Welcome to HackLawyer.net

It’s Breeders Cup weekend and while the big story is Zenyatta’s attempt to take down the boys in the Classic, a much more important drama will be played out on the Santa Anita synthetic track.  Tomorrow, we will find out firsthand just how good the European contingent is and what I mean by that is, just how much better these drug-free horses will perform under race conditions, if they perform better at all.  Free past performances here. 

We all know that the folks across the pond do not permit the use of race-day medication and any trainer caught cheating there is subjected to very severe punishment.  Year after year,  with the number of European invaders running with success in Breeders Cup races, the evidence has been piling up which suggests some unsettling conclusions.  First among these is the growing, gnawing feeling that the Euros are simply better trained, in better shape and run better under competitive conditions.  It’s beginning to look like American runners race under suspect drug regimens and consequently, don’t seem to reflect consistency, durability or versatility.  So, this ultimate showdown has been brewing for some time.  The difference is this year, the Europeans have pulled the stops out, shipped over a large, menacing collection of really good runners and fully expect to sweep the table tomorrow.  And they just might pull it off.  If they do, the betting public, mainly guys like me and those who bet a hell of lot more than I do, have some important questions to put to the industry.  The first inquiry must address the administration of race-day medication to horses.  What will track management do about this questionable policy?  Nevertheless, to the races and my odds line on each race. (more…)

Most of us, when we get the Bar Journal, flip straight to the disciplinary proceedings section to see 1) whether anyone we know got their you-know-what caught in the wringer, 2) what the offending lawyer did to get in the stew in the first place and 3) check up on who died and how old they were. (It seems to me an inordinate number of lawyers drop off the twig at a very young age and by “young” I mean those in their late forties and early fifties.) Then it finds its way into the wastepaper basket because most of us - those actually practicing before the bar of the court, having to stand up on our hind legs and make argument to either a stern judge or equally dubious jury - really don’t have interest in real estate transactions or the efficacy of non-compete clauses.  But, there is something in this month’s issue that is of interest to practicing lawyers, especially those who find themselves up to their necks on family law matters and criminal defense.  I highlight those two areas of the law because it is those which generate the greatest number of grievances filed against targeted lawyers.  The Texas Supreme Court has issued some pretty important amendments to Rule 2.16 which governs confidentiality in disciplinary proceedings.  They’re worth looking at right now. (more…)

At last month’s bar luncheon where I went to listen to Austin lawyer Broadus Spivey give an address to a collection of Amarillo lawyers with 50 years of service under their belt, I ran into Wayne Bagley, the venerable ex-prosecutor.  I hadn’t seen him for several years.  They just don’t make ‘em anymore like Wayne.  Anyone who ever negotiated or tried a case with the man got a taste of how collegial things used to be, at least as I remember them when I was a young lawyer.  I miss him.  But the point I want to make is this.  When he saw me, had broke a big smile and remarked “Man, you’ve gotten gray!”  And that coming from a 50-year lawyer.  But there’s no doubt about it; it’s plenty gray and unfortunately, really thinning on the crown.  What to do?  Nothing.  But just what makes all of this go gray? 

Many like to believe that stress - coming from trying to operate in the circus known as the administration of criminal justice or from something as pedestrian as trying to raise children - is the root cause of this conversion.  That link is esssentially folk wisdom.  It’s all in those designer genes which inhabit our cells.  It’s now accepted knowledge that graying hair results from an absence of pigment.  But what causes this absence?  (more…)

Last Tuesday, December 16, Amarillo solo Jeff Blackburn gave a short talk to Amarillo Young Lawyer Association.  I got a sbrief notice about it the day before via e-mail and thought that it just might be interesting, so I attended.  The food is always good at the Amarillo Club where the meeting was held; hence, a secondary reason to attend.  But to the point.  The subject of Jeff’s talk was  the converging interests of criminal and civil lawyers as we enter a period of economic uncertainty.  At first, I felt that most of those in attendance really weren’t wired into the lecture.  Only later, as Blackburn warmed up to the topic, did they begin to listen, really listen.  And what I took away from the luncheon was something which I believe is fundamentally true about what Jeff had to say.  The days of hitting that big lick, making a ton of money real fast with no real work being expended is over, done with, finito.  You guys who have been around as long as me or longer know what I’m talking about.  The demise of the workers comp racket was only an omen of things to come.  Personal injury litigation has been made over, everyone in their dog is doing divorce work now (major civil firms in this town are certainly not exempt) and I’m even seeing civil lawyers’ names pop up on the criminal docket from time to time.  It’s tight out there and you’re going to have to earn your keep in an environment with too many damn lawyers trying to cut the pie into just so many pieces.

