There were probably criminal-defense lawyers before me who marketed themselves as never having been prosecutors—who made a virtue, in the minds of potential clients, of a lawyer never having put people in prison. It's marketing with the truth—helping the public understand that "former prosecutor" does not mean "good defense lawyer." Recently a potential client and I talked about how the other lawyers he was considering were trying

After reviewing your website, I really thought you were the real deal. I didn't ask for your opinion earlier Mark. [Link to article about rich guy's 1990s bankruptcy.] Maybe if my dad had managed his risk more intelligently, I wouldn't have to steal. I can't believe you refused to advise me. All I wanted to know is if you've seen or worked in any related cases and

Unemployed Kid Lawyer writes to small-firm-owning Young Lawyer (obviously not me) after four on a Friday afternoon: I am a recent cum laude graduate of [third-tier law school], and write to express my interest in potentially joining your firm. A colleague of yours, [Some Friend], whom I met at a networking event, recommended that I contact you about a possible position. Please see my attached résumé, writing

I'm documenting this here in case someone else has the same problem. Today I wrote a ten-page response to a government motion, and when I saved it (from MS Word 2011) to PDF format it was over 5 megabytes—too big to be filed via ECF. Poking around The Google, I found a suggestion that I save it first as a Postscript file, then open that with Preview.

It's good enough for Rand Paul: White House Press Secretary Jay Carney quoted from the letter that Holder sent to Paul today. “Does the president have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on an American soil?” Holder wrote, per Carney. “The answer is no.” Paul said that was good enough for him. “I’m quite happy with the answer,”

Letter from Bobby Mims of Tyler, President President-Elect of the Texas Criminal-Defense Lawyers Association, to the sponsor of Texas Senate Bill 91 and his Chief of Staff: Senator Rodney Ellis & Mr. Brandon Dudley: I appreciate the time that you and Sen. Ellis invested in today's analysis of the SB91. We the members of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association understand and appreciate Senator Ellis' dedication to

My guy was taking a five-year prison sentence, and had arranged for a few weeks to get his affairs in order. The deal was that if he didn't show up on the appointed day the judge could consider the full (five-to-life) range of punishment. He showed up late. The judge gave him six years. Me: Judge, is being five minutes late really worth a year in prison?

Rob Kepple giving a pep talk, under the guise of "ethics," to the Harris County DA's Office: Now let's go back to my original analogy because I really want to wrap this up and bring it around, because I really do think that it shows the difference between what we do every day as a prosecutor and what everybody else does and what everybody else thinks, and

Grits for Breakfast asked, in a comment, "Do you find reciprocal discovery a hindrance in your federal cases? If not, what’s the difference?" Before I answer that, let me say that the federal criminal justice system should in no wise be considered a model for other jurisdictions. Federal court is a plea machine, in which all of the rules are geared toward pressuring factually innocent people to

Texas Senate Bill 91 would provide for formal discovery in criminal cases, both from the State to the defense and from the defense to the State. Texas Defender Service, which litigates capital cases, has come out in favor of this excrescence. Their reasoning is that, since there are District Attorneys who require waivers of Brady and other rights before they show their cards to counsel for defendants whom they have accused, or