Blog Posts


The Trouble in Torrington

You can thank the Women’s Christian Temperance Union for the recent firestorm in Torrington involving two former football players on the high school team. Two eighteen year old students have been expelled from school, and face felony charges, for having sex with thirteen year-old girls....

Let King Solomon Loose In Family Courts

A good friend of mine is tied down in never-ending litigation in family court. He’s trying to get back into the lives of his children. He’s never been accused of abusing them. He pays his child support dutifully. He’s never neglected them. But he’s still been locked out of...

Trial Lawyers Need Not Apply?

IF you or a loved one needed life-saving surgery, would you choose a surgeon who had only read the textbook, or would you want a doctor who’d performed surgeries?
You’d select a person who hadn’t just mastered the texts, but also had mastered the craft.
Answer this...

Jason Zullo's Sentencing Memorandum

Imagine my surprise tonight when a reporter from a local paper sent me an email asking to see a copy of my sentencing memorandum in the Jason Zullo case. I told them I had filed one today, too. They asked for a copy. Can't you get it on-line, I asked?
No, the reporter responded. The...

Just South of Crazy

I’ve a brand-spanking-new lawyer reporting for duty this week. Freshly minted and admitted to the bar, she’s eager to show the world what she can do. I need her to help stay atop the chaos that comes of representing people in crisis. But how can I prepare her for what she’s about...

Lights! Camera! Dr. Phil?

Friends and colleagues warned me against agreeing to appear on the Dr. Phil show. But my client wanted to go. The client asked me to come along, to make sure things did not go horribly wrong. So I put on a good suit, brushed my hair and drove to the site of the interview. It’s quite a...

Sexpohrenia Strikes Danbury Courthouse

If you are going to stand up in the well of the court and demand accountability on behalf of the people of the State of Connecticut from some poor schmuck charged with a crime, you ought at least to be accountable yourself. But in the Danbury State’s Attorney’s Office, accountability is...

The JRC Enters The Twilight Zone

News that Superior Court Judge William Holden faces discipline by the Judicial Review Council caught me by surprise. What had the man done to warrant a public takedown? It turns out he’s guilty, if that’s the right word, of the collective sin of the judiciary -- delay. Query? Rather...

Physician Beware: You Could Be A Rapist

Call me an idealist, a dreamer, even a fool: I believe in the presumption of innocence. When a client stands presented to the world as a criminal, his reputation in tatters, his livelihood at risk, the presumption of innocence is all he has left. I wish the courts took it more seriously. I stood...

Help Wanted -- Looking for a Gutsy Young Lawyer

I keep hearing about lawyers looking for work. Take note, then. Here is a help-wanted notice.
I am looking to hire a new associate.
My firm handles state and federal criminal defense at the trial and appellate levels. We also litigate post-conviction claims, employment discrimination...

© Norm Pattis is represented by Elite Lawyer Management, managing agents for Exceptional American Lawyers
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