Alex Bunin is a badass, to begin with. He is a talented administrator, a great lawyer, and a kind and humble human being. Whoever nominated him as a candidate when Harris County was considering forming a public defender's office deserves a medal. The Dispute over Writs Nobody but Judge Mary Lou Keel knows how the dispute between Keel and the Harris County Public Defender's Office really

After I wrote Trial by Myspace, something related came across my Twitter timeline. I've sworn off Twitter till after the election (more time to blog!), so I'm not going to bother to go look it up (does it matter?), but it was to the effect, "People who complain about 'likes' and 'retweets' need to realize that most social interactions in real life are about the weather." I hate to

If you get this twice via email, it means it's working. Due to popular demand (my Dad wasn't getting emails) I'm moving away from the "subscribe2" WordPress plugin that didn't work reliably, and to MailChimp, which should work better. If you were subscribed before, I've moved your email address over to my MailChimp list. If you weren't, there's a new subscription box in the right column. Once

I had to share this. I think it came out looking like a Dutch Renaissance painting. I call it "Miniature Clydesdale With Human Skull" or "Hey, Ridiculous Dog, Where Are You Going With My Still Life?"

Yesterday we had Trial by Myspace. Today Scott has Assault by Twitter in the First Degree, riffing off an article by a lawprof whose theory is that by sending a link to an epileptogenic video to a journalist, the sender committed an assault: "intentional creation of a reasonable apprehension of imminent bodily harm." An assault by threat, as we'd say in Texas — a class C misdemeanor, fine-only stuff. There

When I read this description of how all sorts of tech toys could be used to prevent human interaction in the courtroom of the future, I first thought, "surely Mitch Jackson doesn't try cases." But apparently he does. Weird. The tech and legal issues are unbelievably complicated. The parties to this case are concerned that the average Orange County juror just isn’t going to be able to get

Regular readers know that for nearly three years, since right after killing the dirty-talk portion of Texas's Online Solicitation of a Minor statute, I've been going after the balance of that statute, which appears at first to forbid only actual solicitation (which is unprotected speech), but on further reading explicitly criminalizes protected fantasy by eliminating lack-of-defense and fantasy defenses. The argument is that the statute is constitutionally

I took a closer look at John Casement's "LegalJot" website (archived here): The New Jersey Courts' index of attorneys shows no "Tyler Schultz." The New York Courts' attorney search shows no Erin Brooks. California shows several John Russells, one of whom might be in the same age range as the guy in the picture. I've reached out to him to inquire. But I'm betting that "John Russell,

When I talk about online marketing and social media to lawyers, I remind them that outsourcing their marketing is outsourcing their reputation. I point out that many people selling online marketing will lie to get their attention — to get you to read their emails or return their calls. And I ask them: If they would lie to get your attention, why would you trust them with your

Remember, it is not what you think about the Super Lawyers program, it is about what the potential client thinks! Thus spake Bart Taylor, trying to sell advertising in the Super Lawyers online directory in an email purporting to come from Houston PI lawyer Randy Sorrels: Lots of lawyers seem to agree with Bart. As exhibit "A," I would offer the trumpeting of bullshit "Top 100 Lawyers" "honors":