It's that time again. WBCOOP IS BACK and BIGGER THAN EVER

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! The WBCOOP is a free online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers, so register on WBCOOP to play.

Registration code: XXXXXX 580695

That's right, in an effort to repeat endlessly the same thing and hope to get different results I am once again entering PokerStars World Blogger Championship of On-line Poker. This year with over Sixty ($60K)Dollars in free Spring Championship of On-line Poker entries available I am hoping to snag at least a couple of free entries. You can follow me online (send me an e-mail and I will give you my name on line) or you can wait to see if my futility at the on-line felt continues. Or better yet, if you have an established blog YOU CAN JOIN AND PLAY.

Oh yeah BTW if you are a law blogger and would like to play in an On-line "Home Game" with others who do the same send me a request and I will help you into our Lawyer home game league on Pokerstars.

Either way, wish me luck!!
TLD

Stuff Even I Can't Make Up: Blabbing Bimbos, USHLS Keep Cartoons Characters Safe From Child Sex Abuse, Moonlighting Is Okay for Judges As Long As They Remain Unfunny and Surprise! Someone Got Angry in an Anger Management Class..

For a little light reading, I thought I would take you for a short tour of what I found funny (that's to read funny strange not funny HA HA! I will admit there is some overlap however)

1. For the last time People, If you are going to "Kiss and Tell" DON"T DO IT ON THE INTERNET!!!
Exhibit One: A woman fighting for child support admits on Facebook that her child is not her husband's.
To quote our friends at ABA Journal News "...one mom posted photos of her children during a custody battle, eliciting a comment from a friend that they didn't look much like her husband. Her response: That's because they're not his." That was smart...
Exhibit Two: Another Duke University Sex Scandal.
An apparently Jock sniffing College Co-ed from Duke University decided it would be a cute idea to make a "Power Point Presentation" of her sexual hi-jinx while an undergrad at Duke University. She ranked 13 lovers, all jocks (many Lacrosse players btw) and was very "explicit" in her descriptions of the guys and the activities she and they engaged in. She sent it by e-mail to three friends and "Surprise" it got sent all over the net!!!
(Yeah like she didn't mean to leak it so that she would get the obligatory book opportunity and Playboy spread.)

I think the kids at Duke may have too much time on their hands. How in the hell do they keep getting that US News and World Report Ranking given that they can't seem to shut up??? What ever happened to discretion being the better part of Valor?? In the interest of truth in journalism, I admit, I could have been subject number 12... okay maybe not but a guy can dream can't he?? (You can read the whole report and see the pictures with blackened out faces here)

2. Your United States Bureau of Homeland Security: Keeping "Toon Town" Safe for Cartoon Kids. Now if they could only protect America.
Radley Balko of the "Agitator", one of my favorite bloggers, has put the only headline I could think of on a case of Simpson cartoon characters in sexual positions causing a conviction for Possession of Child Pornography (yeah you read that right.) In his blog post

Worst. Prosecution. Ever.

Radley describes a prosecution where the only "Images" were cartoon characters... Better get rid of any "Fritz the Cat" videos you downloaded.
I read the press release from the US Justice Dept. trying to decipher the real reason they brought this prosecution... If it weren't so true of the way some of these folks think, I'd have laughed. Here is the Money Quote: “We aggressively use our investigative authorities to protect our communities from those who seek to sexually exploit children for their own perverse gratification,” said Leigh Winchell, special agent in charge of ICE Homeland Security Investigations. “HSI continues to dedicate resources to identify those individuals who engage in this type of criminal behavior and ensure they are brought to justice.”
I am so very happy no moreTOON TOWN characters will be sexually exploited for someone's perverse sexual gratification, now could you use some of these funds you WASTED on this prosecution to freaking solve a crime in MY HOMELAND?? You know, a real crime not a cartoon crime... Maybe find some guy like, oh I don't know... OSAMA BIN LADENmaybe??? Where is Bob Hoskins when he is really needed
While on this same topic, If you happen to be a boss (say the Editor of "Innovation" at the Chicago Tribune, maybe it is not a good idea to use company e-mail to distribute a link to a website that has a fake newscast showing women in various stages of inebriation and undress... I'm just sayin'.
In this time of political correctness, all employers need to be more "sensitive", still I can't help feeling like this guy would still have a job if he wasn't always sending these kind of weird things out.
Hattip: NY TIMES

3. Judges in NY have not received a raise (Not even cost of living) in almost two decades. That is not only inconceivable but downright unfair to them and to the citizens (A well funded judiciary is essential to a nation of laws.) So to fix the problem, we gave them a raise right? NOOOOOO!
We will now allow them to "Moonlight". I can see it now:

Attorney: I have another witness your Honor
Judge: I'm sorry, I have to give the Katz kid a piano lesson at 5:15 on the dot. Otherwise I won't be able to tutor the Smith kid in Math at 6:30. Oh by the way, your decision on that stay of the death penalty? I won't have it done till tomorrow afternoon...
Attorney: Uh Your Honor, my client is due to be executed at 12AM tonight...
Judge: Hmmm well maybe if I skip dinner I can finish it by 11:45PM.

Oh yeah it seems that one job a judge can not have is doing "stand up" comedy... Has anyone read some of the decisions they write... KIDDING IT WAS A JOKE... REALLY... :)
Hattip: ABA Journal News Today.

4. From the Bureau of "I Don't Think She Gets It" comes this little ditty "Woman Stabs Another Attendee at Anger Management Class"
That's right, Faribah Maradiaga 19, stabbed a fellow classmate in her anger management class.
Wanna know what they were arguing about??
Men?
Kids?
Obamacare?
Here is your money quote: "A dispute over the value of a video on anger management being shown to the class sparked a war of words..." I guess that video wasn't as good as they thought it might be.

Okay and for those of you who stuck around this long, My old blogger friend Ken Lammers who was a defense attorney and is now a prosecutor (KENNY KENNY KENNY) has been touted as one of the "Hot Law Enforcement Types." Go visit his blog and vote for the picture you think is hotter, Summertime Head-shaven Ken, or Winter Sensitive bearded Ken. Tell him I sent you.

Oh yeah, If you liked this post, let me know. Leave a note on here or on Facebook.

And on a more serious note, if You or someone you know has been accused of Assault, Child Pornography Possession, or Sexual Harassment at work or at school, it is no laughing matter. It is also nothing to handle without the help of a good lawyer. I am more than willing to speak to anybody who needs help with this or any myriad of legal problems. You can reach me here

Four Blog Posts You Should Read: An interesting Day in the Blogosphere

Some days the quality of posting is just really good.

Check these out:

Love and Marriage is not for the Funky Brown Chick. Interesting comments.

Note to self...don't sarcastically ask if after a day of yelling and fighting with your toddler is it ok to smother her, at least not on Twitter. Some humorless follower may call the cops.
Hattip: Spin me I Pulsate

Wow US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald says you're guilty of something and we don't even have to have a trial. Man the kangaroos are jumping in Illinois. Dissenting Justice Darren Hutchinson says NO WAY. At least he believes there ought to be a trial.

Keeping it real. An adult,orphaned in childhood, recounts being reunited with her family on her last Birthday. It will move you.It moved me. Read "Me..Being Anonymous". This lady has a story to tell.


A day filled with new voices and ideas.

Tony(c) Award for Best Criminal Law Blog for 2008 and an Honor: Professor Doug Berman Sentencing Law and Policy Blog

Thinking of words and phrases to describe out Tony(c) award winning Best Criminal Law Blog is easy: Informative, cutting edge, authoritative, well written, incisive, thought-provoking. The one I like the most is consistant.

The 2008 Tony(c)Award for Best Criminal Law Blog is Professor Doug Berman's Sentencing Law and Policy Blog. The reason for the award? This blog is consistantly the best place to go to begin to research the latest issues in Federal sentencing. Professor Berman is not only a blogger extrodinaire but his blog is cited to on a regular basis by courts and in briefs at the highest (read SCOTUS) levels of advocacy.

