Sometimes criminal defense attorneys feel like it's two against one. That's when the judge acts as a second prosecutor.I've been telling people this one story for years and I just stumbled on the transcript. Now I can relate it with the precise words that were used.First some background. My client was accused of a residential burglary. The homeowner came home and saw the burglar, who fled. She

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I'm not sure I've ever written up a summary of what we do in our firm. We cover a few areas of law.Personal Injury LawyerWe handle a small number of personal injury cases, usually from car accidents and motorcycle accidents along with a few other areas.Most of these cases are in or near the Albany area, but we do take some further away. We keep the number small by only accepting cases where the

The Albany Lawyer will shortly enter his mid-forties. Oh, that's me. Maybe age causes you to talk about yourself in the third-person. Remember Bob Dole? If not, you're either very young or really getting old.Anyway, so far the 40s aren't going so badly. Well, maybe the world economy is going in the tank, so that's not so great. But I was referring to daily life for me.You'd think I'd be worried

I just read this op-ed piece by Dan Abrams in the Wall Street Journal. He responds to criticism about media ignoring the presumption of innocence. In one sense he is correct -- that the presumption really applies to juries. The general public is not required to presume someone innocent. But his characterization of the criminal process is what got me.My favorite quote is this one: Essentially we

A few years ago I did a post about representing innocent clients in criminal defense cases.The other day I spoke to the Pre-Law Association at U Albany. One of the stories I told them (which I'll go into another day) involved the most criminal client I've ever represented. This guy was the opposite of innocent.Sometimes we represent innocent clients. They really didn't do anything wrong. It

As lawyers handling traffic and criminal cases, we will generally talk to the prosecutor and see what kind of deal they're willing to do. In most cases we get some offer for our client to plead guilty to a reduced charge. Simple examples include reducing a moderate speed to a parking ticket, a high speed to a lower speed, a misdemeanor to a violation, or a felony to a misdemeanor.Sometimes it's

I'm not sad at the moment, but I was nearly overwhelmed recently when I thought about the volume of cases I see in the courts. I'm not talking about the amount of cases we have. We're quite busy, but that's a good thing for us.I was just noticing how many people I see in court. In a typical week I might go to a several courts. In a two-day swing I was in Albany City Court - Criminal Part, plus

Some time ago I had a brief rant about criminal injustice and I mentioned bail at that time. The bail issue came up recently on a couple of my cases so it's in my head again.First, the true purpose of bail -- to make sure the defendant shows up for Court. See People ex rel. Lobell v. McDonnell 296 N.Y. 109, 71 N.E.2d 423, 1947. It is particularly important where the defendant is perceived as a