» Entries tagged with "maricopa county"
They’re Way Too Busy
The West Mesa Justice Court has a fax number. I faxed them something yesterday. Today, the West Mesa Justice Court faxed me a letter saying the court doesn’t accept case documents by fax: Although the court does not have the capability to deal with multiple copies of the same document, they have enough time to send me a fax telling me so. Unfortunately, Brown & Little, P.L.C., implemented a no-fax-acceptance policy of its own this morning. We’ll be faxing the justice court a letter about it later today. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Courts
More Sleazy Lawyer Marketing
This time, I checked Simple Justice thoroughly before posting something about an email I got from Total Attorneys yesterday. The company seemed familiar, and sure enough, it turned out that Scott Greenfield wrote about its sketchy lawyer marketing practices in 2009 and then again in 2010, when the Connecticut State Bar officially decided its founder wasn’t quite driving the legal profession into the shitter in a specific manner that would have offended their sensibilities too terribly. Either way, they’re still at it, and I’m posting because what I received serves as a great lesson about how these marketing people work. Here’s the email I got from an “Alicia Stevenson” in its entirety, which I’ll break down part by part: Matthew, I figured an email may be the best bet if … Read entire article »
Filed under: Marketing
Looking for a Lesson
You’ve probably heard about what happened with Michael Marin. It’s not every day that a Mormon grandfather and amateur pilot, a former Wall Street trader, Japanese business executive, and graduate of Yale Law School who also climbed Mount Everest and collected works by Picasso, supposedly kills himself in court with a poisoned pill after being convicted of arson for burning down his mansion and narrowly escaping in a scuba suit. You can find more background here if you’re interested. On top of its general bizarreness, the whole thing brings up some fascinating issues. Michael Marin presumably killed himself because of the verdict. Had the jury found him not guilty, he would have probably gone out to celebrate. Although I have not looked into the specifics of … Read entire article »
Filed under: Prosecutors
Are They Breaking The Rule?
About two and a half years ago, I wrote about the Maricopa County Superior Court running out of judges to preside over a client’s trial. It happened again yesterday, but in a different way. At 8:00 a.m., I went to the master calendar assignment judge’s courtroom. If the system was a game show, he’d be the host. He spins his wheel of fortune and assigns your case to the judicial officer who’s next in line. Until that point, you don’t really know who you’re going to get. For all practical purposes, the case is assigned to what I like to call the “Honorable Master Calendar” on my captions. It was a huge docket, and the judge began assigning cases. Unlike the last time I wrote about … Read entire article »
Filed under: Procedural Rules, Trial
“We’re All Victims of the System”
I wrote once before about Maricopa County’s policy regarding the benches in the gallery of each courtroom. They put prosecutors and victims on one side and defendants and their families on the other. They enforce the rules with an iron fist. This morning, I got to see a defendant challenge the system. It must’ve been a heavy docket, as the defendants’ side was absolutely packed. There were so many people waiting for court that the benches outside of the courtroom door were full too. You couldn’t squeeze another person on the defense side. There wasn’t a single person sitting on the other side. One defendant walked in and proudly took a seat on the empty side. He was one of those guys I can only … Read entire article »
Filed under: Courts
Priorities
When Nick Martin at Heat City put up a link to this on Twitter, I started thinking. Nobody’s going to feel too sorry for lawyers making $250 an hour. If they work 40 hours a week at that rate for a year, they’ll be earning roughly ten times the median household income in the United States. It’s nothing like $450 an hour, where they’d be pushing a million in fees each year working less than I do, but it isn’t bad. In all fairness, I imagine it’s larger firms doing all the work, so nobody in particular gets all that money. Take out a chunk for a top-floor office with lots of marble, throw in a few expensive associates who don’t contribute anything valuable to the representation, and maybe … Read entire article »
Filed under: lawyers
Arpaio Set to Music
For your amusement, here’s a little song someone wrote about Sheriff Joe: (H/T Kris and Bob) … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
What's the Solution?
When Fourthamendment.com calls Maricopa County “a banana republic where the Sheriff can intimidate any official he wants,” it’s a good sign we’ve reached a low point. I don’t disagree with the sentiment, though the sheriff’s willingness to intimidate isn’t limited to officials. It’s depressing. Nobody here is safe, and this should be getting a lot more press. The mainstream, national media seems to be ignoring Maricopa County altogether. I’m still seeing more traffic going to posts about David DeCosta and smoking bans than goes to posts about what could be the breakdown of constitutional government as we know it. It seems no one is listening. Scott Greenfield even started losing interest, but Mark Bennett argued Maricopa matters. That prompted another post from Scott about what power, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
And The Machine Keeps on Running…
Adrian likes to call Maricopa County Superior Court “an enormous machine of injustice.” I think that’s a perfect description. To some extent, every Arizona court hurriedly shuffles criminal defendants through one after another, but Maricopa County is especially cold and impersonal. Each person being prosecuted is one little thousandth of a percent added or subtracted from some number Andrew Thomas hopes to brag about come next election. Unavailable deputy county attorneys and a crowded master calendar serve to ensure that no defendant’s voice gets heard prior to trial, if at all. More than anyone else, illegal immigrants find themselves on the conveyor belt heading straight into the machine. When sheriff’s deputies pick up a van full of illegals driving through the county, the wheels of the machine begin … Read entire article »
Filed under: Courts, immigration
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