Doug is also a real giver. In addition to writing a blog that is a readers delight he also often authors briefs and amicus briefs on behalf of positions he believes in dealing with Sentencing law. Doug is generous with his time and is a frequent lecturer on all thing USSG and USSC. His insights have helped me over and over again in getting fair sentences for my clients. If a young practioner (or an old one for that matter) wants to learn the ins and outs of the USSG, get a copy of the USSG and then start reading the archives of Sentencing Law and Policy Blog.

An extra honor from me to Doug and his great Blog: This Tony(c)Award is being named for its winner. Hereinafter the Tony(c) Award for Best Criminal Law Blog will hereinafter be known as the "Prof. Doug Berman Memorial Tony(c)Award for Best Criminal Law Blog"

Thank you Professor for all you do.

Happy New Years to all of my readers.
TLD.

Follow me on Twitter and get updates througout the day of the best legal blog posts and news articles addressing the criminal law, law practice management and Constitutional law on and around the blogosphere.

Tony(c) Award For Best NY Blawgger: JaneAnne Murray for NY Federal Criminal Practice Blog

The Tony(c) Award for the "Best NY Blawgger" (that is a writer who blogs about legal topics in NY) goes to JaneAnne Murray for her blog "NY Federal Criminal Practice Blog." JaneAnne's writing is crisp and understandable. The Blog reads like a law schoolstudent's recitation brief on a casebook case. Her analysis of the cases is clear and understandable. It is also a great niche blog.

I loved the way JaneAnne Murray covered Judge Weinstein's decision in US v. Polizzi which I covered in a post yesterday. She took a complex, 288 page, tome on sentencing and other issues, and whittled it down to a few paragraphs laid out brief style. The facts, holdings, and synthesis is clear to any attorney having to work with this case.

The fact that the blog is a little light on links and analysis on some of the bigger cases leaves room to improve. Covering the large amount of decisions she covers in the circuit (a circuit that has 2 of the most cited US District Courts and one of the top 3 cited US Circuit Courts of Appeal) Ms. Murray has a lot of cases to comb through and brief. Additionally, unlike most state court decisions(which generally run a few pages) these decisions are long and often tedious. I think her blog is a useful tool for research, and a definite worth-while read if one is just trying to keep up with criminal practice in one of the busiest US Circuits in the country.

Thus The Tony(c) Award for the Best NY Centric Legal Blog goes to NY Federal Criminal Practice Blog. Congratulations.

Tony(c) Award for Best Legal Technology Blog: Dennis Kennedy & His Blog Get an Award and an Honor

From this day forward, the Tony(c)Award for Legal Technology Blogging is going to be named for its First recipient: Dennis Kennedy. Dennis is the author of the Dennis Kennedy.Blog

Dennis is responsible for starting me on blogging. It was an article he wrote for the Law Practice Management magazine, which talked about things that would be hot in 2004 that got me thinking about starting a blog of my own. Dennis was right about all of the things he said would be hot. Blogging was a great way for me to get my name out there and for others to think of me as an expert on the things I blogged about.

Over the years, Dennis became a friend. He encouraged my blog and my work. He continues to inform our profession about ideas, gadgets and processes to make our forays into the tech side of things easier. He makes technology fun for us non-techno geeks. He remains on the cutting edge of technology (see his twitter feed and his microblog) and he is a prolific author. He was actually holding tweet-ups before there was a Twitter by hosting blogger cocktail parties at the big tech shows.

Now I will be the first to admit, I don't always understand what Dennis is talking about. If you send him an e-mail however, he is always willing to help, which is actually a really good addition to a blog.

Finally, Dennis is a champion of bloggers. He started me on the idea of handing out an award for bloggers I file. His awards are called The Blawggies. That is what I mean, he has always championed the work of other bloggers. That is very cool, and generous.

I owe a lot to Dennis, and one of the ways I want to thank him for the difference he has made to my life, is to name an award after him, to honor his mentoring of me. So, from here on in, the Tony(c) award for Legal Technology Blogging is named the Dennis Kennedy Memorial Tony(c) Award for Legal Technology Blogging.

Announcing The Tony(c) Awards : That Lawyer Dude Honors His Favorite Blogs and Podcasts. Today We Honor The Agitator Blog

Over the course of the next 21 days I will be slowly, tantalizingly rolling out the Tony(c) Awards. Instead of one big post on all my favorites, I do it the way the Nobel Committee does it, over the course of a few days. Why?
1. It gives me a lot of posts and one never knows when I will announce another so maybe I will coerce a few potential winners into reading and commenting on the blog over the last few weeks of the year, and
2. It is my award and I can

Now, less anybody here believe that the (c) is a copyright or that I am laying claim to the Awards that honor Broadway's greatest shows (which btw is a far better show than the Oscars and Grammy's and all the other garbage award shows put together) I am not. It is just that as many of our readership knows I sign off on most of my e-mails with the end TonyC. and since that is my name and my sign off, I thought it would be apt to name these awards that way.

In case anyone is wondering why I of all people should have an award named after me, or better why anyone should care who I think blogged best this year, I will point you to this post by one of my Blogging mentors Dennis Kennedy who each year gives out his Blawggies. (Find it in the 12-26-04 post at the end.)

Now if you don't want to read the blogs I read, or if you think this is a bad idea, or a good idea, give out your own awards and give a link to a deserving blog or blogger.

For my First Tony(c) Award 2008, I am going to give a big Shout out to:(Cue the drum roll please)
The Agitator which is my favorite blog about Politics. If you aren't reading Radley Balko you ought to be. He is intelligent, conservative, and he is controversial without being shrill (Malkin you listening??). Most importantly he is funny. Funny is a good thing. I like a blog that can make me laugh and think at the same time.

So the very First Tony(c) award goes to Cato Institute and Reason Magazine's favorite bad boy The Agitator,and its real life voice Radley Balko.

PS. Help Radley to keep blogging buy the button/magnet shown on the top of this post by clicking here and following the instructions. It only costs a couple of dollars. Come on the kid needs to eat.

My Final Words on Blogs, "Blads" and Other Forms of Legal Marketing

Certain legal bloggers led by a couple of people I hold in moderately high regard, are ticked off about what they see as a proliferation of Blogs that are not conversations but are in their not so humble opinions "advertisements". These "BLADS" are annoying to them because:

1. they aren't about substantive issues they are more along the lines of "Hey, hire me I'll set you free."

2. They do not add to the quantum of knowledge or foster discussion about the law and,

3. They ( these "Bladders") make it look like lawyers who blog are hucksters.

I concur with both points 1 & 2 and I understand that those types of blogs are not really helpful. I will also not allow spammers to leave messages and I will not allow "nonsense" on this site.

I vehemently disagree however with the third reason that is put forth against "Blads." I do not see how these Blads effect how anybody else looks at me or my blog, any more than allowing Homosexuals to get married makes my marriage look cheap.

I do not consider my blog a "blatant marketing blog" and I too don't like the "Call me and get out for free" bloggers. On the other hand, I have no problem with someone who occasionally says on his blog, "Hey I do this type of work and I would like your case if you have one." I have said that in the past on here but not recently. In fact I think it is a duty of the bar to let people know there are honest good and hard working lawyers willing to take cases on.

Now I also don't have a problem with the guy who writes for the love of teaching. In fact that is what led me to blogging. I just think that guys who do that, who aren't teachers and who then take cases from the blog, need to realize that the blog is a marketing tool. A well written blog tells people a lot about the author, a lot more than the client learns about a lawyer from solely reading a website or a yellow page ad.

Look, I like Jazz. I like that Coca Cola sponsors Jazz at Lincoln Center. I like that they don't come on before every song and say "Have a Coke while you listen to Wynton blow that horn and smile." I am also aware that if I buy a drink at JALC, I am going to get a Coke product. Now I may buy a Coke product if I am outside of JALC, just because they give money to a cause I care about. Their subtle marketing in that situation works. That type of marketing is not the same as the Coke Commercial during American Idol. One is sublime, the other is in your face.

