Many times other firms ask me if we set objectives and goals for our attorneys. I say, “Absolutely.” Without goals, your practice can begin to drift and the general spirit of your attorney staff can ebb and flow. Successful objectives setting within your firm: Two hours max running time, maybe less Informal and short talk [...]
Attorney Vs. Lawyer… Believe it or not, there is a difference between an attorney and a lawyer. An attorney is a lawyer but a lawyer is not necessarily an attorney. Confused? Let me clear that up for you. A lawyer is simply a person trained in the law and may or may not provide legal [...]
Legal scholar Michelle Alexander new book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness says that although Jim Crow laws are off the books, millions of African Americans arrested for minor crimes remain marginalized and trapped by a criminal just system that has forever brand them as felons. She also further states [...]
Prosecutors are being accused of gross misconduct in the 2008 trial of Senator Ted Stevens. The depth to which prosecutors went to intentionally conceal evidence has shocked lawmakers. Federal District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan found “serious, widespread and at times intentional” covering up of evidence by the Justice Department. The evidence could have helped Stevens [...]
A Texas man wrongfully convicted in 1987 of murdering his wife was officially exonerated this week. This is a new trend in a state where 45 inmates have already been exonerated in the last decade. With advances in technology and DNA evidence, cases are being reviewed once again. What is so unusual about this particular [...]
Judges are putting many white-collar criminal defendants in the same category as accused killers and rapists. White-collar criminal defendants are seeing that bond is becoming hard to get, especially international defendants. Judges are difficult to convince that the defendants from other countries involved in massive fraud schemes won’t flee. The government believes that many of [...]
The Office of National Drug Control Policy held a media briefing earlier in the month. The purpose of the briefing was to discuss the Obama Administration’s unprecedented approach to addressing drug addiction. U.S. Criminalized Drug Stats The Department of Justice released new data: o Justice Department says that drug use costs U.S. $193 billion a [...]
Washington State Split on Marijuana Vote A recent poll of 500 potential votersshows that Washington state voters could be divided on whether marijuana should become legalized. Taxing Medical Pot Sales 70% Yes 22% No 8% Unsure Legalization (for medical and all purpose use) 46% Yes 46% No 8% Unsure The poll was taken from September 11-14 and [...]
According to recent statistics from the FBI, violent crime is down 6% from last year. This is the fourth straight year that violent crime has been on the decline and the 8th straight year for a decline in property crimes. There were 1.2 million violent crimes and an estimated 9 million property crimes in 2010. Murder [...]
The Alabama Legislature opened its March session with both houses passing what is being called the nation’s “cruelest, most unforgiving immigration law” on the books. The law, HB 56, is so controversial that four Alabama church leaders have deemed it “inhumane” and have sued to block it. Episcopal bishop, a Methodist bishop and a Roman [...]