Just how tight is the market for legal fees just now? Tight enough that some private defense lawyers are complaining that too many defendants are being offered the services of a public defender, thus depriving lawyers of the chance to earn a fee.
The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees a person the right to counsel. A person can apply for a public defender by tendering basic information about their income. This application remains confidential and is not shared with the state.
In Connecticut, a person charged with a felony and having three dependents,...
March 1, 2011
I don’t write about it much here because, frankly, I don’t get to spend much time at it, but one of my avocations is as bookseller. My wife and I own a used bookstore called Whitlock Farm Booksellers in Bethany. We have a great staff of bookworms who keep the inventory flowing and the lights on.
But last night, I got an email from one the store employees. We acquired a new book she thought I would like to know about. I asked her to bring it over, and it now sits on my desk. I do not know whether I can bear to sell it, although, the economy being what it is, I know I...
February 28, 2011
I suspect that my days as a country lawyer are numbered. The economy is that bad. Although I have only anecdotal information to support the following hypothesis, I believe it nonetheless to be true: the middle class has run out of cash. We see this in the tones of despair with which potential clients respond when it comes time to talking about a fee.
No one really plans on the sort of trouble that leads folks to the door of a criminal defense or civil rights lawyer. Most folks are struggling to get by one day, one paycheck, at a time. When trouble comes sweeping down and knocks them...
February 28, 2011
Reform of sex offender legislation will most likely not take place in the courts. Real change will come in the form legislation. Lawmakers need to be taught the consequences of the laws they pass. They need to learn these lessons from those targeted by the laws. Hence, I say every lawmakers in the United States, that includes lawmakers at the state and federal level, should be mailed a copy of Lynn Gilmore’s Consensual Consequences.
Gilmore is married to a registered sex offender. Her book is the story of how one family lives on the other side of the libidinal line separating...
February 27, 2011
February 25, 2011
I wonder what the Government told grand jurors in the case of United States of America versus Julian P. Heicklen. The 78-year-old retired college...
February 24, 2011
The importance of hypocrisy cannot be overstated. We live by it, learn by it, and, I suspect, die firmly in its grip. Experience makes a mockery of...
February 23, 2011
My daughter, who shall be granted anonymity here, sent an email moments ago from New Zealand relaying that all is well. I am contacting Interpol to...
February 23, 2011
My daughter, who shall be granted anonymity here, sent an email moments ago from New Zealand relaying that all is well. I am contacting Interpol to...
February 23, 2011
It seems like a long, long time ago that I first received word of this week's earthquake centered in Christchurch, New Zealand, but a woman I love,...
February 21, 2011
Odds are she is fine. The overwhelming odds are she will return home with stories to tell, a braver and wiser young woman now for having witnessed...