“Justice delayed is justice denied.” A legal maxim often attributed to William Penn Clients are often surprised by the length of time their claims wait for final resolution in the courthouse. This is especially true for cases that may take a week or more to try. Insurance carriers and lawyers for defendants are financially […]
Fictional lawyers in the movies have generally had a better run than real lawyers on entertainment television. But consider the iconic Atticus Finch in ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’: He violated client confidences when he told his children to pity their belligerent, invalid, bigot of a neighbor, Miss Dubose, who was addicted to morphine. This chapter […]
When George Mastin rolled into town with his “Unparalleled Exhibition of Oil Paintings”, it was a sensational event by late 19th Century standards – enough to bring out the whole community. Broadsides on barn doors and tavern walls announced the happening, including historical and religious lectures. The Erin Twin Brothers would be there to clog dance. […]
What most people don’t understand – and most lawyers don’t want to talk about – is that jury selection is more DEselection. Everyone thinks they have no prejudices (they do) and can be fair in every case (they can’t). There’s a famous story about President George Herbert Walker Bush withdrawing as a judge in […]
The Jury consequently invests the people … with the direction of society. Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America This series is about jury trials. Conflict has been used to resolve disputes for centuries – perhaps as long as time itself. Before trials, opposing sides would meet on a field for a battle or […]
Reed wrote me a letter me on June 7, 1984, after I graduated from college at Washington and Lee. He wanted to walk me through how to think about law school and a career in the law. He wrote that letter more than 130 years after Lincoln’s notes on a law lecture (see, the previous blog […]
“I am not an accomplished lawyer” Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln was a famously small town lawyer. For the bulk of his career, he practiced solo with the help of a junior lawyer named Herndon – who functioned more as a paralegal – doing office organizing and paperwork. Lincoln was a circuit rider, traveling around the […]
