Blog Posts

Juries are fickle, especially in civil cases, where we give them the right and the power to award money in the form of compensatory damages, and, in rare cases, to assess punitive damages. Money becomes a proxy for justice. Yet standing in well of a civil court asking for money always reminds me of...

"Do you think anyone should go to jail?" The speaker, a youngish FBI agent, looked at me with the same devilish grin I had seen on his face any number of times. He was once the lead agent when a client of mine, a lawyer, was in federal jeopardy. We argued the government to a standstill in that...

“Everybody talks,” the prosecutor said. He was confident, strutting his stuff in the well of the court. “In the end, everyone talks,” he said again.
I felt as though I were watching a bad version of Inspector Javert, from Victor Hugo’s “Les...

Somehow, the prospect of John Rowland's returning to a federal prison does not make me all warm, fuzzy and grateful to be living in this, the best of all possible worlds. Yet, you would think I would be thrilled. After all, wasn't the former governor's latest conviction a victory for transparency...

A future historian might one day write the following of our time:
“Despite a generally permissive culture in which sexually suggestive photographs were used to advertise products ranging from toothpaste to cars, 21st century Americans nonetheless harbored draconian and puritanical laws...

There’s a cold logic in refusing to pay ransom to terrorists: Holding a firm line may well serve as a deterrent to further acts of terror. Destroy the pecuniary incentive for terrorists to kidnap folks, and, the theory goes, there will be fewer kidnappings. I wonder about that logic when it...

Editor's Note: John Rowland was convicted today after scarcely any deliberations at all.
Why don’t jurors get a pause button, or some other instrument, so that they can stop the government mid-sentence when a prosecutor says something so craven, so stupid, so misguided and even...

During the past year, I've been surprised by the number of times jurors have requested read backs of testimony they just heard only a few days earlier in criminal cases. In some instances, it seems to take almost as long to listen to the testimony again as it did to try the case in the first...

Folks are sometimes surprised to see a black anarchist’s flag hanging in the corner of my law office. “Aren’t you a lawyer?,” they ask. “Don’t you believe in the rule of law?” Shouldn’t I be wearing a small American flag in the lapel of my suit, as is...

I have a confession to make: I enjoy watching college and professional football. It’s the only thing I watch on television with any regularity. The speed and athleticism of the individual competitors is part of the attraction. So is the pageantry, the hype surrounding the game —...