Blog Posts

I have received a copy of the lease between the Spence Foundation and the Trial Lawyers College, together with the college's amended bylaws, minutes of board meetings, and a list of contributors to the college current as of June 2, 2009. At least I think that is what the documents are: They arrived...

The call shocked me. Mark Hurley has been released from prison. He’s done his time and is back at home with his family. Do I have any work for him?
            Mark is a former prosecutor. I’ve known him for many years. He drove hard bargains on behalf of the state,...

It's a pins and needles kind of week at home and in the office. At the end of the week, a man the FBI believes to have been involved in at least six killings will be released from prison. I helped put him there, and the last time I saw him he threatened me. I can't help but wonder whether my family...

We're heading in to a very busy stretch in my firm. The fall and spring trial schedule is packed. Between now and the end of March, we have eleven cases set with firm jury trial dates, a couple murders, manslaughter, child sexual assault, legal malpractice, violations of First and Fourth Amendment...

"Why bother?" a friend asked the other day after reading my post about the financial arrangments supporting Gerry Spence's Trial Lawyers College in Wyoming. Alumni of the college have called for my expulsion from the tribe; some are reduced to mere fighting words, taunting me as an attention seeker...

Horrific crimes involving children can yield even more horrific laws. The abduction of Megan Kanka brought us Megan's law; Adam Walsh's death yielded the Adam Walsh law. There is something about the terror these sorts of crimes inspire that make us want to do something to make sure nothing like...

Whither Joane Garcia-Colson?
I wrote about Joane's departure from Gerry Spence's Trial Lawyers College a few days ago. She was executive director for the past nine years. Rumor has it she fled the ranch under a cloud, taking with her a fat severance package. I wondered whether her departure was...

Call me an unrepentant Judas, I suppose, for taking a few hours one day this past week to read the IRS 990s on line submitted by the Trial Lawyers College and the Spence Foundation. But I merely raised questions, (See, "The Wizard of Wyoming.") and, surprisingly, no one from the college has seen...

L. Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz is one of my favorite stories. I saw the movie starring Judy Garland long before I read the book. But in adulthood, I reread the story every year. This simple tale about power, longing, hope and courage rates right up there with the New Testament, Homer's Odyssey and...

I hate to say this, for fear of what it will attract, but anonymous hate mail is good for the soul. I get a piece from time to time. Receiving it is sort of like an atheist's trip to a confessional. I spin through all the folks who've left a foul taste in my mouth, and wonder who among them recalls...