I just got a telephone call at the office from someone asking me for a campaign contribution for the judge of a Harris County district (felony) court, before whom I occasionally practice and before whom I have a case right now.This has never happened to me before. I don't know if it's happening now because the Republican incumbent judges are running scared in Harris County (they should

Brother Scott Greenfield, New York criminal-defense lawyer, got some telephonic feedback from Fort Worth (not British) criminal defense (not family) lawyer Mimi Coffey over his colorful word choice in a February post about her appearance on Fox News to talk about some British family law case. Scott responded to Mimi's call, in the best traditions of the blawgosphere, by using Mimi's call as the subject of a

Today's robbery jury trial went away because the alleged complaining witness signed an affidavit yesterday swearing that my client hadn't robbed him (he also swore that he had told the prosecutor the same thing, but the prosecutor claims otherwise). Tomorrow's DUI jury trial in Harris County is going to be put off because jury call has been canceled -- something about a tropical storm bearing down on

Last weekend I read Brain Rules, by John Medina. It's a slender book concisely describing 12 of the principles that govern how our brains work, and suggesting ways that businesses and schools might take advantage of these principles to help employees and students perform and learn better.As knowledge workers and creative workers, we should be interested in how our brains work, so that we can extract as

If you're a criminal-defense lawyer interested in the art of criminal defense trial lawyering, order Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art and read it now.

South Carolina criminal-defense lawyer Bobby G. Frederick gives us a few thoughts on Christopher Vogler's The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers: Although the book is geared towards screenwriters, novelists, and storytellers, I would say it should be required reading for any trial attorney as well. The single most important thing that we can do for our clients is to be effective in telling their story, whether

Texas's U.S. Attorneys for the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Districts of Texas say that prosecuting mortgage fraud is their top priority, writes Mary Flood in the Houston Chronicle. "There will be a lot of work for you", said the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas to the group of mostly criminal-defense lawyers at South Texas College of Law.Ten years ago I might have read

ECILCrime, by Illinois criminal-defense lawyer Jeremy Richey. I've added it to the blogroll. Jeremy is a concise writer, and posts regularly.ECILCrime reads like it's written mostly for clients and potential clients; maybe Jeremy hasn't yet learned the Secret of the Blawgosphere. Give him time.

I refuse to give them any link love, but google "it could also be used as presumptive evidence against you". You'll see a link to a site that implies pro bono help for people charged with DUI in Houston. What the site is, apparently, is some sort of link farm. The owner (my2305@yahoo.com) aims, I gather, for people searching for "Houston DUI Lawyer" and such to come

The [edit: Minneapolis,] Minnesota Police Department has given medals to eight officers who participated in the botched raid last December of a family home. They were at the wrong house; the homeowner, there with his wife and six kids and thinking he was being robbed, shot at them, and the police shot back. Minneapolis police spokesman Sgt. William Palmer said Tuesday the department has acknowledged the raid