A Colonial Vestige Alive and Well In New Haven

I am profoundly ambivalent about American history. We tell ourselves that ours is a history of inclusion, yet we gloss over the acts of theft and genocide that drove the natives off the land. And never mind the periodic bouts of xenophobia from which we suffer. Or the tragic history of slavery and the still mixed messages we send to African-Americans. We’ve become a people, of sorts. Huzzah, huzzah.
But the dream of a people bound and equal under the law inspires even when reality falls far short of fulfillment. This is the land of Everyman, right? We’re a City of a Hill,...
March 15, 2012

Who Owns New Haven's Green?

If you are not from New England, odds are you don’t understand the significance of a town green. It is a city’s center, a haven, if you will, from the particular cares and concerns dividing a community. The town green is where the people can and do meet. New England towns typically have greens. They are part of the folklore of the region, a place where town meetings and congregational churches place a premium on civil cooperation and participation.
That’s the vanilla, Norman Rockwell vision of the world.
In New Haven, things are just a touch different. You see,...
March 13, 2012

A Fussbudget's Constitution

Everyone, it seems, wants to be a pundit. That includes J. Harvie Wilkinson, III, a federal appellate judge and one-time contender for a seat on the United States Supreme Court. Judge Wilkinson decries the fact that we debate endlessly in this country the scope and meaning of the federal constitution. Let it be, he counsels. It is too dangerous a fire to stir.
In an op-ed piece in this morning’s New York Times, Wilkinson warns of our national obsession with constitutional conflict. We harm ourselves by seeking to define ourselves, he suggests. Why it would be better, I suppose he...
March 12, 2012

Michelle Alexander's Dangerous Pipe Dream

Michelle Alexander writes in this morning’s New York Times about mass incarceration and plea bargaining. She wonders what would happen if defendants everywhere organized and refused to bargain. That would collapse the criminal justice system, wouldn’t it? Imagine prosecutors having to try all those cases! Might that not force a system that regards violations of the law as a board game designed and intended to sustain a prison-industrial complex rethink the madness of making almost any form of deviance from antiquated norms a crime? Odds are Ms. Alexander, a law professor, a...
March 11, 2012

Want To Find Out If Your Phone Is Tapped?

March 8, 2012
Lawyers who tell war stories are tedious bores. I mean, we all have stories to tell, right? What makes your story so special that I should stop what...

When Silence Can Be Golden

March 7, 2012
Any man married for more than a decade should have an intuitive grasp of the dignitary interests served by the right to remain silent when accused. I...

Memo To Bridgeport Lawmakers

March 6, 2012
Here's the latest in the ongoing saga of the Bridgeport school board crisis. Unless you have followed the story to date, this will not make a lot of...

The Sad Case of Tanya McDowell

March 2, 2012
I hope Tanya McDowell will forgive us, someday, for our hypocrisy and cruelty. I hope her son will as well. But first she will have to serve her...

Attacking the Vote in Hartford

March 1, 2012
I have long grown accustomed to the facts of life known to all criminal defense lawyers: little people get run over and crushed in court. When a...

A Goose-Stepping Governor?

February 29, 2012
This just in from a source watching Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's mad scramble to deprive Bridgeport voters of the right to vote for their own board of...

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Taking Back the Courts
Norm Pattis Taking Back the Courts

The Wizard of Oz was one of my favorites movies as a kid. Little did I know judges were so much like the wizard, hiding behind empty trappings of power. This book tells you things you need to know about what really goes on in court. Read it, weep, and then demand that the courts do better.

In the Trenches
Norm Pattis In the Trenches

Plenty of lawyers write about the law, but few who write try cases. Judge for yourself whether I talk the talk and walk the walk in this collection of occasional essays about life in the law's trenches.

Juries and Justice
Norm Pattis Juries and Justice

How prepared are you to take seriously the notion that 'we the people' are, in fact, sovereign? Discover the secret, and unused, power of jurors. 'Ask why; then nullify.'

Norm Pattis

About Norm

Norm Pattis is a Connecticut based trial lawyer focused on high stakes criminal cases and civil right violations. He is a veteran of more than 150 jury trials, many resulting in acquittals for people charged with serious crimes, multi-million dollar civil rights and discrimination verdicts, and scores of cases favorably settled.

© Norm Pattis is represented by Elite Lawyer Management, managing agents for Exceptional American Lawyers
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