Posted on
April 2, 2013 in
In a recent discussion amongst criminal-defense lawyers about the murder of the Kaufman County District Attorney, and whether we would represent the person charged with the murder (assuming that anyone ever is—my bet is that the murderers will never get caught, though a patsy may be), one of the brethren predicted that whoever took the case would have her phones tapped; her medical records searched; and whatever else the Texas Rangers could think of done to her, including drugs being planted in her car. His point was that a lawyer should not take this case because it might be the lawyer’s last case.
I was dumbfounded. Still am. I don’t think his predictions are remotely near the truth, but even if they are that should not be sufficient to scare a criminal-defense lawyer off a case.
You don’t become a criminal-defense lawyer to be loved by society, or to please the government.
You do it expecting…no, perversely hoping to make powerful enemies.
Don’t be ridiculous. Being a criminal defense lawyer is all about content marketing, SEO, technology and getting along so people like you and refer you cases. Making enemies is terrible for marketing, and marketing is what the law is about now. Haven’t you heard? There’s no room in the new normal for enemies.
Like the man sings: “two hundred years too late.”
I sense this post is a back handed effort to get a speaking slot at the ABA tech show.
Apparently not backhanded enough.
I agree that you can’t let risk to personal safety, or risk of official or professional retaliation scare you off a case. I even agree that in criminal defense those risks are generally quite remote. But they’re not always so remote that you shouldn’t take them into account. They are also pretty much impossible to quantify. And it’s also very difficult to counter the threat, because you are so hopelessly outmatched.
I had just posted on this subject the other day, didn’t know if you or any of your readers might be interested:
https://strikelawyer.wordpress.com/2013/03/31/delicate-subject-defense-lawyering-is-dangerous-too/