Now, I don't know of any real blogs, indexed and respected blogs, blogs that have been cited by other lawyer's blogs, that are no more than advertisements for their authors services. I get newsletters all the time from colleagues that talk about their wins and analyze the legal news and mention themselves in the article. I don't consider that sublime, but I don't think it is advertising either, it is in a in between state.

Finally take a look at one of my favorite blogs, DUI Blog by Larry Taylor. DUI Blog is one of the most informative blogs about a single subject that I have ever read. To that end, in the upper right hand corner of Larry's blog is a picture of him as a talking head on Court TV. If you click it, it brings you to a page that says Larry Taylor is the "Dean of the DWI Bar". Isn't that marketing and maybe advertising?

And what of the blog of that great anti-marketer from the Big Apple Mr. Scott Greenfield himself? I notice he still has not explained why I am a marketer but he is a writer, when his blog links directly to his webpage and he even tells readers that reading the blog doesn't equal him giving legal advice, but if you pay him then you may have the advice. Come on, is that not a fairly blatant attempt to say "Look, if you like what I write, this is how you hire me?"

And what of Mr.Bennett's banning any blog(ger) that has a so called "Call to action" on it (The outright "If you want to hire me, click here and it will take you to my website)? I am not offended by this type of blog and I will link to a commentor who has such a blog, as long as his blog posts have some value in explaining the law to lay readers or lawyers. If you have something to say, then I am willing to let you let others know you have something to say by allowing NAY encouraging you to comment here.

Frankly I am tired of this fight. It isn't my fight. I don't care what others are doing on their blogs. I am doing what I want on mine. My blog is a conversation. Anybody who wants to add to that conversation is welcome to do so here. I am aware that what I write is being read by my adversaries, my enemies, as well as my friends family and clients. It is also being read by writers and newspeople. I guess it is being read by potential (and I hope future) clients.

They can follow me on Twitter but they cannot log onto my website from my blog.Does that make this less of a marketing tool than Greenfield's or Taylors blogs? No. It is just a different degree.

Nevertheless, I am going to brag about my victories and whine about my losses. I am going to grab my soapbox and hope it holds me up as I say whatever the "You KNOW WHAT", I want to say. I will let others do that too as long as it is not a flame post, or a spam post, or some type of rubbish that only spammers know why they put it there.

If that means that Greenfield, Gideon, and Bennett don't want to blogroll me, then fine. If they do, that is fine too. Oh and if you leave a comment on my blog, I won't edit away and I won't attack you. That goes for BLADDERS as well as for all the rest of the "non-admitting marketing attorneys who write blogs but delude themsleves into think they are writing for a law review."

The only non-marketing lawyer-blogger I know of, is the person who writes Blonde Justice. She is anonymous. after all the garbage about this topic, I now know why...

You can follow me on Twitter, by going to Twitter.com/thatlawyerdude. Try it, you may find you like it. Oh yeah, please go to the ABA Top 100 Blogs and vote for Blonde's blog, she wants to win, and I like it when Blonde is happy.

More Lists From That Lawyer Dude: Ten Poignant Final Photos and Two Lists of Important Blawgs. On One You Can Vote For Your Favorites!

This is a quick hit. I was sent the link to this site after my blog roundup on Sunday. I love lists. I don't know why. While I was looking around, I saw this list of the last photo's taken of famous people. Though they did not know they would die soon after taking these pictures, there is a haunting aura about them as we know what is about to happen. I don't like to be maudlin, but I liked these portraits very much. What do you think? Have you thought about what you would like to do in your Final Photo?? I

Let me know what you think your's will look like in the Comments Section below.

While we are on the topic of Lists, Two Lists came out yesterday featuring the best of the law Blogs or BLAWGS.
One by E-Justice is called "The Top 50 Internet & Digital Law Blogs"

You will see some duplication with the "Top 100 Blogs of 2008" by the ABA Journal Law News Now. If you go on the site, you can vote for your favorites. I am following about 35 of those blogs in my RSS feed (I use Google Reader for law and news, and Opera Feeds for everything else.)

Some Fun on the Blogosphere: Kicking Back

Photo courtesy of The Perrysteins (Congratulations on the Baby!!)


This has not been a relaxing start to the Christmas season. Today was the first Sunday of Advent and I am not thinking Christmas Music. I am thinking death, destruction and doom. Hence it is time to change the Music in my head. Here are my favorite pick me up posts from this week.

Speaking of Music this post teaches you how to pimp out Pandora which is a pretty neat music site. Entitled 15 ways to get more out of Pandora. The writer saves a little surprise for you if you read the article to the end.

Staying on lists I thought these two posts were interesting:

A. This one has 8 hints on how to be a better blog writer. I will do my best to follow each of these tips. Hattip Copyblogger.com

B. This Post gives you a list of things you need to know to map out a successful marketing strategy. I think this one is not meant for guys like me, but it has a few ideas if you are marketing against another firm. I try to stay above that and market with less focus. Maybe I ought to rethink that. Hattip: the Rainmaker Institute

Here is bonus list:

From Matt Homman comes the list of Ten Rules of Legal Technology. Remember this you techie lawyers. There is some sage advice in these rules
Hattip: The Billable hour, which is where these rules actually came from. To the Person or people who write that Paralegal Prof site, learn to attribute. It is one thing to link or even republish, it is a whole other thing to Plagiarize!


Ok, moving right along, Blawgger extraordinaire Robert Ambrogi's Lawsites blog has the Top Ten List of ESSENTIAL PODCASTS FOR LAWYERS. I know that Robert's podcast Lawyer2Lawyer is always a very interesting show and he also acknowledges Monica Bay's Law Tech Now and the ABA Litigation Sections podcast as well. I have an Apple Ipod. Time to start downloading.
Hattip: Robert Ambrogi's Legal Lines


My last list post is my favorite list. It is the Fifty Things You Need To Know How To Do. The post names the 50 things and then links you to websites that explain how to do them. I already know how to do 20 solid and 10 more I am more than familiar with, however I could brush up. See how many you know and see if you think there is anything that should be added to the list. Let me know how you did. Hattip Marc and Angel Hack Life

Updated to reflect Matt Homman and the Non-Billable Hour blog as the true author of the 10 Rules of Legal Technology. Sorry Matt, Thanks for letting me know.

Porn Stars In the Classroom, Hookers Right Next Door, Here I Am Stuck In The Middle With You

This story and this blog post caught my attention. In their own way, each is about the same thing. Unlike the way sex workers are portrayed in the movies or on TV (especially during a "sweeps" month), most of the people in the trade are not really different than the person in the next apartment.

In the news story, a woman who earlier in her life was known to the world as Crystal Gunns, a porn star, was unwittingly hired by a local school to be an aide. She works part-time. She earns less than Six Thousand Dollars a year and works on the play ground and as a lunch aide.

Now though she is not shy about her past, she has also put it behind her. She is 32 now not 22. She may be a mom. I don't think I would have named her for others to deride her, as she has committed no crime but only sought to earn a living. I know had she been in another business the press would not have named her.

Parents want her fired. The Superintendent of her school district wants to fire her too (

Superintendent Charles Ottinger, who is of the same mindset as (Principal)Giordano, says they have been advised against firing the teachers aide, “Not that we don’t want to.”)

It is just that you see, Ms.Gunns would be able to sue the living daylights out of the school district. After all, what has she done wrong? Adult films (as opposed to Pornography) is legal. It is also a way that some men and women make money. Sly Stalone was in an adult film, as was Jackie Chan. There is no crime and thus there is no reason to fire her unless she is inappropriate with the kids. Interestingly, the kids would have not had any idea this is happening at their school but for someone publicizing it.

Now on The Debauched Domestic Diva's blog, Dee blogs about having lived a double life. She was a sexy women cheating on her husband and exploring her sexuality while leaving the chains of a dead marriage, and was his Mrs. Cleaver at home and work. (I'll leave out the Usher lyric). She talks about how she feels now that she can be more of herself. She had recently "come out" to some of her friends and now she feels she has a better relationship with her friends and is more close to them now she can be honest with them about her sexual affairs.

