Mike asks, Mark, do you have any authority to cite to support your interpretation that an IAC claim is not a "controversy between the lawyer and the client"?  Just wondering because it certainly seems like one to me. I know of no authority directly answering the question, "does an ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim in a motion or writ for post conviction relief create a controversy between the lawyer and

One of my colleagues responded to this post, All attorney's know, that once an ineffective assistance claim is made, the defendant essentially waives attorney-client privilege and the attorney has right to defend their actions and decisions. This is an incorrect statement of the law. Everything a lawyer learns in the course of representing a defendant is privileged. Texas Disciplinary Rule of Professional Conduct 1.05(c) describes when a lawyer

I am hosting Blawg Review next Monday. The theme is Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter from a Birmingham Jail, which he penned forty-nine years ago Monday. Please read the letter. If you haven't read it lately, reread it. It's a brilliant work, deserving of regular rereading along with the Declaration of Independence. I'm a little intimidated by my chosen theme. So if you have any suggested links for

Update 2: A week after the facts chronicled, I've been able to get my ego out of the way(a little bit) and look at the situation (a little bit) objectively. I lead the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association Lawyers Assistance Strike Force. When a lawyer gets himself into trouble with a court, we swoop in and get him out. We have an excellent track record—if a criminal-defense

Do you think, based on this video, that the judge's impartiality in a DWI case might reasonably be questioned?

Hit & Run, Did George Zimmerman Ignore the Police Dispatcher, and Why Did He Have a Gun? Newman, Leapin' Lloyd Oliver on Reasonable Doubt Cernovich, White Knights, Dark Prisons Rushie, The Evolution of Crystal Cox: Anatomy of a Scammer Popehat, Yes, The New York City Department of Education "Banned Words" List Is As Bad As Reported Kennedy, DA drops case against blogger Greenfield, Doomed to Squat Yes,

…at Declarations and Exclusions. Future Blawg Reviews here. If you have a blawg, sign up to do one. I've done two—#199 and #282—and will do more.

A judge shall abstain from public comment about a pending or impending proceeding which may come before the judge's court in a manner which suggests to a reasonable person the judge's probable decision on any particular case. This prohibition applies to any candidate for judicial office, with respect to judicial proceedings pending or impending in the court on which the candidate would serve if elected.… Texas Code

Anyone who reads this blog knows how I feel about anonymous commenters. People who spew their garbage on the internet from behind masks don't have any motivation to be truthful, much less logical, even less civil. Raising the barriers to entry for online communication would improve online discussions all around; I can do it here, but that's the extent of my influence. I learned today (h/t Brian Cuban, who's

Back in December (ahem: three days before Carr's article) I was unimpressed with the stir over the $2.5 million dollar libel judgment against Crystal Cox: A non-journalist like Cox is not allowed to defame a person. But—and this is crucial to an understanding of this case—a journalist is also not allowed to defame a person. . . . . If Cox had been a journalist, Padrick would