08/22/08

Permalink 01:41:16 pm, by forhall, 290 words, 15 views   English (US)
Categories: blog

NJLJ: "Why Do Lawyers Lie? One Word: Narcissism"

An interesting article by Arthur D. Burger, New Jersey Law Journal: Why Do Lawyers Lie? One Word: Narcissism:

Ratner explains that extremely narcissistic people are so "needy for the affirmation of success," that the idea of losing is seen as unbearable. They will therefore use the psychological defenses of "rationalization" and "denial" to enable themselves to intentionally mislead -- and even lie -- if they believe that is the only way to win.

Ratner states that as a result of this rationalization and denial, they do not see themselves as having done anything wrong. Instead, they see themselves as justified , because they were acting for a "higher purpose." He explains that the power of rationalization can be enormous. It can even be seen in such horribly extreme examples as when the killing of innocent civilians by terrorists is seen as "heroic."

It is useful to understand this dynamic in our adversaries so we know what we are up against , and see the element of insecurity and desperation driving such behavior. It is also useful, however, to examine ourselves and look for similar symptoms.

None of us likes to lose, and nearly all of us, at times, get carried away in litigation by a certain "bunker mentality," through which we see our side as "good" and the other side as "bad." Ratner says that it's important to take one's own temperature during the course of a contentious case to assess whether you have maintained perspective. One good way to do this, he says, is to discuss the case with a colleague or at least to take time to calmly review the record and look at the facts.

As a general rule, I don't think this applies to criminal defense lawyers, but, perhaps, some.

08/21/08

Permalink 10:13:02 am, by forhall, 162 words, 20 views   English (US)
Categories: blog

More recession news for lawyers

Law firm overhead continues to grown while revenue slumps, not just for criminal defense lawyers--all private practitioners. Demand for paid legal services is off. Dan DiPietro, Bumpy--and Slow--Ride for Law Firms Through 2008, on AmLawDaily:

Since 2001, the legal industry has been characterized by double-digit profit growth, strong demand, solid productivity, and controlled expense growth. That all started to change in the second half of 2007, and now, the first half of 2008 looks very different from the previous six years. In a trend that started last year, expense growth this year has stayed relatively high, driven largely by continued growth in lawyer head count. But revenue growth was the weakest it's been in the seven years since we began tracking quarterly results. Demand for legal services was also the weakest seen in the period from 2001 to 2008.

Like we need them to tell us? One-third the calls I get are people looking for free legal services and don't know about the public defender.

08/19/08

Permalink 04:54:25 pm, by forhall, 51 words, 9 views   English (US)
Categories: blog

LA: Kicking back fees to avoid firm's knowledge merits disbarment

Lawyer's claim that he waived a fee to the client [here, a PI case] who was a friend and the client kicked back the fee to the lawyer to avoid it going through the firm's books resulted in a recommendation for disbarment. In re Sharp, La. Atty. Disc. Bd., 07-DB-019 (July 30, 2008).*

08/12/08

Permalink 10:40:45 pm, by forhall, 47 words, 41 views   English (US)
Categories: blog

ABA: "50 Lawyers Pack Court to Support Solo Whose Office Was Searched"

On ABAJournal.com today about the Collin County Texas law office search: 50 Lawyers Pack Court to Support Solo Whose Office Was Searched. My previous post from July 19th is here.

The Texas Lawyer has this article: Controversy Over the Police Search of a Collin County Law Practice

08/11/08

Permalink 09:59:59 am, by forhall, 36 words, 26 views   English (US)
Categories: blog

Two AUSAs under investigation for having recorded a represented person

Two AUSA's are under state and federal ethics investigation for directing a deputy sheriff to record a represented person, his former boss the Sheriff. See ABA's Two Prosecutors Face Ethics Probes for Secret Recording of Suspect.

