The Importance of Jury Duty

“How did you feel when you got your summons in the mail asking you to come to court?”
More often than not, it is the first question I ask potential jurors during jury selection. Most folks sigh, and then state that they weren’t happy. Jury service is regarded as an inconvenience, a bother, and, in some cases, a hardship.
The other day, I responded to a summons directed to me. I appeared in New Haven, reported to the ninth floor of the courthouse, and tried to blend in with the crowd.
“You look familiar,” a woman said, as we rode the elevator....
October 7, 2015

Strict Liability In Police Shootings

As of Oct. 5, 754 people, or almost three people per day, were shot to death by police officers in the United States in 2015. This information was not compiled by a law enforcement agency, although it easily could have been. Instead, The Washington Post has been gathering the data and posting it daily on its website. You can find the tally by googling "Washington Post police shootings."
Despite its penchant for collecting data on crime, the U.S. Department of Justice has refused to gather information of this sort or, in the alternative, if it has gathered such information, it has...
October 7, 2015

A Question of Competence

Dr. Lishan Wang doesn’t want to be forced to take medication. His mind is clear. He is prepared to represent himself at trial against the charge of murder. He wrote all this and more in a recent letter to the New Haven Register. He complains that the folks at the Whiting Forensic Institute in Middletown, where he is being held, are abusing him.
The good doctor was arrested on April 26, 2010, on charges he murdered a colleague, Dr. Vajinder Toor, in Branford that very day. He’s fought for, and won, the right to represent himself in the criminal court. And he’s littered...
October 5, 2015

GM, Volkswagen -- Criminals Without Consequences

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

Carpe Diem at 60

September 16, 2015
You’ve heard the syllogism:
“All men are mortal;
“Socrates is a man;
“Therefore Socrates is...

Yale's Flawed UWC Sexual Misconduct Policies

September 14, 2015
Yale is concerned that students facing sexual misconduct charges might not fully understand the manner in which such complaints are...

A Shout Out To CJUS 1111

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...

Restitution Madness

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...

A Tidal Wave of Need

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...

Shoot First, Ask Questions Later

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...

Visit His Websites

Pattis & Smith Law Firm
Norman Pattis
RSS Feed
Become a patron

Press Videos

Books

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
Media & Speaker booking [hidden email]