Hidden Ambulance Chasing

I’ve often wished that the general public could see what goes on behind closed doors in the criminal courts. All that is generally reported is the damning accusations against a defendant. The press accepts the state’s claims as the controlling narrative. The fight to make sure a client is truly presumed innocent is usually lost in the press before the first gavel falls in a courtroom.
So let me show you the machinery of justice as it whirred in the backroom of one Connecticut courthouse. I will not use names, nor will I reveal privileged information. I will relay the story...
January 3, 2012

USA v, Assange, The Trial To Come

I expect the trial of the year will be United States of America v. Julian Assange. Of course, Assange has not yet been charged. He is not even in the country. But the United States will find a way to bring him here, a sort of reverse rendition that will place the Australian hacker within the jurisdiction of the United States.
Assange will be tried under the Espionage Act, legislation passed in 1917 making it a crime to take information from the government and use it to interfere with the operation or success of the armed forces of the United States or to promote the success of our...
January 2, 2012

Garfield's Assassination: The Limits Of What We Know

President James Garfield did not have to die. It appears as if the medical care he received killed him. Even so, Charles Julius Guiteau fired the shots that led to his death on July 2, 1881. Candice Millard’s Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of the President, is a skillful account of Garfield’s shooting, his lingering death and the cloud of unknowing that blinded the physicians who treated him. Millard brings the sensibility of a novelist to historical narrative. I knew far less about the Garfield assassination than I realized as I read this...
January 1, 2012

2011: A Report From The Trenches

I will count 2011 a good year, despite the dire economy. It was a year of focusing, getting lean, re-examining priorities. As 2011 ends, I am uncharacteristically optimistic. Despite a world of trouble, the sum of it all seems to represent a gathering storm. There’s a certain energy in the air. Where will lightning strike?
My clients and I had a generally good year in the law’s trenches. I was reminded of that by year-end visits, calls and holiday cards. Two brothers walked away from a charge of murder, and I had the thrill of driving them home, still dressed in their...
December 31, 2011

Socrates Was Not A Law Professor

December 27, 2011
Asking five law school professors to debate how best to educate lawyers is like asking a bartender which alcohol best promotes abstinence: So long as...

Duncan vs. ABA: I'm Rooting For The Little Guy

December 23, 2011
I think I might have joined the American Bar Association many years ago, when I had no idea what lawyering involved. But the desire to belong soon...

A World of Widgets: Privatizing Public Schools?

December 22, 2011
I feel bad for Chris Hoffman. I really do. He is in the untenable position of serving as spokesman for a privatized public school. The New Haven...

USA v. Assange: The Trial of the Century

December 20, 2011
I take it as a given that Bradley Manning was one of the sources of the classified material Wikileaks published about our war efforts in Afghanistan...

Will Joe Arpaio Beat Uncle Sam?

December 19, 2011
I’ve never been to Maricopa County, and from what I read, I wouldn’t travel there for pleasure. The county, home of Phoenix and...

Thank You, Newt Gingrich

December 18, 2011
Newt Gingrich promises that if elected president he will ignore the rulings of the Supreme Court, or, presumably, those of any other court, if he...

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Books

Taking Back the Courts
Norm Pattis Taking Back the Courts

The Wizard of Oz was one of my favorites movies as a kid. Little did I know judges were so much like the wizard, hiding behind empty trappings of power. This book tells you things you need to know about what really goes on in court. Read it, weep, and then demand that the courts do better.

In the Trenches
Norm Pattis In the Trenches

Plenty of lawyers write about the law, but few who write try cases. Judge for yourself whether I talk the talk and walk the walk in this collection of occasional essays about life in the law's trenches.

Juries and Justice
Norm Pattis Juries and Justice

How prepared are you to take seriously the notion that 'we the people' are, in fact, sovereign? Discover the secret, and unused, power of jurors. 'Ask why; then nullify.'

Norm Pattis

About Norm

Norm Pattis is a Connecticut based trial lawyer focused on high stakes criminal cases and civil right violations. He is a veteran of more than 150 jury trials, many resulting in acquittals for people charged with serious crimes, multi-million dollar civil rights and discrimination verdicts, and scores of cases favorably settled.

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