It is difficult for me to understand why U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey Meyer thought it necessary to refer attorney Josephine Miller for professional discipline. It's even harder for me to comprehend why Miller thinks she can prevail in the brand new federal lawsuit she filed to prohibit disciplinary officials from policing her conduct. The entire drama – no, make that melodrama – is an unnecessary spectacle.
Miller, who is African American, filed a federal complaint against the Bridgeport Board of Education, among other municipal entities. She alleged that the city had...
September 23, 2015
You’ve heard the syllogism:
“All men are mortal;
“Socrates is a man;
“Therefore Socrates is mortal.”
The logic is airtight, inescapable — so long as it is applied to someone else. Substitute your own name, or a personal pronoun, for Socrates, and it has the feel of a cage. We all hope to be Houdini in the end. None of us are.
This has been a year dominated by thoughts of death. I turn 60 next Monday, and, all at once, the hourglass that seemed so full of sand, the fund of energy that seemed inexhaustible, looks and feels...
September 16, 2015
Yale is concerned that students facing sexual misconduct charges might not fully understand the manner in which such complaints are handled. So the university is creating a list of advisors who can assist both complainants and respondents, according to a recent story in the Yale Daily News. Paradoxically, the rules governing the handling of these complaints deprive students of the right to have a lawyer assist them. If the university were serious about protecting the rights of accused students, it would permit lawyers to represent students.
The University-Wide...
September 14, 2015
Here’s a shout out to the students in Introduction to Criminal Justice, CJUS 1111, Western New Mexico University. Andy Warren, the professor, informs me that this blog is required reading for the class. Send him a note thanking him for me.
In general, I post twice a week, and the pieces here are generally reprints of columns I write. One column appears in American Lawyer Media publications, and has its home in the Connecticut Law Tribune. The other is a syndicated column through the Journal Register newspapers in Connecticut.
I don’t...
September 12, 2015
September 11, 2015
I am sure that in the rarefied atmosphere federal judges call home, gargantuan restitution orders look fair, just and reasonable. After all, what...
September 9, 2015
Those of you of a certain age will well recall being admonished to eat your vegetables, to clean your dinner plate, by being told of the starving...
September 3, 2015
During the past 30 days, an average of three people were shot to death by police officers each day in the United States. It was a particularly bloody...
September 2, 2015
I’m all for civility at the bar, don’t get me wrong. Fighting with words doesn’t bring out the best in people. Lawyers ought...
August 26, 2015
Every defendant has a mother, of this much I am certain. If there were justice, I am nearly as certain, many of these mothers, rather than the...
August 26, 2015
I'm not sure how much money was spent on the renovations to the Elm Street courthouse in New Haven, but it wasn't enough. Sure, the courthouse...