what I like (or don't like) about you

January 23, 2009, 09:55

As an addendum, when you do go over my head to my boss, don't do it behind my back. Again, that's just going to make me upset & trust you less. You can even go so far as to ask me to set something up with the three of us. Maybe I'll want to be there and maybe I won't. If I do choose to join your discussion, it may be to hear your presentation & accompanying slant, b/c I don't believe you'll present our prior conversations accurately.

January 23, 2009, 10:27

As a boss, I try to always discuss the case with the prosecutor before meeting with the defense attorney. My preference is to meet with the defense attorney alone, and I think my prosecutors know that I will support their decisions and make exceptions only on principled grounds.

January 23, 2009, 10:28

Scott Brumley

Don't appeal to the elected by calling the assistant names and accusing them of misbehavior in conclusory terms.

As John suggested above, I'm not opposed to hearing a reasoned appeal of an assistant's decision, with factual and/or legal support. But sneering when you refer to "your assistant" transforms the B.S. filter into a brick wall.

Similarly, save your years of experience for your resume or Blue Book listing. I do my homework. I know how long you've been practicing. And, no, I'm no more impressed with it than you are with my acumen. Respect is a two-way street. And, just as I'm sure you have scads of stories of prosecutorial blunders you've seen in your practice, I've seen plenty of lawyers with 20-plus years of experience drop the ball. Use that experience to develop a reasoned argument. When either side tries to buffalo the other, it leads to resentment and impasse, not resolution.

January 23, 2009, 11:42

WHM

quote:
Originally posted by neetugarg37:
hi, i don't like that each person jealous to another person on any reason. that i don't like .i like to each person live with another person with love.
--------------
neetu
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<a href=http://www.drug-intervention.com/connecticut-drug-intervention.html"> Drug Intervention Connecticut</a>-Drug Intervention Connecticut

January 23, 2009, 11:46

David Newell

I think it's a code for "apple".

January 23, 2009, 12:00

WHM

Remember that "innocent until proven guilty" is a legal term, not a statement of fact. Repeating it to me will not get me to dismiss a case. While your client may be innocent under the law, you know that I beleive he is guilty or I wouldn't be prosecuting the case. Show me some evidence if you want to convince me otherwise; he's already been "proven guilty" to me or we wouldn't be here.

January 23, 2009, 13:11

SAProsecutor

Don't call the DA at the DA's house on Christmas Eve Day to say that Asst.DA won't return a call to agree to a bond reduction on their jailed client. The reason this is bad is because the ADA DID call defense attorney back and left a message before his phone call to the DA. Some people!

January 23, 2009, 14:40

quote:
Originally posted by WHM:
quote:
Originally posted by neetugarg37:
hi, i don't like that each person jealous to another person on any reason. that i don't like .i like to each person live with another person with love.
--------------
neetu
-------------
<a href=http://www.drug-intervention.com/connecticut-drug-intervention.html"> Drug Intervention Connecticut</a>-Drug Intervention Connecticut

As Mork used to say, nanu nanu.

January 23, 2009, 15:10

Kathleen

quote:
20. Never tell me how to do my job based on your experience as a prosecutor.

... especially when your last experience as a prosecutor was in 1987 and you've been doing primarily civil since then, "except for this favor for a good client's son". A few things have changed since back in the day.

January 23, 2009, 16:14

How about when a defense attorney who continually refers to his client as "his friend" during plea negotiations, begins to refer to the client as "that sob who hasn't paid me" when he tries to withdraw from the case?

January 26, 2009, 10:27

E. Foley

Or the much more annoying parallel to Greg's scenario, attorneys who hardly know you, but insist on addressing you as "my friend" anyway. As in, "Come on, my friend, you know this poor guy didn't mean to do anything wrong here..." This ephemeral friendship of course only lasts until you crush it by failing to take their view of the case, whereupon you become said SOB.

January 26, 2009, 11:26

jws

There's a young defense attorney here who insists as calling me "dude." I've told him that bugs me, and this isn't The Big Lebowski, but he keeps on with the "dude."

January 26, 2009, 11:40

quote:
Originally posted by jane starnes:
There's a young defense attorney here who insists as calling me "dude." I've told him that bugs me, and this isn't The Big Lebowski, but he keeps on with the "dude."

Dude, that's funny.

January 26, 2009, 13:40

xochitl

do NOT, under any circumstances, tell me that the defendant committed agg sexual assault of a child because he is Hispanic and it's "ok" in his "culture/county"

January 26, 2009, 13:54

WHM

If I offer you a cap deal, you can accept it, reject it, or ask for a firm number, but don't tell me to go lower. By doing so, you are basically telling me that you think the judge would give you the cap amount if it was left up to him. If you don't think you can convince the judge to go lower than that, then why should I? If the neutral judge won't give you less, then why would you expect the opposing party to agree to do it?

February 08, 2009, 21:49

Johnny Venza

quote:
Originally posted by StanSoko:
Do not stand up in front of a jury and ask for a copy of the witnesses statement/report like you have never seen it before when our office has an open file policy and you made a copy of our file months ago.

Not all offices that maintain an open-file policy will indulge the defense lawyer with an actual physical (or digital) copy of the OR prior to trial. That, of course, leads to the tedious hand-transcribing of the file, which often comes at great expense to the county, especially in court-appointed cases. You know that little corner of your office where you allow defense lawyers to pore over files and make notes? I'm sure you would rather not have defense lawyers there, they -- believe me -- would rather be in their offices as opposed to yours, and that process is a needless monetary burden on the system and the defense lawyer. Of course, the State will occasionally catch a windfall because of some criminal defense hack who has simply refused to submit to the somewhat demeaning task of hand-transcribing files and is, therefore, less prepared for trial.

Open files are, believe me, appreciated. But when we have to sit down like 1st graders in penmanship class and hand-transcribe the entire file, please don't act miffed or surprised when we demand a copy at trial, as we are entitled to.

Of course, we could both opt for formal, deadline-driven, civil-type discovery, which would undoubtedly make both sides even more miserable, not to mention the indefinite extension of a the process.

February 09, 2009, 08:37

That's why they created portable scanners that are no bigger than a ruler.

February 09, 2009, 15:34

Terry Breen

Jane,

That young defense attorney who insists on calling you "Dude," must be suffering from gender-confusion. I've never heard of a female being called "Dude."

Maybe, if you work at it long enough, you can get him to just call you "Dude-ett."

February 09, 2009, 15:47

WHM

quote:
The online edition of the American Heritage Dictionary...has already made the leap and recognized the duality of "dude" when it comes to gender, defining it (in 3.b., "dudes") as "Persons of either sex."

--Rosenbaum, Ron. "Dude, Where's My Dude? Dudelicious Dissection, From Sontag to Spicoli". The New York Observer, July 6, 2003.