Brown & Little, P.L.C. » Archive
Criminal Defense Trial Records
I’ve recently had a few clients mention to me that they had initial consultations with certain Phoenix-area attorneys who boasted jury trial records of more than twenty acquittals without a single conviction. I would have assumed they were exaggerating if they weren’t all saying the same thing. Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems to me that attorneys with jury trial records of twenty or more wins without a loss are exceedingly rare. I’m certain there are attorneys out there with records like that, but multiple attorneys within a five-mile radius? In my experience, a case that’s close to a guaranteed winner will get dismissed prior to trial more often than not, so the ones that go to trial tend to have a less than perfect defense. That’s … Read entire article »
Filed under: Practice in General, Trial
Why Do We Do It?
I can’t remember ever disagreeing with anything Bobby G. Frederick has written over at the South Carolina Criminal Defense Blog, but I definitely don’t feel the same way he does about something he says in this post. I really like the term “cause lawyer,” which I’ve never heard before, but I can’t say I agree with this: Defense attorneys, by and large, don’t do this for the money. We have to pay the bills and run an office, and compensation is good, but we do this because we love what we do and because we believe in what we do, whether it is helping people or whether it is fighting to preserve what little rights we have left as citizens. This might be petty, as I’m just disagreeing with his generalization … Read entire article »
Filed under: Practice in General, Professionalism
Is Gilbert The New Castle Rock?
I recently had a change of plea for a DUI in Gilbert where I started to feel like I was in a Stephen King novel. Gilbert has several policies that seem extreme even in Maricopa County. Matt has previously pointed out Gilbert’s policy for vehicles impound in a previous post, so I’ll concentrate on two other aspects that irk me. First, the plea deal stipulates to five years of probation. In my opinion that is simply absurd. Why in the world does a first time offender need a probation period of 60 months? The judge was gracious enough to modify the terms so probation terminates upon completion of certain alcohol classes. An individual unlucky enough to get stuck with the full five years might be … Read entire article »
Filed under: Government Rants, Practice in General
Lawyer Stage Fright
I’ve seen plenty of attorneys let their nerves get the better of them in the courtroom, but I rarely hear attorneys discuss stage fright. Why don’t we talk about it? It negatively impacts the quality of representation for many defense attorneys, and I’ve seen prosecutors spend whole trials looking like deer in headlights. I know a fair number of prosecutors and defense attorneys who desperately plead out their cases because they fear trial. I don’t remember anyone discussing ways to deal with stage fright in law school, and I don’t think most public defender or prosecutor training covers it in any real depth either. The advice seems to just be “keep doing it until you aren’t nervous anymore,” but for some people, just doing it over and … Read entire article »
Filed under: Practice in General, Trial
Should We Really Try More Cases?
I don’t completely agree that defense attorneys need to try more cases. I think a lot of defense attorneys are plea mills. Those attorneys definitely need to try more cases. However, trial is often too risky an option for many clients to seriously consider. I can’t blame them. In Arizona, mandatory minimums give the state an incredible amount of leverage. Someone accused of a dangerous offense or a dangerous crime against children is guaranteed a stiff prison sentence if they’re convicted. If you have any prior felony conviction and are accused of a felony offense not involving personal drug possession, you are not eligible for probation. You must go to prison if convicted. If you have two allegeable prior felonies and are accused … Read entire article »
Filed under: Practice in General, Trial
No Poll
As you can tell, we went ahead and picked a name. We appreciate all the suggestions and comments as well as the logo, but we ultimately decided we should call the blog something that actually describes what it is. We are in Chandler. We practice nothing but criminal defense. We just blog about things we feel are relevant to the practice of criminal law in Arizona. An increase in search relevance isn’t a bad side-effect (people searching for the terms “brown” and “little” probably aren’t looking for a lawyer), and it avoids words that, like “desert” or “justice,” might be cheesy or misrepresent what we do. Now we’ll stick to putting up posts, hopefully more frequently. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
Accepting Responsibility Government-Style
I was really struck by this post, but not for the reason its author was struck by the Met Commissioner’s apology. I know it’s old, but I’ve been busy. Sorry. Anyway, maybe I’m misunderstanding him, but I’m surprised David Friedman would think that apology was in any way out of the ordinary. I’m pretty sure apologies from the government are usually meaningless. I imagine it’s the same everywhere. I’m not thinking as much about when wrongful government action kills people as I am about when the government wrongfully charges people. If you’re wrongfully charged, unless you spent a lot of time in prison or were on death row, “be thankful we eventually dismissed your case” is probably the best response you’re going to get. The state … Read entire article »
Filed under: Government Rants, Practice in General
New Blog Name
It was recently brought to our attention by Scott Greenfield of Simple Justice that calling this blog “Brown & Little, P.L.C.” might be dissuading other blawgs from linking to us. I can see his point: it’s just too promotional. On top of that, it isn’t very creative. Personally, I’m the kind of guy who sees no problem naming a dog “dog” or a goldfish “goldfish,” but I have to admit a name change is probably in order. We will officially change the name soon, but we’d first like to get some input. We keep getting stuck on Scorpion-themed blog names, as we’ve always wanted the kind of dignity and respect animal law firm mascots command. “The Scorpion,” “The Scorpion Kings,” “Scorpion Justice,” and “The Stinger” are … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
I Will Never Recommend These Lawyers to Anyone
January 21st, 2009 | 3 Comments
Last week, I discovered one drawback of having some of my favorite blogs link to us. With the increase in traffic has come spam. Lots of it. Occasionally, an obvious spam comment slips past our filter, but it doesn’t bother me. I delete it, and life goes on. It normally involves male enhancement or someone willing to do something that’s illegal in the deep south. It looks like some new lawyers have jumped into the fray. Taking a cue from viagra vendors, some scumbag attorneys have decided to spam my poor little blog. They put up stupid comments talking about how great they are and linking to their website. The spam comments were completely unrelated to the posts. I won’t provide a … Read entire article »
Filed under: Ethics, Marketing, Practice in General, Professionalism