Now this immediately got me thinking about a blog post by Rebbeca Dios that dealt with how she would now handle being part of a community that would not accept her decisions nor recognize her needs. It comes as no shock to me that being outed has disturbed her income and negitively affect her family. She was threatened, and shunned in her small town. She fears for her husband and children. Rebecca is an enormously brave woman who faces illness in her home and her choices of how to deal with those choices straight on.

Then I remembered this post that really began me blogging occasionally of the people I represent that work in the sex trade.

It has been three years since I wrote those words and the fact of the matter is that I was right then and now. What makes me laugh is that these women are the same people who shop with us, and bowl with us, and eat at the table in the restaurant right next to us.

I am representing women now who work in the sex trade who also hold down full time jobs as teachers, nurses and secretaries in big Multi-national companies. These are not women who have left the adult business, but who are still "transitioning." I have represented women who serve on Congressional staffs.

I know one who is actually quiet religious and intends to join an "order" when she returns home (Latin America) but right now she sells herself (she is a stripper who offers "extras" because she is caring for a sick mother and father both of whom require serious surgeries at home.) She is well aware that she is sinning. So is her priest. She is honest with him. She fears being shunned at home, but more, she fears being arrested here and returned to home before she makes enough to pay the doctors and hospital and thus gets her folks thrown into the street. She is a beautiful young woman who is bright and earnest. She just cannot earn the money she earns here at home, and she cannot get a job here without being thrown out. So she "goes" to school and gets decent grades and strips at night and works for tips. She goes to Church on Saturdays and admits her sins, and on Sunday to pray for forgiveness. She is back at her "job" on Tuesday night.

I even represent a police women who has a very active though very exclusive escort life which she takes out of town.

There is a very competent lawyer I know who used to act in "B" movies with a lot of sexual tension and nudity. At first the men she worked around snickered. Maybe some still do, but that is likely before she beats their sorry butts in court.

Not one of the women I have represented or know, if others knew of their other job, would be able to work in their day jobs. (the exeption being the lawyer who interestingly works as a criminal defense attorney) On the other hand, not one of them is not outstanding in their work. I know, I have spoken or met co-workers, bosses and seen grades and met teachers. Sometimes these women come to me through those referral sources.

From all that I can see being somewhat of an outsider, sex work is neither easy nor is it "fun". It is work. Now I did not say it is drudgery. For most of these women it has its good times and bad. The one thing I have not seen is how it negatively affects their ability to be good teachers, nurses, or employees. I do not see why once they give it up, it should stygmatize them and make them unable to serve children food or watch them play.

For whatever reason a person enters the work of sex, their should also be a way to exit the world and join the ranks of those with less "interesting" jobs. When are we as a society going to look at people for who they are and not what they do. Yes I know that part of what we are is what we do, but just because someone doesn't view the world the way we do doesn't disqualify them to live next door.

It is funny but I know of people who have in my opinion done far worse things than agree to have sex with others. I know people who cheat their clients, who lie to the court, who are sworn to secrecy but can't keep a secret for all the tea in Boston. I know people whose ideas of right and wrong include telling their minions that stealing and obfucation are just part of the job. Yet many of these mostly men are lauded by colleagues and hired at quiet a good price. I know men who will beat or rob or rape a sex worker knowing that she cannot go to Police for fear of "outing" herself.

That is the normal way I these clients find me. They are not usually arrested. They are victims of assaults. They come to me because they fear reprisals from authorities. I often tell them they shouldn't but I will admit there have been times when they should and I am glad I or a staff member was there to stop some SOB from refusing to listen to their story or from firing them for their job. Fear of lawsuits and crusading lawyers is a good way to keep certain types(like School Superintendent Ottinger and Principal Giordano above)in check. (I remember Professor Monroe Freedman on the first day of classes telling us that from the minute we entered the room that we were going to be feared by all the other professions in the world, that as lawyers we were the ones they most worried about. He taught me to use the strength of our profession to do good. I try every day.)

What is funny, is that I have had potential clients who have not hired me, because I will not abandon these sex worker clients and won't keep the fact that I take such cases a secret. They feel it makes me something less of a lawyer. If anything, it makes me far better a lawyer, but I am not upset. They can keep their fees and their lawyers who look down on these clients and maybe me too. Everynight I can look at myself and feel like I have really helped someone who if not for my effort would have had no one to fight for them, no one to protect them.

Frankly however, it shouldn't have to come down to the largesse of a few hearty souls like the men and women of NACDL or FALA. People even sex workers, have a right to be protected and to expect that the law will not punish them for seeking to be protected. They should have a right to re-enter "straight" society when the time comes and to be judged on who they are and what they know and not on how they earned a living.

There is a March in Washington on December 17, 2008. The National March for Sex Worker Rights . It is a day when those of us who believe that no one should live a life of fear of attack nor fear of reprisal for being a sex worker will lift our collective voices and call on our leaders to bring an end to this kind of hate.

If you are available, you might want to check this out. You never know, the person you fight for, may be someone you know, and love, but is afraid to tell you about her choices.

Banned in Simpleville: Bye Scottie Boy, It's Been Ok To Know You.

Seems that I have struck a nerve with one of the "Bloggers" who attacked me yesterday. I have been refused the right to reply under my blog name on his blog and I am now subject to editing of my posts if he feels I am "marketing myself." I guess that means if he feels that I am driving readership to That Lawyer Dude by leaving messages on his site, he will ban it and label it as "Marketing" (I wish I could add the sinister music you hear in the movies when someone says something evil on a soap opera).

Now I should point out that this blog pretty much always averages about 60 readers a day. As I was mentioned (attacked?) on three blogs yesterday and I had 77 readers (and today 90) I guess he gets credit for sending about 6-10 new people to my blog. I doubt it was because of my replies to his attack so much as it was his timed attack on me with other bloggers. Frankly he can keep his 10, I get more hits from people searching for "Hanna Montana Nude"...

Scottie writes:

The many who disagree with me, I truly don't care. This is my belief, and this is my blog. To those who say that if I won't let you play the game your way, you won't come here anymore, I can only say goodbye.

Well let's see how you play this game:

1.You conspired with three other bloggers to attack me in flame posts;
2.You mischaracterized my original post;
3.Insulted me in your posts and comments;
4.Then you changed my comments and took off the links to my blog, and;
5.Then you have the nerve to add a stupid editor's note to my mostly friendly response to your post which scolds me?? Not to mention calling a friend who agreed with me SCUM???

WOW Scott you can imagine how sorry I must be to be uninvited to reply to your "blog".

Here is the truth. Your blog is a LAWYER ADVERTISEMENT. Delude yourself all you like but unlike That Lawyer Dude, your blog links to your website. You tell people that if they want your "advice" they have to pay you (sounds like an ask for work to me but I'll let you define your own motives, something you begrudge me)and you(like I) announce your posts on Twitter.com
Oh yeah, That Lawyer Dude is also honest with its readers, I admit this blog can be construed to be an advertisement.

Blogging is a conversation. You treat it as a one way street. You have so little concern for your readers that you feel no obligation to them to allow them to express themselves in a way that you disapprove of on your blog. ( and no I am not talking about Spam mail or vulgar language whatever that is...)
Scott wrote:

"I reject the notion that because (my blog) has developed a following I somehow owe it to others to provide them with an opportunity to post their thoughts here as well. I do not."

Clearly you don't understand the idea of blogging any more than you understand the difference between advertising and marketing. (B/t/w/ since you hate self promotion so much, I took the liberty of taking the name of your blog out of this quote.)

Well my Simple friend you said it best when you wrote:

"For those of you who think I'm overbearing, or just plain wrong about this, no one forces you to come here. This is not fodder for debate or discussion, at least not here, so please do not tell me what you think. This is how I intend to run my home, so your choices are limited to accepting it or going elsewhere."

So long Scott...

Shameless plug #1. You can follow me on Twitter by going to www.twitter.com/thatlawyerdude.
Shameless plug #2. I will be speaking about Discovery and Motion Practice in a Criminal Case before the NYS Bar Association's Young Lawyers Section for their wonderful "Bridge the Gap" session at the Annual Mtg of the New York State Bar Association Meeting on January 29, 2009 at 9:30am. Don't worry, I will plug it again in the future.

