The Greatest American Lawyer writes about luck: If luck were a dominant factor in how things happen, there would be few if any patterns amongst high achievers. Achievement would be random. At that point, what is the use in even trying?That's a non sequitur. Who's to say that good fortune is not part of a complex of traits that high achievers generally have? For all we know,

I've been tremendously honored lately to be mentioned in some of my fellow bloggers' (Grits for Breakfast, Austin Criminal Defense, Deliberations [edit: and Simple Justice]) posts about the ten best criminal justice blogs. Scott at Grits [edit: and Scott at Simple Justice] included me in the list (Jamie at Austin Criminal Defense and Anne at Deliberations didn't, but named me as a contender). So now, having been

Mississippi Gulf Coast public defender Malum in Se writes about his guerrilla operations against the state: Last month I prepared 42 motions for bond reconsideration and set them for hearing wherever the court administrators would allow me to squeeze them in. This had all the ADA's in an uproar calling and pleading to take them off the docket and work them out. The private defense bar was

Anne Reed wrote yesterday about What They'll Never Tell You: Good lawyers know how much you can learn about jurors if you ask the right questions in voir dire. Really good lawyers know how much you'll never learn, no matter how perfect your questions are. Often -- maybe always -- the experiences that most shape our personalities and attitudes are our secrets. "We all carry a secret

In the Brandon Mayfield case, AFIS listed Mr. Mayfield as one of four people in the system whose fingerprints had features in common with the questioned fingerprint from the bombing in Madrid. An FBI "Supervisory Fingerprint Specialist", Agent Terry Green, concluded that Mr. Mayfield's left index fingerprint matched the questioned fingerprint. John T. Massey, an "independent fingerprint examiner" (actually a former FBI employee periodically hired by the

Why have we not talked about this? I searched the blogs on my list of regular reads for "Brandon Mayfield" and found only one mention in the last seven months, in passing in Underdog. Do I need to broaden my blawgospherical horizons? "This" is the opinion of the Honorable Ann Aiken of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon in Mayfield v. United States.

Qalmlea at A Musing Taoist has been dedicating a post to each chapter of Lao Tse's Tao Te Ching, along with her own commentary. The version of the book that she's using is Stephen Mitchell's, which I recommend highly. Qalmlea also provides a link to the text of Mitchell's version online, but it does not include Mitchell's commentary. Buy the book. (She also links to Red Pine's

There are -- you may have noticed this -- lots of lawyers taking criminal cases. What distinguishes you from the bulk of these lawyers? (Why does it matter? It matters because, unless you have a low opinion of yourself, you realize that the clients will be better served by at least considering hiring you. If you can't define what distinguishes you from the bulk of lawyers, the

Today the lawyer I described in this post called me (it's been a little over four weeks, by the way). He wanted to know why his client (my former client) had been detained. I probably should have made like Matlock and flipped him off. But instead, I explained to him the presumption of detention in a federal drug conspiracy case with a possible sentence over ten years.

On Sunday Malum in Se wrote about running into a prominent criminal defense attorney at the local Walmart. On Sunday afternoon, the lawyer was wearing khakis, a long sleeve shirt and a tie. Alright, you might say, he had probably just come from church. Or maybe brunch with his mother. But this Prominent Lawyer gave himself away when he commented on Malum's own attire: "Mr. PD, perception