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Dear Readers, One of the purposes of this space, as I see it, is to try to bring some context to the law. I think it is important for me to make you understand more fully how practical it might be to apply rigid rules. In this light, this week's column is about ... dogs. That's right dogs. Not everyone feels the same about dogs as I do. For a dog lover like me, my buddies are a part of my family. And, if someone did something mean to my dogs and I'd be all over them, just like any parent protec...

Dear Readers, Our criminal justice hangs on a delicate plea bargaining system. Judges oversee this system with the right to reject any joint recommendation reached between the prosecution and a defendant. Somewhere between 94% and 97% of all criminal cases are resolved by plea bargains; if the plea bargaining process collapsed, our whole criminal justice would go under with it. We do not have enough courtrooms or juries to try every case – let alone enough judges or prosecutors. Our criminal ju...

Dear Readers, I had the pleasure of serving the citizens of Houston County and Dade County/Miami as a prosecutor for more than ten (10) years. I recommend to all newly minted attorneys, who want to be trial lawyers, that they start their careers out in a prosecutor's office. What a privilege it was to do so! One of the perks (and curses) of being a prosecutor is that we are supposed to serve a "higher purpose." Prosecuting attorneys are guides for judges, on the law, and trusted ethical arms of...

Dear Readers, We may be entering a new age of literary publishing that is creating a revolution in the way and where we buy books. What it ultimately means for the quality of writing and how it is distributed, remains to be seen. Fueling this revolution are Kindles (Amazon), Nooks (Barnes & Noble) and iPads (Apple), with Amazon still dominating the "e-book" market with more than half of all e-revenues. The existence of "electronic" versions of books, downloaded to a tablet-like device, allow fo...

Dear Readers, Several weeks ago, I commented on the absurdity of Oklahoma's anti-Sharia Law statute. One of the observations I had made was that it overreached by trying to prohibit the use international law in Oklahoma courts. This brings me to think about international custody disputes.. The United States is a signatory to The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction ("Hague Convention"), along with 63 other countries. Congress has enacted the International Child...

Dear Readers, College sports used to have a high-minded veneer of student-athletes competing with honor for the joy of the sport and spirit of their school. Each year, it becomes increasingly ugly, especially with College Football. Reggie Bush's Heisman Trophy has been shipped in disgrace back to New York. Cam Newton's storybook ascension is threatened by the swirl of a father accused of selling his enrollment to Auburn. These scandals happen, though, because of the NCAA's rules trying to p...

Dear Readers, We still live in dire economic times – the perfect opportunity to cut our correctional bill and restore spending painfully cut out of our educational system. Last year, while teachers were being furloughed, Georgia added over 800 prisoners to our bloated prison system, to the tune of between $15M to $30M, at least. According to the Pew Center on the States, a report showed that while, for the first time in 40 years, the 50 states experienced a collectively modest drop (0.3%) in th...

Dear Readers, "Oh Noooo!" A sound of anguish poured from the depths of a wounded Cub's fan soul; you can even hear Ron Santo's head impact the desk in front of him, as he collapsed in disbelief. The Cubs were beating the Brewers 7-5 with 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth. They were on the verge of clinching an improbable wild card berth, when Brant Brown dropped a "can of corn," clearing the bases and snatching loss from the jaws of victory. "Oh Nooo!" It's on youtube – listen to it! This ...

Dear Readers, There are rumblings from conservative politicians who want to use the false promise of lowered health care costs to attack Trial Lawyers. They argue that limiting malpractice lawsuits will result in substantial savings by eliminating the waste of "preventive medicine." Really? The lion's share of the costs driving up healthcare expenses are from "end of life care" – some from preventible conditions, such as obesity. This is not to advocate for any particular reform, however. T...

Dear Readers, The modern explosion of social media is both a blessing and a curse to our teachers. It opens all kinds of options, for good or ill, in communicating with their students. Children growing up 50 years ago, lived in a world of playing football, hockey, and baseball on the front lawns of their houses or the streets of the neighborhood. The telephone was for adults and television was three broadcast stations and maybe an independent station or two. Transistor radios were snuck under...

Dear Readers, According to Newt Gingrich, the fabric of our country is weakened by a "radical judiciary." While he has some offending instances in mind, he lacks a universal definition. For example what would Mr. Gingrich say if a President Obama refuses to recognize a Supreme Court decision overruling his healthcare program? Mr. Gingrich asserts, as a basic principle, that we are captive to an "elitist" class (i.e., lawyers). He proposes common folk regain their proper place as the front-se...

Dear Mrs. Sandusky ... “I know you are dumbfounded by what your husband did to me; he spent his life being perfect in your eyes.  You probably don’t remember a day without him in your life, having been together since college.  You are 68 years old and your mind cannot comprehend his malevolence.  Why compound my pain by denying Truth?  How can you know what was really going on in the basement? While he was molesting me in the basement, you were upstairs with the other childr...

Dear Readers, I have written before, about how attorneys "police their own." This is in stark contrast to, say, the medical community, where butchers can injure patient after patient and never be stripped of their privilege to practice medicine. Of course, to be fair, lawyers lose their bar license for ethical reasons which may or may not have anything to do with clients being injured. Attorneys can't help but fight for clients. Most of us try to do so ethically, but we still have to spend u...

Dear Readers, It is ironic that we, as a nation of opportunity, always turn on the downtrodden in times of trouble. Just recently we observed two (2) Georgia lawmakers, Rep. Jason Spencer, R-Woodbine, and Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell, propose an idea that, if it takes hold here in this state, would add another insult to the disadvantaged amongst us. They want all welfare recipients to be periodically drug-tested in order to be eligible for benefits. The impulse may be from a good place. Drug a...