Public Defenders, If You Don't Want Clients To Think They Get What They Pay For, Give Them Value: That Lawyer Dude responds to S.Greenfield and Gideon

All day there has been a lively discussion on blogs and on Twitter between myself, Scott Greenfield over at "Simple Justice" and Gideon's Trumpet over at "a public defender."*

What started this discussion was a combination of this post and the comments by the anti-lawyer marketing Mr. Greenfield and then my reply to this post on Accident Prone by Miriam. My sarcastic response to Miriam was then challenged simultaneously by Gideon and by Scott. Well it was almost simultaneous, Gideon got off to a late start.

So if you cared enough to follow all of this, and are still interested, this post is my response.

Miram in her original post (which was brought to my attention through Twitter about 3 weeks after she wrote it) was upset because a client came to her and told her that another lawyer (allegedly a paid or private lawyer) told him w/o knowing any facts that he (the pvt lawyer) could get him a misdemeanor. Now her client is giving her a hard time.

Her response was to scold all Private Counsel and tell us not to tell clients what we could do for her client if we are not going to take the case. I have some sympathy for her plight. After all I am a former Legal Aid Lawyer and I also still take a few Assigned counsel cases each year. On the other hand, it is not all lawyers who put down public lawyers and it is not even always private counsel's fault. I mean unless the lawyer is in the hallways offering unsolicited advice, and unless he is wrong about it, the client must have come to him and asked why his "League Aid" or "P.D." was giving his case such a short shrift. Not only did Miriam paint all of us non-public lawyers with the same broad brush, but she absolutely took no personal responsibility for her client's feelings.

I responded to her sarcastic open letter in kind. I pointed out that Private lawyers often have more experience with the law and with the Judges and Prosecutors than do Public lawyers. I also pointed out that we often engender more trust/value because the client is gets a value if he hires the right lawyer. For example, many, maybe most, public lawyers do not have after hour services. Most paid lawyers do. Many Public Defenders don't work on court holidays but most private lawyers do. Many PD's do not give cell phone numbers but most paid lawyers do.

In other words, I pointed out to Miriam and others that there is a value that paid lawyers provide a client. How many times does a person hear "You get what you pay for." In the context of law, clients who have public provided attorneys feel that they must not be getting very much. That is untrue. They feel that these public lawyers do not care, also not true. They feel like one of a herd of clients and that the free attorney doesn't have time for them. Sometimes true, but sometimes, that is an appearance. (see Miriam's response to my reply on her site).

Why does the client who is getting a free lawyer think that the lawyer he has is not on his side?

Well let's look at the reasons. The Client comes into the arrangement already thinking the worse about your ability. How many times are you able to spend more than a few minutes with the client? Do you work to meet the clients after hours? Do you stay more than three hours after the day is done? Do you have weekly after hours? How do you expect to engender trust in a person you barely know or only know as a file?

Do you or your office take the time to give the client a folder for his things? Do you copy him on all correspondence? Do you give him a chart or a letter explaining the system? How can a client think you know the system if you don't show him you know it? Is he supposed to go with sheer faith. When one is looking at a five year sentence that is asking an awful lot of faith.

How do you and the client best communicate? If he hasn't a computer, he cannot send you e-mail. If he doesn't have a cellphone, he cannot text you. Do you ask your clients if there is a relative? Someone else you can speak to? No? Do you not think that the client might be so scared he needs to have another person available to listen and help him make decisions? If you won't take the time to speak to his family, then why should he believe you care about him anywhere near as much as I do?

Have you gone with a client the first time you send him to Alcoholic's Anonymous meetings? The first time can be scary. Will the client think you are shoving him off to a meeting rather than help him with the problem yourself? Will he think that you are too busy to work with him so the meeting is an easy way for you to rid him of your schedule?

How active in the Bar are you? Do you write articles? Do you give lectures? Many PDs are fond of saying they have the most experience in the courthouse defending cases. That may be if sheer numbers are going to be our measure. If you are not however investing in your profession, then how does the client know if you are respected by your peers and the courts? How does the client know if you are as good as you say you are and not just robotically processing cases to plea?

I guess what I am saying is that public lawyers need to see what they did or didn't do that made her client doubt her. Too often Legal Aid lawyers think that the fact that they are a free lawyers is enough for the client to think them inferior. I do not agree. Even though they are skeptical of you, your clients want and need to believe in you. You however have to earn that belief.

One thing I will agree with, is that lawyers have no right to put down a Public lawyer's ability anonymously. On the few cases where I am approached by a Legal Aid Society client on a case, I obtain their permission to conference the case with their present counsel. On the other hand, do not expect me to back you up if your work has been less than stellar. Usually, thank goodness, the Legal Aid member has done a good job on the case, but hasn't built a relationship with the client. In my call I ask about that too, and I try to help them with that by both explaining the lawyer's position and by acknowledging their needs as well. That is not only good practice, but it is also good marketing. Which leads me to my next issue.

My friends Gideon and Scott think that when I write things like this I am marketing myself. That my interest in feeding my family and paying my staff "makes me dirty". Scott especially is of the opinion that marketing lawyers do a disservice to the profession. I heartily disagree. I think I am a very good lawyer. I also refer cases to lawyers I think are very good. I do not think most criminal clients have a clue as to who to ask for a recommendation nor what they need from the lawyer. If all I have is a website, that is no better than an ad. I am not teaching them anything about myself. On the other hand, my blogging and my tweeting and my question answering, all go to educate the client as to not only what I am writing about but also as to who I am. I am not saying "Hire Me I am good for you." I am saying "read what I write and see if that is what you want and if you will be comfortable with me." That is marketing, but is in my opinion talent related and legitimate. I feel I have a duty to help potential clients find a good lawyer.I am that person, and if I am not, I probably know who is.

I think Scott is deluding himself into believing that he is not marketing his talents by writing a blog. He says that since he is not trying to get clients from the blog, he isn't guilty of marketing. That marketing is but a by product of his more altruistic attempts to educate the masses.

Scott, if that is the case, Shut down the blog and write anonymously. Hell you know people are going to want to hire you. You have a disclaimer on the page that clearly says "

Nothing in this blog constitutes legal advice. This is free. Legal advice you have to pay for."

You then provide two links to your website one that links to a page where highlighted is the comment

"If your goal is to achieve the best possible outcome, you need a lawyer who can get the job done.

" That page lists your accomplishments including your AVVO.com rating and your Martindale rating. (Both very impressive btw)

Now Scott, Gideon, if I were marketing, wouldn't I link my blog to my Homepage? Nothing on the front of my blog links you directly to my website. Further, even if you click onto my name when I leave comments, it links you to a page on my site that links to my blogs and does not mention one of my accomplishments (Stop snickering I have one or two!)If I were using the post at Accident Prone or this post only to market, I am doing a lousy job of it.

No I wrote the post to help Miriam and other PDs to see that advice is not all that they are good for. That clients value a relationship and knowledge and clout. That your poor clients and my wealthy ones both want a value to the representation given them. Just because your client cannot afford me, does not mean he doesn't want that experience. I wrote "harshly" because that is how I felt she wrote her original post. I am sure she can take as good as she gives. Nice of you guys to come to her defense by completely misstating the motive of my reply though.

Funny but I am not seeking, nor are many lawyers I know seeking legal aid clients. If they can afford me, they shouldn't have Legal Aid to begin with.

By the way, I am far from perfect. I don't always provide the value that I have described. I try to however, on every case. At least I acknowledge what the value is. Miriam's original open letter didn't seem to me to even see that maybe she needed to engender a more supportive relationship with her client. I also took her letter to be offensive to hard working Private lawyers. Do not "paint" me with a broad brush if you don't want to be "Spackled" right back.
After all, I am from New York.

* This column is not about twitter or blogging, but it is interesting to note how we three bloggers have used both the blogs and Twitter to enhance the conversation. IF you want to read some of the back story you can follow Scott Greenfield at Twitter.com/ScottGreenfield and Gideon at Twitter.com/Gideonstrumpet. Of course you can follow me at Twitter.com/ThatLawyerDude. Get on Twitter and follow the discussions.