Say what you want about Blackburn.  You may disagree with his politics or criticize his methods.  But on this point, he’s right.  Times have fundamentally changed and that means that we all have to start thinking about the law for law’s sake.  In other words, the time has come to rethink what a lawyer does for his daily bread.  Doing the right thing, doing the job well because that’s what the job calls for, doing the work of a lawyer for the intrinsic worth of the work is what Blackie was promoting.  Again, I think he’s right on.  For a little perspective and objectivity, look to what the legal landscape was fifty, forty years ago.  Lawyers back then knew they would not get rich doing what he (or she) was doing.  Sure, it was a job but the emphasis was on the art of the task, not on devising ways to separate the client from his money. 

You’ve heard of art for art’s sake.  I think we are heading into a future where we can learn by reflecting on the past and those lawyers who toiled away at their craft.  They did it because they liked it, worked at it, respected it and respected those who felt the same.  I know those advocates were much, much happier than we are now, even if they made comparatively less money.  They were professionals in that sense because they got up each morning to go do their thing and didn’t waste their time searching for inspiration.  Leave that to the amateurs. 

The Court of Criminal Appeals played to a packed house here in Amarillo in the 11th floor auditorium of the Santa Fe Building.  There was a smattering of lawyer, hangers-on, court personnel and lots and lots of high school students.  And, as I anticipated, the acoustics were abysmal.  The glitch with the microphones in the old auditorium is this: you have to get close to the mike to amplify but once you do, the system distorts speech, especially p’s and the sharp sh.  But, if you back off from the mike, then the voice wavers and speech can’t be discriminated.  It’s aggravating.  The bottom line is that the big room is just a lousy place to hold oral argument.  There’s someplace better out there than the 11th floor. 

I missed the first set of appellate lawyers on the one case I wanted to listen to (the victim-impact case).  However, I did observe and listen to about thirty minutes of the second set.  I don’t know who the young lady lawyer was representing the State but she had voice like fingernails on a chalkboard.  The lawyer representing the defendant (winner at the court of appeals) was a newbie and he let the court know it.  That’s not a good idea, telling them that it’s your first time before the court.  Believe me, they don’t care.  But he seemed to be better prepared for questions from the bench, for what’s it worth. 

After oral argument, the seven members of the Court who made the trek up to the Panhandle retired to the Amarillo Club where they were feted to a very nice lunch, courtesy of the Amarillo Area Bar Association.  The turn-out was pretty good, considering the fact that most of the lawyers who show up at these things are civil and couldn’t care a fig about criminal law.  I searched the crowd for any familiar faces from the defense bar.  And aside from Walt Weaver, current president of the local criminal defense lawyers group and my good friend Phil Jordan, nary another soul from the criminal defense bar.  I repeat, not another. 

Am I missing something here?  Wasn’t this a perfect opportunity for our criminal defense bar, what there is of it, to make its presence known and alternatively welcome the Court to Amarillo?  I do believe it’s the first time it has come to Amarillo to hear cases.  It may be the only time it does.  Doesn’t that call for some organized, concerted effort on the part of the criminal defense bar to reach out, make itself known and actually do something rather than sit around and buy drinks for each other once a month.  I mean, even if it’s as benign as making a presentation to Presiding Judge Keller with an ashtray, a clock, something.  It would have been something tangible that the defense bar could point to and say, well, at least we did that.  

And criminal defense lawyers in this town wonder why they don’t get the respect they crave, why things don’t get any better, why the practice seems to grow more and more tiresome with each and every passing year.  Another brick in the wall - another missed opportunity to burnish and enhance a public persona that is in woeful need of restoration.     

Ever since I began this experiment back in February of last year, the thing I noticed about blogging is the demand to keep it going, to keep it current.  In the 24/7 world of cyberspace, there really is no time to sit back and rest on the laurels.  Even with this shadetree operation I have going on here, there’s still that press to get something new and different online as soon as possible.  What began as a way to rejuvenate the daily grind that any solo practitioner finds himself (or herself) locked into has become, for better or worse, a minor compulsion to keep it going.  So, this morning, I read an article on The New York Times website which pricked my interest along those lines of thinking. 

