When you see something that is not right, not fair, find a way to get in the way and cause trouble.
Congressman John Lewis
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
HAPPY HALLOWEEN
There's so many scary things going on in the world today, sometimes it's nice to just take a break and have a piece of candy.
Halloween comes from the Celtic festival Samhain. Which means that the holiday is an Irish one. Coming tomorrow: a scary verdict for a lawyer in a Bar case.
How do the lifelong criminal defense attorneys not get burned out on their clientele? The vast majority of defendants in Miami are impoverished, ill-educated, with no place for employment in our techno-economy. They are often victimized by racism, the difficulties of immigration, addiction, cyclical poverty. I get that.
But so many of them are assholes. They come to know us in their moments of personal crisis and crisis rarely brings out the best in people. So we are getting damaged, broken people, at the worst moments in their lives. And naturally, they often take their assholism out on us. Lie, hustle, waste our time, break promises, fail to make payment, shift responsibility, bitch about everything.
It's tiring. I am not sure how someone can do it for 30 years. If you want to know a secret, I find myself increasingly listening to their tales, while sitting in my office and thinking to myself, "You did this. Start by saying you did this and then we can go about protecting your rights and holding the state to their burden, but just stop bullshitting me."
Perhaps I should hang it up. But save me the lectures about being zealous and believing every client. That is just foolish. Im more impressed by the old-timers who are not fools, but who somehow find a way to motivate and defend everybody, especially the ungrateful, non-payment-making liars.
You got that right. Zeal doesn't require "believing every client." It requires advocating for them zealously, holding the state to its considerable burden, ensuring the fairness of the trial and other proceedings, not allowing police and their "forensic experts" to lie, preventing the prosecution from overcharging, from selecting a jury based on impermissible animus, inflaming the jury with impermissible argument, introducing impermissible evidence, interfering with your duties to your clients, trying to erode your clients' constitutional rights. Your job is to find a narrative of innocence, reduced culpability or mitigation consistent with your ethical obligations.
If you think your client is lying to you, ask yourself why this would be. Maybe you have failed to build a relationship that inspires trust.
How do the lifelong criminal defense attorneys not get burned out on their clientele? The vast majority of defendants in Miami are impoverished, ill-educated, with no place for employment in our techno-economy. They are often victimized by racism, the difficulties of immigration, addiction, cyclical poverty. I get that.
ReplyDeleteBut so many of them are assholes. They come to know us in their moments of personal crisis and crisis rarely brings out the best in people. So we are getting damaged, broken people, at the worst moments in their lives. And naturally, they often take their assholism out on us. Lie, hustle, waste our time, break promises, fail to make payment, shift responsibility, bitch about everything.
It's tiring. I am not sure how someone can do it for 30 years. If you want to know a secret, I find myself increasingly listening to their tales, while sitting in my office and thinking to myself, "You did this. Start by saying you did this and then we can go about protecting your rights and holding the state to their burden, but just stop bullshitting me."
Perhaps I should hang it up. But save me the lectures about being zealous and believing every client. That is just foolish. Im more impressed by the old-timers who are not fools, but who somehow find a way to motivate and defend everybody, especially the ungrateful, non-payment-making liars.
HAHAHA, a lawyer complaining about liars, bullshitters and assholes. That's rich!
DeleteYes, if you can't look at your fat bank account and do your fucking job without a pity party and a bunch of whining, you probably should hang it up.
Otherwise, STFU and if you don't understand your role, read @9:22
Feliz Dia de Morte
ReplyDelete"Perhaps I should hang it up."
ReplyDeleteYou got that right. Zeal doesn't require "believing every client." It requires advocating for them zealously, holding the state to its considerable burden, ensuring the fairness of the trial and other proceedings, not allowing police and their "forensic experts" to lie, preventing the prosecution from overcharging, from selecting a jury based on impermissible animus, inflaming the jury with impermissible argument, introducing impermissible evidence, interfering with your duties to your clients, trying to erode your clients' constitutional rights. Your job is to find a narrative of innocence, reduced culpability or mitigation consistent with your ethical obligations.
If you think your client is lying to you, ask yourself why this would be. Maybe you have failed to build a relationship that inspires trust.
Dodgers or Astros?
ReplyDeleteTom Cobitz refers to it as "Compassion Fatigue." That is probably the healthiest way to look at it when it gets frustrating.
ReplyDelete