That Lawyer Dude Talks Tech,Law Office Management and Internet Marketing: Some Favorite Posts in the Blawgosphere

My friends and families think I am so tech savvy because I blog, tweet, and have done a few podcasts. I market through AVVO.com, The Virtual Loop, The Attorney Store and I use the computer for educational reasons. Some even think it is wild that I have 2 E-Mail Accounts. I have news for you all, I am a tech idiot. That is why I follow Blogs by Dennis Kennedy, and Tom Mighell among others.

I do however read tech blogs and blogs about the Internet, and sometimes even understand them. Here are my favorite posts from this last week:

1.I just received the gift of a great new computer from my mom(Thanks Mom.) One of the things that used to drive me nuts with my old one however, was how slow it would become over time. This post will help you to keep your computer from giving up all its memory to disk fragmentation and other useless waste of space.

2. Now as for taking up space on your computer... This post teaches you how to backup your Gmail account using a free app called aptly enough Gmail Backup. How convenient. I would suggest that rather than take up a lot of memory on your computer's hard drive you move all this stuff to a thumb drive. It is inexpensive and you can store it offsite... like in your pocket.

3. These three posts don't really qualify as techie per se, but I think they belong in this post so here they are;

a.) 100 blogs That Make You Smarter... ok they forgot That Lawyer Dude but the others are pretty good.

b) Speaking of learning stuff, Our friend Ernie the Attorney has another blog called PDF for Lawyers. In this post he speaks about production of Electronic Discovery (specifically e-mail). It is an important short little post. I found the decision interesting because the ability to search material has become so prevalent that paper is no longer considered a viable medium.

c.) And finally a review of VideoSurf.com which claims to surf videos and makes it easier to find video on sites like YOuTube.com etc. Seems the idea is good, but not that reliable. You can find the review here courtesy of the Wall Street Journal.com.


4.Understanding how to get your blog or website a lot of hits and learning to drive traffic to that site so that you can get potential clients to your site means understanding SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Here are a couple of posts that take the mystery out of the initials:

a).One of my Favorite Bloggers is Carolyn Elefant. Her post at Nolo's Legal Marketing Blog is about do it yourself Search Engine Optimization. Carolyn makes it seem easy to get better Google ranks ethically and without costing yourself thousands of dollars. You can follow Carolyn on Twitter by clicking twitter.com/carolynelefant


b.) Mike Fruchter has a post over at LouisGray.com that has a few ideas not covered in Carolyn's piece. You can follow Mike at twitter.com/fruchter. By the way, Louis Gray is a wonderful website if you want to stay on top of and ahead of what is happening on the Internet.

5.Speaking of Twitter.com, Twitter is one of my favorite tools and occasionally a pleasant diversion/distraction. It has been driving readers to this blog (thanks and welcome) and it has provided quick information and some real friends. If you don't know what Twitter is, go to Twitter.com and find out. It is really a lot more than what you think it is from watching the videocast. It is a way to connect, share information and let others know what interesting (and not so interesting things) you are doing. Yes, tweeters (people who use Twitter) want to know all about you, so keep it interesting.

Here are a few blog posts to make the whole Twitter.com experience more interesting.

a.)The beautiful and intelligent Sarah Evans has these two self-explanatory posts on how be a useful tweeter that others want to follow. These are the Do's and these are the Don'ts. pay attention, this is good advice and you will soon find out that you too can have a great Twitter following. That following will turn into readers and sooner or later many will become people who help your career.
Follow Sarah Evans at Twitter.com/PRsarahevans

b.) As you build your following, you can drive traffic to your blog and to your website. "Pro Blogger" Darren Rowse uses this post to teach you how to use Twitter to turn your website Go Viral.
Follow Problogger at twitter.com/problogger

c.)This post will help you find Government tweeters. I think you can use it to find people to follow who will educate and inform you.
Here is their mission statement:

We want the GovTwit directory (below) to include all facets of government: state and local, federal, contractors, reporters, academics and more. The list below will be a living list, and we hope to keep it updated via our own research, as well as your submissions.

To start, we have included only Twitter IDs and links to official government blogs and URLs noted in Twitter bios

And that is my Tour of Tech posts for now. Let me know if you found this helpful and I may make it a regular part of this blog, either monthly or weekly. Let me have your input.

Speaking of following people on Twitter...You can follow
Tom Mighell at Twitter.com/TomMighell You can follow Dennis Kennedy at Twitter.com/DennisKennedy, you can follow Ernie (The Attorney)Svenson at Twitter.com/ernieattorney And...

You can follow me on Twitter by going to Twitter.com/thatlawyerdude.

Simple Justice May Be Taking A Too Simple Approach To Lawyer Marketing: That Lawyer Dude Responds.

Scott Greenfield is the author of Simple Justice. His is a NY Criminal Law blog. Sometimes he comments about other things. I love the blog and I urge my readers to look at it. Scott writes well and posts often.

With that said, however I take umbrage. Scott seems to think that all lawyers do on the Internet is market themselves and that doing so makes us no more than "used car salesmen" (actually he thinks us lower than used car salesmen.) I do not agree. Not only do I think it is our right to market ourselves but I feel it is a duty. Here is my response to Scott's post.

Scott,
I doubt anybody who blogs for meaning does so only for the work, or only for the clients. For me, my blog and my tweets and my meetings, and my answering questions on Avvo and Lawguru and my time spent on Listserves and bulletin boards and writing articles and speaking at CLEs are all opportunities to teach others about something I love doing...practicing law.

I also like to post about my victories and good ideas (the few I have)because what we do is difficult and often demoralizing and reading about someones win or good idea is a way to encourage others to keep at it.

That said, I would not be able to do all of this other work without the fact that doing this stuff is a way to get clients.

There was never a time when lawyers didn't market. That is how Martindale-Hubbell came to be. The truth is that Big-law always had the upper-hand in marketing so they made the rules about lawyers not advertising. Not because there was some altruism to it but because that would have given "unworthies" (i.e. Jews, Italians and minorites) a chance to flourish. I remember my great uncle telling me the story of the first of his SCOTUS wins (he won 7 times) they wouldn't let him sit in the well because when they asked him his name, they couldn't believe he was really a lawyer. Legal advertising only evened the playing field a little. It allowed lawyers with money to invest to be seen. Of course we were limited to the Yellow Pages and those guys ripped off the young and solo lawyer with their ridiculous fees and bait and switches.

The Internet has been the great equalizer and any lawyer who is worth the work is cheating clients if he doesn't let them know about his services. Instead of seeing marketing as a bad thing for our profession, maybe we need to get off of our pedestals and see that it is the best thing that ever happened to consumers of legal services. Great lawyers who no one ever heard about now had a chance for small investment of time and funds can now compete with the biggest of the advertisers for clients and clients are getting to pick from among a greater and more diverse group of lawyers than ever before.

Clients are not stupid, they can tell the difference between someone who is trying to make a difference and someone who is trying to make a buck. Just like the guy on Twitter who tweets only his own blog or accomplishments is soon a very lonely tweeter, the lawyer who only pushes his own "brand" at people without backing it up will be seen as the fraud he is, now far sooner than in days of old. For the betterment of the profession and the consumers, long live the ethical & intelligent marketing lawyer.


In the name of being an ethical and hopefully intelligent marketing lawyer, you can find my website at www.colleluorilaw.com, and can follow me on twitter at http://twitter.com/thatlawyerdude

Interesting Stories From the Blogosphere week of November 11, 2008 Part I of IV. Technology and You (and Pres-elect Obama too!)

I read a lot of blogs and online newspapers every week. I love the Internet and find it a source of information and relaxation. I get most of my ideas for my blog from other writers as I do not often have the time to run the stories down myself.
Sometimes I come across posts that would make a nice mini post on my blog, but I am not willing to write a whole post about them. I'd rather comment and link. I save them up for the week and put them into my around the Blogosphere posts. Still, I like to have themes. So for the first time, I have broken them up so you can look at the stuff that interests you most and ignore the rest (at your peril).


