Don’t Care

The mother of potential client called me the other day; she had been looking for a lawyer on the web. She had called one of the “nationwide” criminal defense corporations (you know the ones — they have names like corporations instead of groups of human beings). She reported to me that they told her that [...]

More on State’s Rights

Clay Conrad commented here on my post about State’s Rights. Clay questions my statement that “rights cannot be maintained using force:” “if someone seeks to kill me, do I not have a right to defend myself, thereby maintaining my right to live through violent self-defense?”
I’m not sure Clay is wrong, but I think he and [...]

Traumatic Brain Injury

One of the unintended side effects of the Iraq war is that many of our healthiest young men and women are coming home with traumatic brain injuries. Traumatic brain injury, or TBI, has been called the signature wound of the Iraq war.
When I learned (from hanging out with lawyers who represent injured people) about the [...]

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