No doubt about it: it's hard out there for a new lawyer. There are vocal bloggers on the internet, failed wannabe attorneys who blame the game for their failings: L4L, BL1Y, Nando. It's much easier to hang out on JD Underground blaming the profession for the fact that you are living in your parents' basement, than to actually try to make something of yourself.Here (via Walter Olson

The Harris County District Attorney's Office's form charging instrument in "weenie waggling" indecent exposure cases has, for time immemorial, read:[Defendant], hereafter styled the Defendant, heretofore on or about [Date], did then and there unlawfully expose his GENITALS to [Cop] with intent to arouse and gratify the sexual desire of THE DEFENDANT, and the Defendant was reckless about whether another person was present who would be offended and

The industrial workplace can be a dangerous place. Accidents happen in work zones; people get hurt and killed. Isaac Sheridan knew this and Fernando Rodriguez knew this; they acknowledged it by strapping on hard hats and reflective vests at the beginning of every day's work in a construction zone.On Thursday afternoon, when Sheridan was running his street sweeper and Rodriguez was driving his pickup in their workplace

In the Houston Bar Association's Judicial Qualification poll, our District Clerk, Loren Jackson was rated "well qualified" by 1,056 of the responding lawyers, and "not qualified" by only 60. By contrast, his two challengers were rated "well qualified" by 58 and 40 lawyers, and "not qualified" by 244 and 256, respectively. Nobody elseFew others in the poll (covering judicial races and three administrative races) got over a

Houston criminal-defense lawyer Herman Martinez wrote (three weeks ago, but it hit my blog reader today):We enjoy reading emails from people, but lately we have received some that are way too long. to read.  If you can not say what you want to say in one or two paragraphs please pick up the phone and call our office.  We are very easy to reach when we are

I may build up more interest in this year's criminal court elections in Harris County, but for right now, this is what irks me:Sharolyn Wood, who claimed after the election in 2008 that an "unspoken agreement" that experienced judges not be challenged was "tossed out," is now running for County Criminal Court At Law Number 3 in the Republican primary against experienced criminal lawyers Cary Hart, Joe

I first saw the idea raised by John Kindley in this comment at Simple Justice: free criminal-defense lawyers for everyone, not just the indigent. I replied there that society should be willing to bear the full cost of prosecuting accused law-breakers, including the cost of due process.Norm Pattis came up with the same idea: It started as an inspiration and has metamorphosed into a conviction: If the

In Anthony Graves's first trial, prosecutor Charles Sebesta had to cheat to win, hiding exculpatory evidence and eliciting perjured testimony (Graves v. Dretke, Fifth Circuit opinion, PDF on Scribd).Now, not only has the evidence that Sebesta suppressed in violation of Brady v. Maryland been revealed so that the next prosecutor trying the case can't continue hiding it, but also the State has killed Robert Carter, its star

A Harris County felony prosecutor, in closing argument, says (PDF on Scribd): You-all heard some evidence, which I would have loved to brought you more people, but I couldn't. This case is, does Harris County find what he did okay? And I still don't know what he did, because he won't even say it. We all say dumb things in the  heat of trial. This particular dumb

David DeCosta was set up, to begin with: set up by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office and the Phoenix Police Department, and almost certainly factually innocent.Yesterday the State of Arizona, represented by the Pinal County Attorney's Office (to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest—are you listening, Pat Lykos?) moved to dismiss the case against DeCosta for lack of evidence, because there was "no reasonable likelihood of