Blog Posts

Mark DuBois retired the other day. He did so without fanfare, simply walking away from state service and back into private practice. I am sorry to see him go. Although he was the state’s top cop for policing lawyers, and therefore at least a potential foe on any given day, he brought a...

Connecticut lawmakers are missing an opportunity to save money, improve public safety and enhance public confidence in the courts. The legislation is drafted and awaits action. All that’s needed is a little push, so permit me to shove.
Reform of the state’s sex offender...

The only real obstacle standing in the way of Connecticut’s abolishing the death penalty seems to be special pleading arising from the Cheshire home invasion case. Lawmakers want to repeal the penalty. Indeed, they voted to do so in 2009, but their vote was vetoed by then governor N. Jodi...

This week’s Connecticut Law Tribune features an interview with F. Lee Bailey, who, at 77, remains sharp as a tack. The interview saddened me, in a necessary sort of way. Bailey’s now pressing the case for the merits of alternative dispute resolution. Trial is too costly for most Americans, he says....

I was in New Haven just as day broke. Much to my surprise, there were few media wagons in front of the courthouse on Church Street. Only one ghastly looking antenna reached into the gray morning sky. All at once it struck me: death is now passe.

It was opening day of jury selection in...

Another lost weekend is behind me. It was spent fussing over a manuscript, reading the same words for the umpteenth time, trying to force the garbage out of my prose, and hoping to catch errors before they see the light of day in the form of a book. It strikes me now, and with fury, that there is a...

Everyone plea bargains in the criminal courts; sometimes the bargaining resolves a case. It is part of the process. But not all parties approach the bargaining process as equals. Indeed, one party is never present at all. I learned that lesson again today in a case that was set for trial, but ended...

I was in New Haven the other day, crossing the street near one of the courthouses.
"Gimme your money," a voice said. He was young, black, and hiding behind large sunglasses. He was also smiling from ear to ear.
"F@#k you," I replied. "Give me yours." The man was a former client I...

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...

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 principle given enough time. I am from time to time slapped silly by my inconsistencies. They nourish me, making me better able to see around the...