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Actually, There Are Stupid Questions
I admit it: I was wrong. For a decade I've been encouraging young lawyers and soon-to-be lawyers to start their criminal defense practices right out of law school. With hard work, intelligence, and humility, I thought, they could do well without hurting anyone; the question, I thought, was not whether they would provide perfect representation, […]
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Chew on This, Losers!
No doubt about it: it’s hard out there for a new lawyer. There are vocal bloggers on the internet, failed wannabe attorneys who blame the game for their failings: L4L, BL1Y, Nando. It’s much easier to hang out on JD Underground blaming the profession for the fact that you are living in your parents’ basement, […]
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How to Choose a (Cheaper) Criminal Defense Lawyer
In response to my post on how to choose a criminal-defense lawyer, a couple of people asked for a similar guide for the clients who can’t afford to hire the kind of lawyer I would hire if I were in trouble. For example, “What I wish you had written is how to select a lawyer […]
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I Wouldn’t Hire Your Kine.
There’s an interesting online discussion between late-Gen-X Adrian Dayton and Boomer Scott Greenfield. Adrian, in Get Out of My Face, says, “Generation Y wants their life to mean something. They want to handle work that is significant, and they certainly don’t want to crank out the billable hours reviewing non-urgent documents on a Saturday afternoon […]
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Straight Into Solo
New York criminal-defense lawyer Scott Greenfield really doesn’t like the idea, but prescribes two options for “when there’s no other choice.” Virginia prosecutor (and former criminal-defense lawyer) Ken Lammers did it himself, and offers “option C: nose to the grindstone.” Miami criminal-defense lawyer Brian Tannebaum, who got himself a fancy-pants PD gig out of law […]
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Wait: “Temporary Attorney” is a Career?
National Law Journal (H/T Omar Ha-Redeye)notes the decline of business for contract attorneys: As law firms downsize, laid-off attorneys and new law school graduates unable to find jobs have been turning to an option they may never have imagined at law school: becoming contract attorneys — hired guns [or, more aptly, cannon fodder] for $35 […]
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Advice to a Young Criminal Trial Lawyer
Keep your overhead as low as possible. You need a good laptop. You don’t need a secretary. Join your local, state, and national criminal-defense lawyers’ organizations, and join their listservs. You don’t need ProDoc (unless you’re doing more than just criminal law). You might not even need an office at first – just a place […]