I try. I really do. I really try to watch legal shows without shouting at the TV. It’s like watching the Presidential Debates without doing that – impossible. That’s because these shows get so very many important things about what criminal defense attorneys really do...
Art of Law
Constitutional Originalism – Republican or Democrat idea?
My entire purpose in writing these ditties is to show everyone how real life legal issues are handled by criminal defense lawyers. Sometimes that is as simple as discussing the answer to the number one question I get asked, almost daily: “How Can You Defend Those...
Does the Constitution Protect Apple from Unlocking The iPhone?
Last time, in what was arguably a “puff piece” about old judicial friends, I had the audacity to mention strict constructionism, thus unintentionally unleashing a torrent of umbrage. The Originalists defended their hero Scalia with a variety of indignant comments to...
Scalia and Ginsburg: Two Kinds of Justice
By now everyone knows that Justice Scalia died last weekend. Most people also know that he was a bastion of Conservatives on the U.S. Supreme Court. At least, that is how he is usually described (it’s actually a bit more complicated than that.) And some people now...
Avery v. O.J. Simpson
I know I promised to write more about Making a Murderer. But, two things happened: first, I got busy with my actual job. Second, O.J. I watched Episode One of the new O.J. series, The People Versus O.J. Simpson, sooo aptly named. The People really are all either for...
Guilt or Innocence: How Things Really Work in Criminal Cases
It does my heart good to see the comments people are making on our Facebook page about my last post discussing the Steven Avery murder case and the Netflix series Making of a Murderer. It makes me think that what I am trying to do here might actually be starting to...
My Take on Making a Murderer
“Making a Murderer”. Photo: Courtesy of Netflix. It has been tough getting into the swing of things after the holidays. It’s not because there is nothing to talk about; quite the contrary. With Affluenza Teens and Bill Cosby and stand-offs on Federal Land it’s an...
“Women Lawyers”
‘Women Lawyers’. I really hate that term. I mean, what does it mean anyway? Real lawyers are men? You never hear someone say ‘Men Lawyers’. I just don’t get it, and never have. No, I’m not some perfect sensitive male, eager to garner favor with the “fairer sex”...
The Unsung Hero of the OJ Trials (Part III, or The Anatomy of a Trial)
[If you missed the first part of this series, it would be good to start at the beginning HERE. I had to cut it in half to make it more manageable, but there are just so many aspects to Petrocelli’s excellent trial work that I couldn’t leave any of this stuff out. Here...
The Unsung Hero of the OJ Trials (Part II: Or, Petrocelli Goes to Work.)
I know the criminal guys got all of the attention on OJ, which is part of the reason I am focusing here on the civil lawyer, Dan Petrocelli; the one who sued OJ for Wrongful Death and won. But the main reason to focus on him is that his approach to this case...