Can the Middle Class Afford Justice?

Despite the fact that I spend as much time as I can in courtrooms, I still enjoy reading fiction about the law and lawyering. I worry always about what I am missing as I stand in the middle of someone else’s storm. Legal fiction provides perspective, and, frankly, entertainment.
Why is it that not one writer of legal fiction deals realistically with the business of making a living at the practice of law? Is the topic too difficult to render? Or is it that we don’t want to be honest about legal fees?
Few clients can afford the lawyer they want, and few private lawyers...
July 2, 2014

Dr. Wang: A Fool for a Client?

A lawyer representing himself, the saying goes, has a fool for a client. So what of a physician who decides to represent himself in a high-stakes criminal case? Is he, too, a fool?
Dr. Lishan Wang is charged with murder. He is alleged to have shot to death another physician, Dr. Vajinder Pal Toor, in Branford in 2010. The motive? Dr. Wang's suspicion that Dr. Toor had something to do with Dr. Wang's being fired at the Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center in Brooklyn back in 2008, a move Dr. Wang appears to believe ruined his medical career.
If Dr. Wang were a better shot, he'd be...
June 27, 2014

A Closer Look At Plea Bargaining

I've noticed a certain uneasiness in the chambers of several judges. They don't like talking about plea bargaining in any public way. Indeed, in one case, the state prepared a draft of a waiver a client was going to sign as a condition of entering a plea. The state included the term "plea bargain" in the document.
"Can't you take that term out?" the judge asked.
The state obliged.
I wonder why we are uneasy about talking about plea bargaining. I suspect it is because the term sets up a discussion of a reality the courts cannot acknowledge: defendants who go to trial in...
June 21, 2014

Plea Bargaining as a Pathological Practice

One of the best scenes in “The Wizard of Oz” is when Toto, Dorothy’s dog, pulls back the curtain on the Great Oz, exposing a terrified man hiding behind his fearful machinery. One lesson: Appearances are deceiving.
I thought of that scene the other day as I read the Connecticut Supreme Court’s decision in a case called State v. Elson.
Mr. Elson isn’t the sort of guy folks rally to support. In 2004, he got liquored up and went on a rampage after a coed at the Western Connecticut State University rebuffed his romantic advances. He assaulted the victim...
June 20, 2014

An "Appeal to Heaven" Fizzles

June 12, 2014
Jerad and Amanda Miller thought the revolution had begun, so they shot a couple of police officers at a pizzeria and then walked over to a local...

Sidney Powell Grows Up

June 8, 2014
I've never understood why some criminal defense lawyers feel the need to make a great public display about how they only represent those whom they...

The FBI Stalks Phil Mickelson

June 4, 2014
I have no idea whether Phil Mickelson, one of the world's premier golfers and three-time winner of the Masters golf tournament, is guilty of insider...

Cushy Judicial Pensions

May 29, 2014
Oh, Dannell, what a disappointment you are. The governor's been pumping the judiciary full of geriatric pals, positioning them for $100,000 a year...

Spot a Killer Before He Strikes? Good Luck

May 28, 2014
Twenty or so years ago, I wrote one of the most difficult legal briefs of my career: The task was to compare and contrast the nature of the crimes...

Elliot Rodger and the Culture of Narcissism

May 25, 2014
Here’s a thought experiment: Pretend for the moment that Elliot Rodger had not gone on a killing spree in California. Put it out of your mind,...

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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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