Blog Posts

You’ve seen the videos and you are shocked. Tyre Nichols was stopped by Memphis police officers, dragged from his car, and savagely beaten by police officers. When he fled, they chased him. He was hunted down, beaten some more as he screamed nightmarishly for his mother, and then...

Trial lawyers know the significance of motions in limine; often, trials are won or lost based on the rulings judges make before a jury even hears opening statements. Two such motions in the Derek Chauvin are pivotal.
What is a motion in limine? (Pronounced...

"If this country doesn't give us what we want, then we will burn down this system and replace it. All right? And I could be speaking ... figuratively. I could be speaking literally. It's a matter of interpretation.”
That’s Hawk Newsome talking on Fox News the...

“What happened to you?” a good friend wrote the other day. “I remember when you used to be liberal and progressive.”
Here’s the answer.
I got woke. I don’t think I’ve changed at all. The world has, however....

I spent more than a decade suing poiice officers in federal courts under the tutelage of one of the nation’s best civil rights lawyers, John Williams of New Haven. I like to joke that I educated my children on the proceeds of those suits. Federal judges weren’t happy with all...

A remarkable story appeared in the Connecticut legal press last week, but its significance appears to have been missed both by the editors and by those quoted in the story. “Hundreds” of unprocessed complaints against lawyers are awaiting attention in the offices of...

Judges, despite their robes and the trappings of majesty — who else enters their workplace to the sound of a uniformed lawman commanding “All rise”? — are just like the rest of us. They are often motivated by high i­deals, but, being spun from the same mortal clay as we...

Walk into criminal court some time to listen to closing arguments. Odds are you will hear the prosecution talk about holding the defendant accountable for his crimes. But who holds the government accountable when it errs?
Judges are extremely reluctant to do so.
Consider this...

State and federal law enforcement agencies make millions of dollars each year manipulating asset forfeiture laws. Generally, these laws permit seizure of items -- including houses, cash and cars -- that are the fruits or instrumentalities of a crime. If forfeited, the funds, whether...

At least two people a day are shot to death by police officers in the United States each and every day. As of Tuesday, the total for the year is 895, according to a website updated daily by The Washington Post — 66 folks have been killed in the past 30 days. Two of this year’s deaths...