I don’t recall how many years ago it was that I pulled the plug on my participation on the federal Criminal Justice Act panel, but I do recall the cause: The folks administering the program thought nothing of rejecting requests for payment over the most trifling of things. I threw in the towel at the third or fourth request for a revision of a request for payment after a lengthy trial. It made no sense for me to pay paralegals to chase pennies.
I’m now throwing in the towel on the state’s Special Public Defender program, and the cause is identical. After six months of...
September 6, 2013
There must be few things more embarrassing than a policeman’s knock on the door during a domestic dispute. It’s bad enough that you’ve lost your cool and stand screaming at your bride with all the seeming hate you can muster. Your neighbors are now listening — and then the flashing lights of a squad car and the prying eyes of a lawman.
The sparks fly so red-hot in some marital disputes that one of the warring parties sometimes thinks it’s a good idea to call 911. I recall a case years ago in which a husband and wife were warring about whether he’d yet...
September 5, 2013
We’re awash in lawyers. There are roughly 40 of them for every 10,000 people in the United States. Connecticut ranks third among the states with about 58 per 10,000 people. Only New York and Massachusetts have a greater concentration. The District of Columbia, not a state, but a universe unto itself, outstrips the pack with 811 lawyers per 10,000 people.
All these lawyers, and still poor people and the middle class can’t afford legal services. Connecticut Chief Justice Chase Rodgers regularly calls upon members of the bar to offer up their time to do pro bono...
August 28, 2013
POSTED: 08/28/13, 6:09 PM EDT |
We’re awash in lawyers. There are roughly 40 of them for every 10,000 people in the United States. Connecticut ranks third among the states with about 58 per 10,000 people. Only New York and Massachusetts have a greater concentration. The District of Columbia, not a state, but a universe unto itself, outstrips the pack with 811 lawyers per 10,000 people.
All these lawyers, and still poor people and the middle class can’t afford legal services. Connecticut Chief Justice Chase Roberts regularly calls upon...
August 28, 2013
August 23, 2013
It’s right there in the Declaration of Independence. The colonies rebelled and cut loose from England because King George III was...
August 16, 2013
I’ve become preoccupied lately with the education of young doctors. Doctors must be better equipped than lawyers to deal with death and...
August 15, 2013
I’ve long thought the most significant criminal justice reform imaginable would be simple to impose: Require all lawmakers and judges to...
August 8, 2013
The congratulatory phone calls started to arrive before I made it from the courthouse to my car. My client, a physician, had been found not guilty...
August 3, 2013
I write today about the much maligned sidebar. That’s when lawyers huddle in open court, backs turned to everyone, and whisper things they...
July 27, 2013
I’ve been practicing law just long enough to know that I will never make sense of it all. It’s not that I am stupid, although my...