Lawyers don't own their clients, and can't stop them from talking to other lawyers about representation. That's what the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, in this opinion, told a Texas attorney John Fahle when he got upset because one of his clients, Mr. Gonzalez-Lopez, realized he would be better off with California trial lawyer Joseph Low, IV and tried to hire Low.Fahle filed a motion for sanctions,

Now that that's behind us, we can get back to the business of defending people. No, I'm not happy with the result, but I know that: The planet will survive the next four years; The human race will most likely survive the next four years; The republic will probably survive the next four years; and The consitution will likely survive the next four years. Meanwhile, John Ashcroft

An anonymous reader posted this in the comments to my "Burying the Truth" blog. It is important, so I post it in its entirety: I initially began reading your website because I was interested in the Blakely v. Washington opinion. I believe now that I regret wasting my time. I deeply resent your flippant attitude regarding both the issue of Iraq and politics. My beloved nephew is

The last question of the second presidential debate was this (asked by Linda Grabel): GRABEL: President Bush, during the last four years, you have made thousands of decisions that have affected millions of lives. Please give three instances in which you came to realize you had made a wrong decision, and what you did to correct it. Thank you.Bush saw in the question an attack on decisions

At the Newark airport yesterday, I was discussing the election with a lady from Arkansas and a guy with a Hornets cap on. I told them that more Americans had been killed by international terrorists (excluding 9-11 and combatants) in the first three years of Bush's administration than in the last three years of Clinton's. Hornets Cap refused to believe it: "It's not true," he said. "If

For some reason the use of the phrase "make no mistake" by Bush and his cohort has always rubbed me the wrong way. (I have wondered how a jury might respond to my telling them in closing argument, "Make no mistake. . .") I suspected that what bothered me was the arrogance of a person who makes mistakes (we all make mistakes) commanding others not to make

Even if you take 9/11 out of the picture, 50% more Americans were killed by terrorists in the first three years of Bush's presidency than in the last three years of Clinton's: (The 2001 figure includes eight U.S. citizens killed that year in acts of terrorism other than the 9/11 attacks, according to the U.S. Department of State's 2001 Patterns of Global Terrorism report.) International terrorism casualties

In the federal criminal system, snitches are rewarded with freedom, money, and sometimes even drugs and sex. I've felt for years that there was something wrong with a system that rewarded people for providing evidence against other people. (See my "snitches" page on bennettandbennett.com.) But what can we do about it? Sean Bucci of Massachusetts has one idea. His new site, Who's a Rat?, allows people to

The current sorry state of the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendments has brought the Second Amendment into a clearer light for me. I used to think the Second Amendment was ill-written to the point of obscurity: A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. I couldn't

While poking around the web looking for information on "free-speech zones" (trying to figure out how on earth they pass muster under the First Amendment), I happened upon numerous references to this: In May of 2003, the Department of Homeland Security issued a terrorist advisory to local police departments warning them to be on the lookout for people who “expressed dislike of attitudes and decisions of the