HCCLA ex-president Robb Fickman joins The Houston Justice League:I know this is hard to believe...so hear me out...He was driving back from Lake Charles (he wasn't gambling...he was...um...sight seeing at some of the industrial plants, and relaxing on the lovely beach fronts on the soothing lake), and when he neared the Highlands exit, traffic slowed. He looked to his right on the off ramp and noticed a

Lawyers:There are some who will tell you, “the disciplinary rules say X, so ethically you have no choice.” That our lawyerly duties trump all others is a fiction thoughtlessly accepted by most lawyers and  eagerly accepted by others who want to avoid the consequences of their actions. They are mistaken for three reasons. First, you always can choose (from your own frame of reference, and presuming that

Text added by Congress is indicated by strikethrough; text removed by Congress is italicized. Information is from Thomas Jefferson’s Autobiography.A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled.    When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another,

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel

Recall the story of the two Chicago PDs whose client, Wilson, confessed to them that he had murdered a security guard, and that Logan, who was doing life for the murder, had not. The two lawyers, Jamie Kunz and Dale Coventry, waited till Wilson died in prison, 25 years later, to reveal the truth and set Logan free. They spoke in May at the ABA's 35th National

I got a letter from a Texas prison last week: contraband had been confiscated from an inmate (not a client) after arriving in an envelope with my return address on it. The contraband was described as "two UCC Packets."After dashing off a cross letter to the warden about people using my return address to send contraband to Texas prisons, I investigated why "UCC Packets" might be classified

Defending People reader “Ryan”, writing at Plain Error, the official blog of the Innocence Project of Florida, responds to my “Law and Justice Explained.” post:As someone with the status just above armchair philosopher (disclosure: I will be attending graduate school for a PhD in philosophy in the fall), I have a few words on that one.The idea that “justice” has no relationship to the law – and

I just stumbled upon this, in comments to a long-ago Ann Althouse post:One of the most annoying things about lawyers is the way they casually conflate "law" with "justice." To clarify: justice is a concept in philosophy; also to some extent in psychology, sociology, economics, etc. Law is what a bunch of mostly long-dead politicians thought would get them reelected. There's no connection between the two. None.

At Illinois and Missouri lawyer Evan Schaeffer's Trial Practice Tips Weblog, Evan has a link to an Amazon list of 16 Books to Read if You Want to Become a Better Trial Lawyer by Dallas Government lawyer Shane Read. Shane's list includes Gerry Spence's How to Argue and Win Every Time, Posner's How Judges Think, and Read's own Winning at Trial, as well as 14 other books

A few rules from growing up Bennett:Never lose altitude unnecessarily.Slow, slow. Look, Look.Never pass up a chance to relieve yourself.Don't let too much small stuff pile up (this is the companion rule to the more widely known "Don't sweat the small stuff" and "It's all small stuff").There's always a hair in the food.This last rule is crucial to a correct understanding of both life and jury selection.A