1. Obama the YouTube President"

This first post then for the Week beginning on November 11, 2008 deals with our President-elect Barack Obama. He is not only our first part Afro-American President, but also very tech savvy. Presidents since FDR have been doing regular radio addresses. Most of us only get snippets from new shows because we can 1. never find the actual address when it is played and 2. What's a radio??.

Obama however has solved the problem by doing a weekly podcast.

The Blogosphere is agog with the use of the Internet by President Elect Obama. In its latest form. The President-Elect has started a weekly podcast. Here is an article concerning the podcast from WaPo and here is the actual podcast . Should be a very interesting Presidency for so many reasons.
HatTip:Laughingsquid.com

2. Speaking of Tech, Here is what the Internet has for the rest of us.

A. Since almost everyone who reads this blog voluntarily seems to have a better read blog than I do, I thought I'd help you all out. Here are 16 Essential PC Apps for Bloggers. No this is not about political correctness.
Hattip: ProBlogger

B.If you are on Twitter.com (and you probably ought to be) you will want to have friends follow you. Here are 10 suggestions on how to get a bigger following of "twitterati" from Alltop's Guy Kawasaki.

C. RSS is a useful tool for keeping track of things important to you. I use it for example to put all the blogs I want to track in one place. You just click the Rss box on top of the blog and add it to your reader (I use Google Reader) and viole` you have it all in one place. Here are 29 more uses for RSS.
Hattip: LouisGray.com Where you go if you want to stay ahead of the crowd, or the crowded Internet.

D. My final tidbit for this segment The Boys over at Gizmodo.com tell you about an I-Phone application that helps you figure out if you are too drunk to drive. I would tell you that it is an inacurrate calculation or rough calculation at best and if you are anywhere near danger (that is to say .o3 or less from an arrest situation) don't take the test. Yeah you will lose your license immediately for one year, but you can beat the case and save a small fortune. Not to mention how hard it is to get a job with a criminal conviction on your record...

Now onto the Legal part of our trip. Go to my next post.

Catching Up: A Week of My Favorite Posts... by Others!

Ok, just because I am in trial, (in Queens County NY) doesn't mean I am not keeping up with my reading. It is my writing that goes to pot.

Anyway, I want to get this post up, so no more small talk:

1.Over at Sentencing Law and Policy Blog, Prof. Berman had three interesting posts that make my list this week:

A. USSC is considering alternatives to incarceration... It is about time. It is a lot cheaper to spend 60K to rehab a person, than 25 a year for 10 years to incarcerate them. Article here

B. Berman also points out that the sheep we elect to office are creating gulags for sex offenders through zoning laws. Someone has to tell me Why the concept of having paid for his crime doesn't apply to sex offenders. Especially since we keep enlarging the definition of sex offender.

C. Then there is the story on how Florida wants to stop clusters from happening. That doesn't mean they want to allow convicted Sex offenders to live anywhere, just that they don't want too many in any one place. Trouble is, that will lead to banishment.

Money quote:

White says he would like to have sexual offenders housed in a designated commune-like facility in Hillsborough County. The facility would be gated, well marked and a good distance from churches and schools. "Along the perimeter of that facility you could have the postings and the markings that this is a certified sex offender location -- please keep children so many feet away and children beware," White said.

2. Staying with the Sex Offender theme Sex Crimes Blog:
A. has an article on the ACLU suit against Allegany County which has a sex offender "banishment law" where they say that a sex offender (no definition)must live 2500 feet away from places where children might congregate.

B. Prof. Yung also blogs about a NIMBY (Not in MY backyard)protest and petition drive that seeks to keep a sex offender rehab out of a Utah neighborhood. The rehab would be a football field away from a daycare "center".

C. Finally, we have the most ridiculous application of the Adam Walsh Act. A law meant to protect a child from child pornography will now cause the child to have to register, because she sent a nude picture OF HERSELF to a boy. Oh my God, How will this affect Disney stars????

Money Quote:

State Rep. Jay Hottinger, R-Newark, wrote the state's Megan's Law bill, the predecessor of the Adam Walsh Act, and said this case was not something the legislature envisioned.

That is because they are stupid. They only want to pander to crazed voters who they misled into believing there was a problem where one never existed. They haven't solved a real problem in so long that it is no wonder the courts are left to sort this garbage out. I have a case like this in Suffolk County NY. A Florida cop, broke the law and got a minor to send porn to him (the cop was pretending to be 14). Nevertheless, it is according to the District Attorney a crime. What is really absurd is that given the age difference, the boy and a real girl could have sex but not talk about it or simulate it over a computer?!? This garbage has really made the law appear foolish...

Ok there were a lot of other good stories about sex crimes, but we must move on.

3. There is a prolific blogger out there by the name of Radley Balko. He writes The Agitator and offers posts to Reason magazine's Hit and Run blog too. Radley was focused on Law this week:

A.This post at The Agitator leads to a story about a man who could not afford to keep up his lawn in his gated community. He had gotten hit with a 600 a month ARM increase and his adult daughter and two grand kids had to move in when they lost their home. Still the community board chose to spend nearly 1000 dollars on legal fees instead of helping the neighbor get his lawn in gear (He needed to resod the lawn which went brown in the Florida Sun when his sprinkler broke). They actually put the guy in prison. Sounds like debtor prison all over again. What was this judge thinking? I remember when I was at Legal Aid,District Court Judge Mike Steinberg fined a guy 20 dollars and then he paid the fine himself...Oh yeah, at 24k a year average cost to incarcerate someone, it should take about a month before it would be cheaper for the county to sod the home itself than keep the man in jail. Given his age and health, it could cost them more far sooner.

B. Not satisfied with lambasting stupid legislators, Balko also picks on a stupid judge, Mark Rusch, who in a capital murder case, had to be removed from the case because he signed a search warrant for police to search a lawyers office to get incriminating evidence against the lawyer's client... Then he had the evidence brought to his home where he and prosecutors handled it!!!! Where the heck did this idiot go to law school? And how the hell did he pass the bar exam? That is Constitutional law 101!!

Radley rightly asks:

Good to hear the judge was taken off the case, but shouldn’t this guy be removed from the bench?

C.Finally over at Slate Magazine, Balko tears apart what appears to be Obama's criminal justice policy. Namely block grants that neither Congress nor the President can oversee. Two grants he has named are for:

a)Neighborhood policing (which was a failed Clinton initiative that Bush phased out.)The Neighborhood policing initiative took $8 Billion Dollars and reduced crime by less than one(1%)percent and

b)the other is the Byrne grant for Drug Eradication which in fact took drugs off the streets but focused on low level pushers and favored numbers. This led one rouge cop to falsely arrest pretty much all the black people in his town on trumped up charges. I wish I had any hope that some of the Criminal Defense Lawyers supporting Obama were going to serve in his Justice Department or that he was going to name one to the Supreme Court...hmm on second thought...

Ok that's 9 stories. That is about all I have time for now. I hope to have some more tomorrow.
In the meantime, Jets won, blog's updated, and I am ready for more cross examination. All and all, a pretty good weekend.

That Lawyer Dude is Tweeting Over At Twitter.com

Ok so for the longest time I have been trying to figure out how in the heck I should use this MicroBlog spot named Twitter. I couldn't figure out how I could use this little son of a gun to help my practice. I have found a way.

Here is the deal. Twitter allows you to send out a "tweet" which is a short message, (like a text message) to everyone who "follows" you. I only have 18 followers right now. But say for example that I am going to be on TV tonight. I can send out a message on twitter saying "I will be on TV on the 6 O'clock News on Channels 2,4,5, & 7."

Presumably all my followers will now know this. Same when I publish a blog post. Same as if I hear or see something that is newsworthy I can send something in fast. My people will get it and hopefully tell their people and voile` People will go to what I am talking about. I guess I want to avoid Twittering and Tweeting too much. But I can see where this type of thing can be helpful. Especially when answering questions on Avvo.com or LawGuru.com or if I need to announce something.