It seems that the pressures on those countless bloggers out there who do it for a living are beginning to take its toll.  They find themselves working up to twenty hours a day, wired to the hilt, plugged into the Internet with multiple laptops and smartphones and competing in what can only be termed a digital sweatshop - usually their home.  And with this frenetic pace comes the inevitable consequences, such as weight gain or loss, sleep disturbances or mental distress.  Remember that for the professional blogger, paid much like a garment worker (by the piece), his home or anyplace else for that matter becomes a virtual office.  Yes, it gives the blogger flexibility but also means that he is only a click away from the burdens of work. 

Speed is of the essence.  If a blogger gets beat by a millisecond, someone else’s post gets the traffic and that means a bigger share of advertising revenue, not to mention the bounty that each blogger is paid for the piece.  The competition puts a premium on just who can stay awake.  And it looks like the right man for the job happens to be someone like Matt Buchanan, a mere 22 years of age, working out of Brooklyn, New York.  He sleeps only five hours a night and doesn’t take time to eat anything what we would refer to as a proper meal.  He fuels himself by supplementing his coffee with a protein additive.  He says that he loves his job which allows him to interact with readers in “global conversations about the latest and greatest products.”  He admits that the frenetic pace gets him down and he wants to sleep.  He also admits to falling asleep at the keyboard.  How long can he go?  At 22, who knows.  There’s a lot of energy in that youthful body, that I know for a fact.  I look at the pace I kept up as a lawyer between the ages of 30 to 45 and wonder just how did I do it.  But he’ll crash.  It happens to everyone.

And then you hear about what happened to guys like Russell Shaw, 60, of North Lauderdale, Florida, a high-profile blogger on tech subjects or Marc Orchant, 50, another tech blogger.  Both died recently of heart attacks.  And I thought that this was to be a healthy diversion for me. 

While down in Lubbock yesterday, Thursday, the 20th, I attended the Lubbock Criminal Defense Lawyers’ Association meeting as a guest and as an associate member.  I certainly got my $20 dues worth.  The meeting drew between 35-40 lawyers (I counted heads).  There was a full agenda of topics and ongoing issues being dealt with and resolved by various contributing members.  The issues ranged from providing pro bono representation to Texas Tech students being hauled into Municipal Court on a variety of alcohol-fueled misdemeanors to emerging problems with the Lubbock judiciary setting all kinds of bonds on violent and non-violent crimes at what the organization believes to be at excessive levels.  Their committees actually meet, make proposals and apparently follow up on them.  And each chairman of these ad hoc committees are expected to report on progress at each month’s meeting.

I’ll tell you what else I noticed.  Whenever a lawyer was asked to speak to a given subject, everyone was attentive and quiet.  Members wanted to listen, ask questions or contribute if called upon.  And whenever the president called for volunteers on a new project proposed, several hands went up.  No one got drafted.  One other observation: I’d say up to 40% of the LCDLA membership is female.

Halfway through the meeting, the president called upon visitors or new members to introduce themselves.  There were three Texas Tech law school members who gave their names and each had previously been assigned a mentoring lawyer to work with them.  Now there’s a capital idea and one which the local organization should be jumping on.  After Danny Hurley, one of the best lawyers I know of in this state, took the time to introduce me to the crowd and even put in a shamless plug for the website (the LCDLA website has even been good enough to provide a link to hacklawyer), he asked whether the student members were required to ante up with dues.  Someone commented it was five bucks.  Hurley and another warrior paid the dues on the spot, not to mention another round for the visitors.  Now I’m beginning to see why they flex their muscle and influence in the Hub City.

My good friend and professional peer Dr. Randy Price of Richardson, Texas told me one time that he came close to being held in contempt during a deposition for his refusal to provide his home address and phone number when asked by counsel.  He stood his ground in refusing to reveal the confidential information by telling the exasperated lawyer (who I guess was used to everybody ratting themselves out) that his home address and phone number wasn’t relevant and was a gross violation of his privacy to boot.  Well, looks like the Bar finally got Price’s message years later.

