So . . . the Government puts on this witness, see? And this witness, she works for Air France, right? So the Government puts her on the witness stand in a federal jury trial, and asks her about airfares. They want to know what the lowest fare from Houston to Port Harcourt was in April 2007. So they've got this printout from the Air France computer showing

"I'm in trial in federal court, and I need someone to cover for me in Harris and Galveston Counties on Friday." If you are a criminal-defense lawyer, at some point you will ask for cover. A lawyer other than the one on the case covers for the one who is by making a court appearance. Cover doesn't generally involve substantial lawyering, but rather just showing the flag,

This morning I was visiting with dinosaur-in-training Feroz F. Merchant (actually a super lawyer despite the cheesy SuperLawyer designation) about developing the trial lawyer's art. Feroz was lamenting the many lawyers practicing criminal law who are just there for the money, and care more about their clothes than about either their clients or their art. (Sounds familiar, eh, Shawn?) Feroz, who was down at the federal courthouse

I don't know what to say. This was supposed to be Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Smith's opening statement -- a time not for argument but for describing what the evidence is expected to show. The accused is not charged with being a con artist. Rather, he's charged with possession of cocaine, at issue is whether he knew that he possessed a controlled substance, and he didn't try

What do you get when you combine my friend (and fellow dinosaur) Norm, a federal drug case, 20 minutes of lawyer-conducted voir dire, and a 35-person jury panel? Nothing even remotely resembling a jury. Come back and try again later. With 11 people disqualified for cause, that panel is not big enough. We'll bring in 40 potential jurors tomorrow. And oh, by the way, the court will

Last Monday I went to federal court to help my friend (and fellow dinosaur) Norm pick a jury on a cocaine case. Before the jury panel was brought in, the judge handled some motions in limine. She became frustrated, first with the prosecutor and then with my friend because she thought that they should both have done more to prepare for trial. (Norm, like me, had spent

If you're a young lawyer interested in defending people in federal court, listen up. A few days ago an anonymous commenter to this post asked: How would you recommend that a new lawyer get started defending people in federal court? How did you get started? I started in federal court long enough ago that I hardly remember how I did it; most likely I went about it

A friend in Tennessee writes: Your November 29, 2007 post seems to me to be potentially irresponsible and potentially unethical. How many times have you gotten your clients into more trouble? I bet you would not admit it if you had. Friend, aside from being an unfriendly thing to say, that last bit is a bet you would certainly lose. You must be mistaking this blog for

The American Bar Association (that's not the real link -- the ABA is merely worthless rather than sinister -- but it's entertaining nonetheless) is hosting another blawgers' beauty contest. Kevin O'Keefe writes about it here. The heart of Kevin's excellent post (hat tip to Anne Reed): Law blogs represent disintermediation of publishers and gatekeepers. No more are those in supposed power and control going to screen and

Shawn Matlock, who's growing up quite nicely, writes about trust (a topic dear to my heart) and his distaste for potential clients who "just want to do a quick plea." I get such potential clients in the office now and then. When they tell me they want to "just plead guilty and take probation", I tell them something like this: If you want someone to just plead