Blog Posts

A welcome and not altogether unexpected piece of news arrived in the mail. It was from the Grievance Committee. The panel found no further need to investigate a complaint lodged against me. I filed the complaint myself.
I learned a long time ago never to run from a fight. Meet the...

There’s been a lot of hand-wringing and even a little chest-thumping about the collapse of Manhattan mega-firm Dewey LaBoeuf. The hand wringers wonder what has become of the law; the chest thumpers can’t say I told you so loudly enough. From where I sit, the collapse of a Biglaw giant...

The critics use terms like "shameless" to describe Steven Spielberg’s new film, "War Horse." I say shame on the critics. This adaptation of the novel by Michael Morpurgo succeeds as a sustained meditation on faithfulness. If the story seems fantastic, and it is, so much the worse for us: what...

I got a letter from Leo C. Arnone the other day. He is the Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Correction. He was upset by a column I wrote complaining about how one of his employees treated me at the York Correctional Institution. He was offended by my comments. He stands by his...

I keep hearing about lawyers looking for work. Take note, then. Here is a help-wanted notice.
I am looking to hire a new associate.
My firm handles state and federal criminal defense at the trial and appellate levels. We also litigate post-conviction claims, employment discrimination...

Lock a man up. Put him in a tiny cell. Require him to live with others not his choosing. Regulate when and what he can eat. Limit the times he may leave his cell to exercise in another pen. Restrict his access to family, reading material, and all the signals that might reach him from the external...

I am having one of those burnt out kind of days in which the idea of writing a column about the practice of law seems about as appealing as spending another 12 hours in the office. Some days, lawyering is less intellectual feast than it is emotional marathon. Just how much can you take, counselor?...

Anna Gristina is, perhaps, the most powerful woman in the United States just now. And that explains why she is sitting in Rikers Island on a $2 million bond. It is almost as if the monied class, the folks who know how to manipulate the secret levers of power, are afraid of what she will do if she...

There is a moralistic tinge to the practice of criminal law that makes no sense. We shroud the misdeeds and allegations that land a person in criminal court in terms of choice, responsibility and just desserts. That seems to miss the point. There is a grim necessity to a good deal of what goes on...

I want to write a love letter, but every effort I make to do so seems wrong. My fingers hit keys and the keys fall flat. I can’t seem to find a way to move from what I think and feel to words that won’t be taken the wrong way. It is so much easier to give offense than it is to open arms...