Blog Posts

Some of the best lawyers I know are public defenders. Period. What's more, I envy public defenders. Imagine the practice of law without the grimy necessity of having to ask clients for money? But there is no paradise, life keeps reminding me. Times are tough now from coast to coast. Even public...

It is too hot for sustained outdoor work today. So I am taking it easy. While my wife watered the garden early this morning, I trimmed back some of the overgrowth in the area adjacent to the outbuilding where Socrates sleeps. It's overgrown just now, and there are a lot of prickers.
My favorite...

One of the worst days I ever had in a courtroom took place a decade ago. My client was a young man accused of selling crack cocaine. Police officers testified they saw him hand a small bag to another man and receive cash in return. The cops caught my client; the other guy got away. Shortly after...

The single most important criminal justice reform within reach in each statehouse is the elimination of mandatory minimum prison sentences and consequences. The ends of justice require it. Sound economics counsel it. Only anger and fear stand in the way of meaningful reform.Law students are taught,...

The single most important criminal justice reform within reach in each statehouse is the elimination of mandatory minimum prison sentences and consequences. The ends of justice require it. Sound economics counsel it. Only anger and fear stand in the way of meaningful reform.
Law students are...

I received an email from a reader of this blog at about midnight last night. He did not believe he belonged on his state's sex offender registry, could I help?
Lawyers are must seek a separate license for each jurisdiction in which they want to practice. While nothing prevents a lawyer from...

The world is composed of four classes of people, at least that is so in the bizarre cosmos of federal law enforcement. Understanding what to do when an anonymous lawman moves you from one category to another may be the difference between freedom and prison.
Like it or not, we are all subjects....

It is the Fourth of July, or close enough to it to write about it. That means it is time for the inevitable patriotic gush. I should hold forth about how happy I am to be an American. I should declare that the great promise of liberty for all has been redeemed on these shores. I should re-read the...

A law student I admire sent me a note not long ago asking, in effect, whether those calling for the reform of sex offender legislation were opposed to punishment for those engaged in real acts of sexual misconduct. The hypothetical case she used as an example was that of a 50-year-old man who...

In a better world we could all be prosecutors, at least some of the time. I know I wish I had the experience of prosecuting a person accused of a crime. I was reminded of this by reading the post of a law student, Laura McWilliams, who has decided that she wants to land on the state's side of the...