Who Are We?

Scott Greenfield wrote yesterday about why we don’t belong in biglaw:
And then there was the bottom line. Regardless of all the things that we hold dear today, there was a baseline requirement that lawyers be gentlemen. Not hold the door open for ladies type of gentlemen, but boarding school type of gentlemen. [...]

More DEA Skulduggery

I have a client, “Joe,” who got shot three times by a DEA agent. DEA agents were following my client because they believed he had been involved in a drug transaction; he swapped paint with one of the agents, who shot him after the collision. Getting shot after a tussle with a DEA agent shouldn’t [...]

Duck!

I wrote here about a proposed bill to allow prosecutors to carry guns to court. Well, it passed. Effective June 15, 2007, prosecutors with concealed handgun licenses can take their guns to court. (Text of the bill.) I’m sure some RTKBA advocates are cheering this move, but having the government’s flunkies better-armed than the people [...]

Prosecutorial Skulduggery Uncovered by Grits

I’m glad we have Scot Henson (Grits for Breakfast) keeping an eye on those Texas prosecutors for us. Here he calls our attention to this thread on the TDCAA (Texas District and County Attorneys’ Association) forum about a federal prosecutor agent trying to justify not telling the defense the fact that narcotics officers removed the [...]

A Day in the Work of a Criminal Defense Lawyer

I wake up and start getting costumed for first court appearance with new client (he’s accused of assaulting a cop). The telephone rings. A fellow criminal defense lawyer and member of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers’ Association (of which I’m president-elect) has

shown up late for court and gotten himself jailed for contempt. I add [...]

Most Evil Legal Principles

Gideon has started a lively discussion on the Most Evil Legal Principles. Harmless error seems to be in the lead. Check it out.

Technorati Tags: blawgs

Wrong, Wrong, and . . . RIght?

Young Shawn Matlock, Ft. Worth criminal defense lawyer, writes here about his “conservative” (in American politics, code for “in favor of big government unless it gores my ox”) political views.
Not to pick on Shawn, but here are some highlights of his goodnatured post:
Do I think, in general, Bennett’s person convicted of trafficking 400 grams of [...]

Politics and Defense

Young Shawn Matlock, Dallas criminal defense lawyer, writes here and here about his politics — “conservative Republican” — and his beliefs:
I am as “Law-and-Order” as anyone. I have no problem with mandatory minimums and I don’t get worked up by the Sentencing Guidelines. I’m not anti-death penalty. I don’t think drug offenders should get a [...]

The Second Simplest Story: A Prosecutor’s Account

Ken Lammers (CrimLaw) recounts how a defendant made his prosecutorial job easier by telling the jury an implausible account of his innocence. Ken quotes the First Corollary to Bennett’s Chainsaw, but doesn’t refer to it by name.

The Opposite of Fear

Reading Malum in Se’s excellent blog about life as a public defender on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi reminded me of a book recommendation that I’ve been meaning to make here.
I’ve written before on the power of fear (here and here as well as elsewhere).

Our adversaries use fear as a weapon against our clients; [...]

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