In a recent ruling, The State Bar of Texas v. The Attorney General of Texas, No GV 403520, the court held that an attorney’s home address, home phone number and date of birth maintained in the State Bar membership records are not subject to public disclosure.  Third parties who submit a public information request for member addresses or mailing lists will now be provided with the office address that the State Bar has on file for each individual attorney.  The office address will continue to be published on the online attorney profile located on the State Bar’s website (Texasbar.com)

Oh, I nearly forgot.  Price never was compelled to reveal the location of his crib.

One of the things that used to infuriate me, absolutely, was whenever windbag Larry King would assemble a group of fellow windbags from the print and electronic media on CNN and ask them: “How are we doing?” which I guess meant how was the media stacking up whenever something really hot was going on, like the Gulf War, 9/11, Alec Baldwin’s telephone tirade with his 13-year old daughter.  You get the picture.  Yet, everyone and everything needs to be rated.  It’s in the nature of us all that we have to quantify things, else how can we determine value (price v. worth)?  Well, we now have a universal system in place to do just that with lawyers.  And some lawyer are so fuming mad at a new web site that rates lawyers, they want to shut it down.

The site is called Avvo.com.   The idea behind the website is good and sound.  (Even the name is a bit classy.  Avvo is short for the Italian word for lawyer: avvocato.)  For ordinary people, finding a lawyer can be as traumatic as childbirth, moving across state or divorce.  Folks mainly have to rely on word-of-mouth, the yellow pages, billboard ads or just plain, dumb luck.  With Avvo, users type in the geographical area and zip code and presto, they are presented with a list of lawyers from that area.  They can even whittle down the search by typing in the field of specialty.  So far, so good.  But once you go to the site, as I did just today, and begin to look at the criteria being used to rate the lawyer, then questions marks materialize. 

I personally went to the site and ran down the entire list of Amarillo lawyers who actually had a rating.  I won’t name names right now, but I saw a slew of lawyers who had ratings below what I originally had been given and I know those rankings can’t be right.  I also saw some lawyers who were given clearly superior ratings above me and which, in my humble opinion, those “superior” ratings also can’t be right.  Avvo does not disclose how they come to their final ratings but it stresses reliance on public records to peg the final number. 

Lawyers willing to provide a credit card number to the company (the company discloses that it will not utilize the number for any commercial or marketing purposes but solely to identify the person as the lawyer identified) may add information to their profiles and may modify that profile with later changes.  It appears that the site relies on the honor system to make sure that lawyers are not fudging on their qualifications, kudos and experience.  Avvo represents that it will demote or lower a lawyer’s existing rating should it find out that the lawyer has fabricated or misrepresented information. 

The site is full of curiosities and anomolies.  The dean of the Stanford Law School had a lower rating than a lawyer convicted of helping terrorists.  One lawyer swore in a class-action lawsuit, filed to shut down Avvo, that his rating was raised by his listing a softball baseball award.  My own rating rose from 6.5 to 6.9 after I punched in an article I presented at the UT Appellate Seminar in Austin year before last, one undergraduate degree and membership in the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association.  As I understand at present, that little bump got me past Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito, Jr. and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. (more…)

The crawl at the bottom of the PCDLA website announces that its upcoming September 7th meeting will present Arizona criminal defense lawyer Natman Schaye as its featured speaker.  Schaye brings an impressive dossier with him - in private practice for close to three decades, he has represented clients at all stages of trial and post-conviction proceedings in state and federal courts.  It appears that he devotes a substantial amount of time and effort to defending capital cases.  He is a life member of the National Criminal Defense Lawyers Association (NACDL) and served on its board of directors for eight years.  He co-chairs The Champion Advisory Board.  Schaye is also a founder and life member of the Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice and teaches various aspects of criminal defense at seminars throughout the country.  When does he find the time?

When not lawyering, he also is also adept at dealing with the media.  Consider the following sound bites:

On judges: ” . . . [they’re] misguided.”

On prosecutors:  ” . . . [they] take up space that could best be utilized for other purposes.”

On Jasper McMurtrey III, a Texan who was convicted of capital murder in Arizona in 1981 but whose conviction was set aside (mainly as a result of the efforts of Natman as the lead appellate attorney), regarding his client’s violent tendencies and changed character since spending 23 years on Arizona’s death row: “I consider him a very good person at this point in his life.  In fact, I think he’s far less dangerous than most of the people I drink with.”

Now this lawyer needs some press coverage when he visits Amarillo in September.  Failure to do so ought to result in the impeachment of the PCDLA’s new president, whoever that is. (more…)