You too can follow my "exploits" at http://twitter.com/ThatLawyerDude, sign up and follow me...
TLD

A Sunday Jog Around the Blogosphere

Wow what a busy week. 8 posts in one week!! Pretty good especially for me. I doubt I will be quite so prolific this week as I am going to be back on a suppression hearing on Tuesday and maybe Wednesday in People v. Ronald "Shorty" Rodriguez, before the Hon. Meryl Berkowitz in Nassau County Court. Later in the week I will be in NYC for the 50th Anniversary of the NACDL. I may do a few blogs from there. I am excited because I am serving on the Nomination committee. Fellow Law Blogger and President-elect John Wesley Hall asked me to serve and I am very honored.

So as it is Sunday, I am going to again jog around the blogoshere with you. Here are a few things that caught my eye this week that I didn't get to write more about but you may want to look into yourself:

1. That Exotic Darlin' of the Neo-Con set Michelle Malkin asks the blog question, are US banks Knowingly Laundering Drug Money for Mexican Drug Cartels?? Michelle's take is that illegals, are here, sending money there (Mexico) through non-banks called "casas di cambio." American banks wanting some of the action offer these CdiC's a place to put large amounts of money and will look the other way if some of the money comes from the drug trade.

Michelle's neo-con answer is of course to prosecute the banks the illegals and the democrats. MY answer is better. Legalize the Drugs and tax same, put the money to use to help people beat their addictions, and open the borders correctly with a sane immigration policy that will not cripple US businesses.

Hmmm... Deport workers, cripple our economy, jail Americans for trying to make a living, jail more people for feeding their addictions, ruin foreign governments by making Criminal's rich and cost the American Taxpayer gazillion dollars for a drug war we could end with the stroke of a pen versus A sane immigration policy and drug policy... Ok she is sexy (especially compared to that shrieking idiot of the rightamortis, Ann Coulter ) but her views are silly.

2. I will never figure out the Federal Prosecutor's fascination with rebuttal witnesses. I guess they feel that it gives them a chance at primacy and finality two forensic speaking techniques. On the other hand, watching a case go in over seven (7) weeks and then blowing up on rebuttal just makes me question two things: to they think the defense isn't aware of their games and can not counter them? and Why do they think the jury needs to hear the same stuff over and over again? Anyway, the Pellicano case in L.A. Federal court is about to go to a mistrial... seems that the rebuttal witness they called to contradict the defendant's testimony on a minor issue, committed perjury and will have to take the 5th amendment on Monday. She was to be the final witness. Shame on the US Attorney's office in L.A. for doing a shabby job of investigating their own witness. Talkleft has some coverage here.

3. Pittsburgh Pa. has become an adoptive second home for us. We go there for some of my wife's medical treatments. The City is made up of many really nice people. Then of course there is their US Attorney, but she is a story for another post.

For now, here is a story about a guy who was arrested for complaining too much in a bad tone... A little subjective no?? Anyway he was convicted by a jury and it is on appeal... I can understand how one might want to be respected for working in public service. On the other hand I can also see how one might get fed up with the failure of certain public servants to do their jobs. What I cannot see is someone being convicted for complaining to a public servant about the job they do. Taking complaints is in the job description. As long as it is not abusive language tone shouldn't matter. (I am not sure abusive language should matter either but that too is another post.)

Hattip: to Radley Balko at The Agitator

In a related post over at the CrimProf Blog there is a story about a guy who got 15 years for sending governmental officials threatening letters.
4. "Romeo, Romeo, Where fore art thou Romeo..." Well both Romeo and Juliet are over at the Volokh Conspiracy this week where Professor Eugene Volokh, the head conspirator looks at the reason's behind Romeo and Juliet sex laws (laws that outlaw sex between adults and minors of a certain age but allows the sex if the lovers are born within a certain amount of time of each other. On first blush, it seems that Prof. Volokh is in favor of pedophiles, however when you look at his questions he does seem to put those laws under a light of logic and they do not come out all that well.

5. Some Good and Bad News about the Fourth Amendment in the news this week.
The blogosphere is abuzz with news out of California about the Ninth Circuit agreeing that laptops can be searched at screening at airport screening stations.

Meanwhile in NJ. the Supreme Court stunned prosecutors in ruling that people do have a fourth amendment protection in their ISP carriers information.

6. New and scary uses for DNA. Now it will be guilt by blood association. See this post for more information. Coming 0n the heels of Judge Weinstein's decision in , there may be a trend toward bringing Fourth Amendment law into the open and up to date with this century.

And that's our jog round the blogosphere. See you around. It should be an exciting week.
TLD.

Well I think we finally have a plan

Well I think I finally have a plan for this blog. I have wanted to mesh both blogs for a while. (Long Island (Criminal) Trial Law and That Lawyer Dude.) I also wanted to kind of start over for a bunch of reasons. I was trying to get the thing redesigned but my time for this is kind of limited. SOOOOO:

I have decided that I will be moving "That Lawyer Dude" to a new site (sorry blogger but this isn't working anymore)then I've decided that the new "That Lawyer Dude" will continue to be an amalgam of thought pieces and law combined. I will continue to write the blog alone for now, though I am still interested in a group blog.

Since the time table for the move is not set, and since I feel like writing, I am going to start blogging here again. If people start reading me again, great. If not, well at least my thoughts won't keep getting bottled up inside of me.

Now for the few of you who wonder what I have been up to. Well, I have been answering questions galore over at both Lawguru.com and AVVO.com I also occasionally take questions on at Linkedin.com I have also been more active on Solosez and the NYSACDL Listserves. So I have been writing but just not here.

On the office front, I have expanded our Lawfirm to include 2 new lawyers and I am hoping to add one of our "Of Counsels" as a partner.

I have tried a couple of cases and have expanded our practice areas. We now have an active Appellate Practice Group and a fledgling Catastrophic/Medical Malpractice Group. Our Qui Tam (False Claims Act Whistle blower) practice has also picked up substantially, as employees of Iraq-war contractors begin to report employers who cheat our Government and our taxpayers. There appears to be some favorable federal legislation pending on this area and I am hoping that if it passes, our Qui Tam/False Claims Act Practice Group will continue to grow. It is one of the most interesting areas of our practice and frankly very important. After all, anything that cheats our soldiers is abhorrent to me so I feel really good about going after these companies.

Our White Collar Criminal Practice Group is also booming. We have been doing a lot of work in the area of Criminal Trademark Infringement and Counterfeiting. These cases prosecute (mostly in federal court) the alleged illegal theft, retention, and sale of trademarked, patented, and copywritten material. They also usually include conspiracy, money laundering, RICO, and a myriad of other charges. The prosecution can be large or of a small group. The Federal Sentencing guidelines make these crimes much different from other White Collar Crimes.

Because many of these crimes cross international boundries, we have had to add a number of people on the staff who speak other languages. At this time our employees speak Chinese(Mandarin, Cantonese, and Taiwanese), Japanese, Italian, French and French Creole,German,Hindi,Tagalog (Philippines)Erdu & Arabic. We may not all be fluent in all of these languages but I am proud of my colleagues for their efforts

For example we are working on a case which alleges a syndicated was bringing in over 20 million dollars in trademarked NIKE and ADDIDAS clothing; another where a group was illegally obtaining credit card numbers and embossing them on purloined AMEX and VISA cards; a third case where the accused is accused of obtaining and selling first run movies on DVD as they come out and even BEFORE they come out in theaters.

It seems that the federal government is cracking down on these crimes as in part because of greater security at ports a direct result of the changes in prosecution initiatives in the wake of 9-11.

Finally we continue to try cases of the more "traditional" criminal kind. I will be starting hearings on a Murder 2 case (America's Most Wanted highlighted the case here)and I have a Burglary case scheduled for trial in two weeks, following a very interesting assault case.

So, while I will be posting here more regularly until the big MOVE, don't plan on seeing too much too soon. On the other hand, you never know what could happen. Maybe a Governor of a big eastern state will be caught patronizing prostitutes...

I want to keep up with the Q & A posts at LawGuru and Avvo, but I need a place to rant too. Hence I am returning.