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Recent Blog Posts
Naptime in the Courtroom
Last weekend I read Brain Rules
As knowledge workers and creative workers, we should be interested in how our brains work, so that we can extract as much from them as possible. As advocates, we should be interested in how our audiences' brains work, so that we can best tell our stories (and disrupt our adversaries' stories).
Rule #7 is "Sleep well, think well." I found two important points for criminal defense trial lawyers in this rule.
First, studies have shown massive losses in overall cognitive skill andperformance resulting from nights with little or nosleep. "Sleep loss hurts attention, executive function, immediate memory, working memory, mood, quantitative skills, logical reasoning ability, general math knowledge."
So if it's the night before trial and you've got the choice between a) staying up late writing your opening statement; and b) going to bed early and getting a good night's sleep, choose (b). And if you're so busy that your practice is keeping you from getting a full night's sleep most nights, it's time to cut down on the number of clients your representing by doubling your fees.
Read this Book
If you're a criminal-defense lawyer interested in the art of criminal defense trial lawyering, order Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art
Practical Blawgosphere, Scavenging Department
South Carolina criminal-defense lawyer Bobby G. Frederick gives us a few thoughts on Christopher Vogler's The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers
Although the book is geared towards screenwriters, novelists, and storytellers, I would say it should be required reading for any trial attorney as well. The single most important thing that we can do for our clients is to be effective in telling their story, whether it is to the prosecutor, the judge, or especially to the jury, and this book gives some powerful insight into what makes for an effective presentation.The basic premise is that "all stories consist of a few common structural elements found universally in myths, fairy tales, dreams, and movies. They are known collectively as the Hero's Journey." The author draws on the work of mythologist Joseph Campbell (The Hero of a Thousand Faces) and psychologist Carl Jung, finding that repeating characters or energies called archetypes appear throughout our dreams and throughout the myths and stories of cultures across the world, that these patterns spring from a collective unconscious of the human race, and that when used effectively they can tap into human emotion in a profound way.
Federal Mortgage Fraud in Texas = Payday for Criminal Defense Lawyers?
Texas's U.S. Attorneys for the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Districts of Texas say that prosecuting mortgage fraud is their top priority, writes Mary Flood in the Houston Chronicle. "There will be a lot of work for you", said the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas to the group of mostly criminal-defense lawyers at South Texas College of Law.
Ten years ago I might have read this news and thought, "jackpot!" After all, mortgage fraud is white collar crime, and white collar crime means fat-cat defendants with money, and fat-cat defendants with money means big legal fees, right?
Wrong.
At the birth of the mortgage fraud industry, the people committing mortgage fraud were inventing ways to steal. They were educated and (internally) motivated, two characteristics that often go along with having the means to properly fund the defense of a criminal case.
But mortgage fraud became so easy in the last decade, and the techniques for committing it became so widely known, that it required no special education or training. It was like stealing lawnmowers out of people's garages. Mortgage fraud became a white-collar crime committed by blue-collar people.
New Contributor to the Practical Blawgosphere
ECILCrime, by Illinois criminal-defense lawyer Jeremy Richey. I've added it to the blogroll. Jeremy is a concise writer, and posts regularly.ECILCrime reads like it's written mostly for clients and potential clients; maybe Jeremy hasn't yet learned the Secret of the Blawgosphere. Give him time.
Bad DUI Advice and Internet Anonymity
I refuse to give them any link love, but google "it could also be used as presumptive evidence against you". You'll see a link to a site that implies pro bono help for people charged with DUI in Houston. What the site is, apparently, is some sort of link farm. The owner (my2305@yahoo.com) aims, I gather, for people searching for "Houston DUI Lawyer" and such to come upon this pseudoblog and click on the Google ads in the margins. She makes a little money for each click.Unfortunately, the advice she gives:
On the other hand, you must not refuse to take the breath test becausethat will lead to automatic suspension of your driver's license and itcould also be used as presumptive evidence against you and could carryadditional civil or criminal sanctions.
Is really bad. (Refusing to take the breath test does not lead to automatic suspension of your driver's license. It can't be used as "presumptive evidence against you". It doesn't carry additional criminal sanctions.)I'm pretty sure that no Houston lawyer who has actually handled a DUI case would write this, but might anyone happening upon this see it as serious advice?I'd like to think that my2305's anonymity would militate against anyone actually taking her advice seriously. It'd be nice if the internet community's ability to discriminate good information from bad were better than that of the Minneapolis Police Department but, judging from the number of anonymous blog commenters we see who seem to expect their ideas to be taken seriously, I don't have a lot of confidence that the internet's standards of reliability are high enough to keep people from making bad decisions based on anonymous information.
Officers, You're Doing a Heck of a Job.
The [edit: Minneapolis,] Minnesota Police Department has given medals to eight officers who participated in the botched raid last December of a family home. They were at the wrong house; the homeowner, there with his wife and six kids and thinking he was being robbed, shot at them, and the police shot back.
Minneapolis police spokesman Sgt. William Palmer said Tuesday the department has acknowledged the raid was a mistake and has apologized to the family. But he said the officers "performed very bravely under gunfire and made smart decisions."Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan said that he knew giving the award might get negative attention but that "we've never not recognized an officer shot in the line of duty."Three officers received shrapnel damage to body armor and their ballistic helmets, Palmer said.
The police said it wasn't their fault (WCCO) that they went into the wrong house; they blamed the informant. Asked if they would make changes to prevent future mistakes, a police spokesman replied:
Million-Dollar Legal Advice
I've been saying it on the internet for 10 years in my Million-Dolar Legal Advice: don't talk to the police.
Last Thursday's Reasonable Doubt
In case you missed it - last Thursday's Reasonable Doubt with Steven Halpert, Todd Dupont, and me.
Arrogant, or Just Dim?
Blonde Justice wrote yesterday about dealing with a none-too-bright prosecutor:
So, I continued, "Look, she's been through a lot, but she's getting herlife straightened out. She's seeing a psychiatrist and apsychologist..."At which point the prosecutor interrupted, "Wait."Wait? Maybe she's starting to get it?"Wait,"she continued, "You expect me to believe there's a difference between apsychiatrist and a psychologist? You're just trying to pull the woolover my eyes. You're just trying to confuse me."
A law school might be forgiven for graduating someone who doesn't know the difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist... maybe. For good or ill, we don't expect lawyers (much less baby lawyers) to be polymaths or even well-rounded human beings. A DA's office might be forgiven for hiring someone who doesn't know the difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist. After all, what good is a broad liberal education to a trial lawyer?*But there's something wrong with a prosecutor who not only doesn't know the difference, but thinks that a criminal-defense lawyer is "trying to pull the wool over her eyes" by talking about psychologists and psychiatrists. This prosecutor, with no job or career or life experience, who has never "walked a mile in any shoes", won't confess her ignorance but instead blames the defense lawyer (the enemy, don'tcha know) for trying to confuse her.Blonde Justice is making a point that is a favorite of mine: that we should expect those in a position to decide other people's futures to have some clue how the world works. I'm not sure the Blonde's prosecutor would be any less dim if the world were allowed to knock her down a few times, but at least she would have a better sense of her own shortcomings.
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