Blog Posts

Criminal defense lawyers know an elemental truth: you cannot be in two places at once. But it sometimes happens that two calendars are called at the same in different places. When that happens, you simply arrive late at one courthouse, as I did today.
When I arrived at my second...

We stood in the well of the court, backs turned to the packed gallery. The man spoke of his pain, his sorrow, and his grief. "You have destroyed my life," he said. He lives in pain. "You owe my children," he said. He wanted my client to go to prison, and, to be sure, we knew that she would be...

The trial and death of Socrates stands alongside that of Jesus of Nazareth as a milestone in our civilization. What these deaths signify is far from clear. Neither man wrote memoirs about what he taught. Both were killed by political authorities intent on doing what politicians always do –...

I've missed the bright lights of the city, living as I do in the country. My main office is a couple short miles from where I live. The morning commute is usually a matter of dodging wildlife: I see more deer and turkeys than cars when I see anything at all. One stop sign separates my home from my...

Connecticut lawmakers are missing an opportunity to save money, improve public safety and enhance public confidence in the courts. The legislation is drafted and awaits action. All that’s needed is a little push, so permit me to shove.
Reform of the state’s sex offender...

The only real obstacle standing in the way of Connecticut’s abolishing the death penalty seems to be special pleading arising from the Cheshire home invasion case. Lawmakers want to repeal the penalty. Indeed, they voted to do so in 2009, but their vote was vetoed by then governor N. Jodi...

“The man who gets angry at the right things and with the right people, and also in the right way and at the right time and for the right length of time, is commended,” Aristotle wrote. He was teaching about ethics, and the value of moderation. Aristotle would ask today whether we can...

We say that the criminal justice system assigns responsibility for deviant conduct to those who violate communal norms. Of course, not all communal norms carry penal consequences. Only some violations carry a criminal sanction. And because of the gravity of that sanction, we take pains to avoid...

Perhaps it takes economic hard times to do what the machinery of justice is incapable of accomplishing: putting the breaks on the seemingly unstoppable tendency to declare ever broader classes of conduct a crime. If so, I welcome the current recession.
Michael Lawlor spoke Friday at a...

You might think they are contradictory, but I tell you the notions are wholly consistent. We can and should have an independent judiciary. We should also permit juries to nullify the law. The world would be a better place if we appointed judges for life, and set jurors lose. Ordinary citizens might...