"If you have to ask, you can't afford it." I've never really accepted that. I considered it a snotty, pretentious response to a legitimate price inquiry. I figured that even someone with all the money in the world would be a fool not to ask how much something was before deciding whether to buy it. But now I realize that not only is it true, but it's

Jon Katz writes about Giving Unpleasant People the Benefit of the Doubt. His message is that we should seek to eliminate anger by eliminating fear. As Paladin said, "Never draw in anger. It slows the hand." Jon tells a Zen story as an example of a life lived without fear: A man is chased in the wilderness by two tigers, only to be forced off a cliff,

The last time I visited with Oscar he had decided to plead guilty. Yesterday I went to see him again to tell him that the plea was set for Friday, and to explain how the plea would transpire. At the detention center, a Bureau-of-Prisons-run facility, I filled out the usual paperwork and handed it over along with my driver's license and bar card. The lady behind the

A jury verdict in a criminal case is not really a single verdict. It's actually twelve (six in a misdemeanor) individual verdicts. It is important that jurors realize that each of them is personally and individually responsible for the verdict; the majority doesn't rule. "Beyond a reasonable doubt" is a very personal standard; nobody can force someone else to agree that the doubts that she has are

I wrote yesterday about What About Clients's Rule 1, "Represent only clients you like," and my doubt that it can apply to a criminal practice. Also yesterday, WAC posted his Rule 12 -- a rule with which I wholeheartedly agree: Have fun. It's supposed to be fun. American law is extremely varied, elastic and constantly presenting new practice areas. It has something for everyone. I am convinced

Malum in Se asked, Is an ADA Really Worth More than an APD? This had me thinking about what relative prosecutor and PD salaries say about society's priorities. I wrote here about the relative salaries of ADAs and private defense lawyers reflecting the greater value we place on freedom than on safety. I think that the disparity that Malum complains of also reflects the value society places

Dan Hull, in his What about Clients? blog (a good question, and a good blog; his blogroll includes many blogs from outside the U.S.), lists 12 Rules of Client Service. I agree with Dan's twelve rules 91.66%. But his Rule 1, "Represent only clients you like," is one that I'm not sure criminal lawyers can follow. Unlike Dan, most criminal lawyers are a) not representing companies; and

I have five jury trials set in the next five weeks. Do you know how to try five cases in five weeks? The same way you eat an elephant: one bite at a time. First up is a misdemeanor possession of marijuana case, next week, in which the state intends to use a dope dealing snitch witness to try to prove that my client knew that the

English Barrister Simon Myerson commented on my recent post about Racehorse Haynes's cross-examination of the government's snitch witness in a murder case. Simon has a very interesting blog: Pupillage And How To Get It. I'm not entirely clear on the concept of pupillage; it appears that it's something like an apprenticeship -- in order to become a barrister you must first get an undergraduate degree (and a

Government is actually the worst failure of civilized man. There has never been a really good one, and even those that are most tolerable are arbitrary, cruel, grasping, and unintelligent.H. L. Mencken