A "Special Agent" Files Suit

I'm not a fan of the Justice Department, so I ought to be rooting for Kurt Siuzdak, a 17-year veteran of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who has filed suit against Attorney General Eric Holder. Instead, I'm wondering just what he is hoping to accomplish. My hunch is that he is angling for a job as commentator on Fox News, or a seat in some red state congressional district. From a distance, his suit seems not so much misguided, as sad, even tragic.
Siuzdak has filed suit claiming that he has been retaliated against by the FBI, in particular a former supervisor named Kimberly Mertz,...
October 22, 2014

Excited Utterances

The law of evidence governs what is and is not admissible in a trial. A judge’s decision on what a jury hears could quite literally be the difference between freedom and imprisonment, and, in some cases, between life and death. Just ask Larry Johnson.
Earlier this year, Brittany Paz, Jim Nugent and I defended Mr. Johnson in New Haven against a charge of murder. Our defense was that some third party, and not Mr. Johnson, had fired the fatal shot. The law calls such a defense third-party culpability; lawyers have a more casual name for such a defense — “some other dude...
October 16, 2014

Hasty Suspension of Zealous Lawyer

I wasn't on the New Haven jury that convicted Angelo Reyes of arson and conspiracy charges. But I know a thing or two about Mr. Reyes, having represented him in federal court on other arson charges before federal prosecutors engineered a conflict to get me thrown off the case: They threatened to call another client of mine as a witness.
Lawyers can't serve two masters; we owe to each client a duty of undivided loyalty. Although the feds never called my other client against Mr. Reyes, their claim that they might was enough to get me bounced off the case.
My former partner and...
October 14, 2014

Justice? Or a Roll of the Dice?

Juries are fickle, especially in civil cases, where we give them the right and the power to award money in the form of compensatory damages, and, in rare cases, to assess punitive damages. Money becomes a proxy for justice. Yet standing in well of a civil court asking for money always reminds me of Jesus chasing the moneychangers from the Temple.
“The Scriptures declare,” Jesus said, “‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!”
In the United States, civil litigants operate under what is known as...
October 9, 2014

A Colleague Stumbles and Falls

October 2, 2014
"Do you think anyone should go to jail?" The speaker, a youngish FBI agent, looked at me with the same devilish grin I had seen on his face any...

"Everybody Talks," Especially the Rats

September 30, 2014
“Everybody talks,” the prosecutor said. He was confident, strutting his stuff in the well of the court. “In the end, everyone...

USA v. Rowland: A Potemkin Prosecution

September 28, 2014
Somehow, the prospect of John Rowland's returning to a federal prison does not make me all warm, fuzzy and grateful to be living in this, the best of...

Courts Succumb to Sexophrenia

September 25, 2014
A future historian might one day write the following of our time:
“Despite a generally permissive culture in which sexually suggestive...

Would You Pay A Ransom?

September 19, 2014
There’s a cold logic in refusing to pay ransom to terrorists: Holding a firm line may well serve as a deterrent to further acts of terror....

USA v. Rowland: Fiddling While The Country Crumbles

September 19, 2014
Editor's Note: John Rowland was convicted today after scarcely any deliberations at all.
Why don’t jurors get a pause button, or some...

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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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