What would you call a self-confessed agnostic who recites Psalm 23 in times of grave trouble? Hypocrite comes to mind, and the description fits. Fool also fits. And sinner works, too, although just what the concept of sin can mean to the godless is a mystery.
But there I was on the cusp of cross-examination in a difficult case. The words summoned me like an invitation to place I no longer knew how to visit.
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”
In high school when all was storm, stress and terror, I had...
August 3, 2014
One of the occupational hazards of the legal profession is a close acquaintance with chaos. The darkness leads some into the wasteland of depression, and they fall prey to alcoholism, to drug use or to despair. Others yield to a haughty sense that they are above it all, that they are mere spectators to the struggles of the ordinary mortals whose cases consume their professional lives. This later arrogance breeds a species of entitlement to which even judges are not immune.
I’ve never met former Detroit Circuit Court Judge Wade McCree, so I only know what I’ve read. The...
August 3, 2014
It seems as though all of my heroes are getting long in the tooth: Gerry Spence and F. Lee Bailey are in their 80s. Tony Serra is 79. Even John Williams is in his seventies. I don’t know why I thought great trial lawyers would be immune from time’s always fatal hammer.
Perhaps I was hoping great arguments would yield immortality. Perhaps I thought I too could escape the clock’s final tick.
I think alot about mortality in the summer, of all times. My wife and I take a long vacation each year. Returning to work gets more and more difficult. I fuss and whine three...
July 26, 2014
It surprises most people to learn that in the state courts of Connecticut, judges almost never permit opening statements in criminal cases. Lawyers get a chance to give them in state civil cases, however. And openings are permitted in both civil and criminal cases in the federal courts. Such are the vagaries of federalism.
Opening statements are a chance for lawyers to tell jurors what to expect at trial, giving a jury some sense of what to focus on in the days and weeks to come. I don’t think we do jurors any favors dropping them into a trial without any sense of what the issues...
July 25, 2014
July 20, 2014
Among the many defining errors I've made along life's way is my public and open scorn for law professors. Those who can't do, teach, and those who...
July 19, 2014
"I know that a certain percentage of folks I send to prison are, in fact, innocent," he said. "I just don't know how to identify who those folks...
July 9, 2014
Some contend that trials, especially criminal trials, are won or lost during jury selection. Although jury selection is intended merely to assure...
July 8, 2014
Richard Kopf, a U.S. District Court judge in Nebraska, writes a blog. The other day, he vented about the Supreme Court's recent decision in Hobby...
July 3, 2014
Over the many years I've written this column – I think it is now 14, but who is counting? – I've taken pride in never missing a week....
July 2, 2014
Despite the fact that I spend as much time as I can in courtrooms, I still enjoy reading fiction about the law and lawyering. I worry always about...