There’s a rough divide among criminal defense lawyers, distinguishing those who defend so-called white-collar cases from those who defend other crimes, such as murder, rape, robbery and child abuse. White collar cases, taking their name from the pressed and starched shirts of the power suite elite who are accused of committing them, are typically financial in nature.
Lawyers walking on the wild side accuse their white collar colleagues of living in a fantasy world, a world without real consequences, where people can buy their way out of trouble with the law.
Oh, there are...
September 23, 2015
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
September 12, 2015
Here’s a shout out to the students in Introduction to Criminal Justice, CJUS 1111, Western New Mexico University. Andy Warren, the...
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...