Law Practice

No Meetings for Criminal Defense Lawyers

January 24, 2012 Law Practice

I went to my first meeting yesterday in over 10 years. Believe me, I know my way around a meeting.  During my first career in the government, I did nothing but meetings:  budget meetings, planning meetings, team meetings, agency meetings, inter-agency meetings. Half of my day was spent planning for meetings. The other half was [...]

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On the Legal Representation of Juvenile Defendants: Ode to My Investigator

January 21, 2012 Criminal Procedure

I botched the investigation. I went to the store on Upper Wisconsin Avenue in which my client was alleged to have committed a robbery.  While there, I neglected to look for a critical piece of evidence:  whether or not there was a surveillance camera over the cash register.  As a result, my investigator Wayne Marshall [...]

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On Criminal Defense Lawyers Who “Know Lots of People”

January 17, 2012 Law Practice

I am standing outside Judge Pan’s courtroom on the second floor of D.C. Superior Court with a man who has just been arraigned for felony assault.  Although he has been assigned a court-appointed attorney, he would like to hire private counsel.  I have a conflict so I refer him to my colleague and friend Michael [...]

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On Zealous Representation and Public Defenders

January 5, 2012 Law Practice

I will remember this.  This is what the prosecutor promises you. In another context, she could be intending this as a threat.  As in:  I will get you back for this.  In this case, she is trying to entice you into making a concession, and she is putting you on notice that she has a [...]

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Sizing Up Opposing Counsel

November 28, 2011 Domestic Violence

Opposing counsel’s praecipe arrives in the mail.  I am representing the respondent in a civil protection order hearing; he the petitioner. I google the lawyer’s name to find a self-made website and a less than professional photograph of the lawyer, taken by somebody with the same last name.  In the photograph, the lawyer is standing [...]

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A Solo Practitioner as Trapeze Artist

November 9, 2011 Law Practice

Years ago, back when the children were little and we lived in Arlington for the first time, we decided to go to the circus.  I drove over to the baseball field in Ballston earlier in the day, and bought the tickets from a young Hungarian woman working out of a trailer.  It was a small, [...]

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Tardy Prosecutors, Gutsy Judges

November 4, 2011 Law Practice

Judge Milton Lee of D.C. Superior Court takes the bench at 9:00 am. Promptly. Every morning. Without fail. One of my biggest complaints about the Office of the Attorney General in D.C. is that its prosecutors often waltz into court well after 9:00 am every morning, usually minutes before the judge takes the bench. This [...]

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On Building a Support Network as a Solo Practitioner

October 28, 2011 Law Practice

One of the things I liked best about the Philadelphia public defender’s office – in addition to the camaraderie and sense of shared mission — was the support you got from other lawyers.  If you had a legal question or wanted feedback on a possible trial tactic, you could step out into the court hallway [...]

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Representing People, Not Files

October 8, 2011 Law Practice

A supervisor at the Philadelphia public defender’s office used to tell us all the time that we were representing people, not files.  This really got on our nerves.  As one colleague put it:  Maybe he needs to be reminded of that fact.  After all, he sits in his office all day doing nothing more than [...]

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Sometimes A Guilty Verdict Is a Win (At Least That Is What I Tell Myself)

September 13, 2011 Firearms/Weapons

Although Virginia juries have a reputation for being unforgiving, I have also been told that juries in Prince William County can be pretty unpredictable. Going into trial yesterday, my client was facing a mandatory 5-year sentence for being a violent felon in possession of a firearm.  During execution of a search warrant at his home, [...]

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