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    All U.S. Ethics Codes
      States
      U.S. Attorney's Manual
      28 U.S.C. § 530B
      28 C.F.R. § 77.1 et seq.
      Military
    ABA Standards
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    Canadian Law Society Rules
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    Other Ethics Sources
    Puerto Rico
    IRS Form 8300 (Eng.)
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    26 U.S.C. § 6050I
    NACDL Ethics Opinions

    Research Links:
    Findlaw (Legal Ethics)
    Findlaw (6th Amendment)
    ABA/ALI Lawyers' Manual on Professional Conduct $
    Westlaw $
    Lexis $
    American Legal Ethics Library
    ABAJournal.com/legalethics
    USF Law Library Legal Ethics Research
    USF Center for Applied Legal Ethics
    U.Minn. Researching Legal Ethics

    Defense organizations:
    National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL)
    National Legal Aid and Defenders Association (NLADA)
    Association of Federal Defense Attorneys (AFDA)
    Federal Defenders, fd.org
    Capital Defense Network

    Defense organizations:
    National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL)
    National Legal Aid and Defenders Association (NLADA)
    Association of Federal Defense Attorneys (AFDA) //
       Federal Defenders, // Capital Defense Network

    Law Blogs:
    Alaskablawg
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    CrimLaw
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    CrimProf Blog
    Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyer
    Defending People: The Art and Science of Criminal Defense Trial Lawyering
    Ernie the Attorney
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    Law.com
    Law: The Afterlife
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    Legal Blog Watch
    Legal Ethics Forum
    Legal Sanity
    LegalTimes.com
    Life at the Bar
    May It Please the Court
    Macando Law (P.R.)
    Not Guilty No Way
    Objective Justice
    Obtaining Foreign Evidence
    Out of the Box Lawyering
    Overlawyered
    PhilosophicaLawyer
    Public Defender Dude
    Public Defender Law Clerk
    PULSE Criminal Justice
    Seventh Circuit Blog
    Tales of PD Investigator
    TalkLeft
    ThatLawyerDude
    The Best Defense
    Truth, Justice, Pizza
    Underdog Blog
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    Women of the Law

    Steve Dallas, Esq. 
    Some Advice From Your Public Defender

    "A lawyer shall represent a client zealously within the bounds of the law."
    —§ 1:1, Rule 3(a) (not "should" from CPR Canon 7)

    "The very premise of our adversary system of criminal justice is that partisan advocacy on both sides of a case will best promote the ultimate objective that the guilty be convicted and the innocent go free."
    Herring v. New York, 422 U.S. 853, 862 (1975)

    "The right to the effective assistance of counsel is thus the right of the accused to require the prosecution's case to survive the crucible of meaningful adversarial testing. When a true adversarial criminal trial has been conducted ... the kind of testing envisioned by the Sixth Amendment has occurred. But if the process loses its character as a confrontation between adversaries, the constitutional guarantee is violated."
    United States v. Cronic, 466 U.S. 648, 655-56 (1984)

    "The right to offer the testimony of witnesses, and to compel their attendance, if necessary, is in plain terms the right to present a defense, the right to present the defendant's version of the facts as well as the prosecution's to the jury so it may decide where the truth lies. Just as an accused has the right to confront the prosecution's witnesses for the purpose of challenging their testimony, he has the right to present his own witnesses to establish a defense. This right is a fundamental element of due process of law."
    Washington v. Texas, 388 U.S. 14, 19 (1967)

    "[T]he Constitution guarantees criminal defendants 'a meaningful opportunity to present a complete defense.'"
    Crane v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 683, 690 (1986) (quoting California v. Trombetta, 467 U.S. 479, 485 (1984)).

    “If you’ve got the right lawyer with you, we’ve got the best legal system in the world.”
    — Robert Trott, “Justice,” Fox, August 30, 2006, episode 1.1

    We, as criminal defense lawyers, are forced to deal with some of the lowest people on earth, people who have no sense of right and wrong, people who will lie in court to get what they want, people who do not care who gets hurt in the process. It is our job–our sworn duty–as criminal defense lawyers, to protect our clients from those people.
      —Cynthia Roseberry

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