by Tyler Flood on November 7, 2011
“Law enforcement officers have the obligation to convict the guilty”
These strong words are not mine. They are in fact the Supreme Court’s from United States v. Wade in 1967. If the police have the duty of convicting an accused, who’s duty is it to hold the police accountable to the public? The criminal defense lawyer. We are called to Police the Police.
The Voice for the Defense magazine contains a great message this month from TCDLA President Gary Trichter. That message is that being a criminal defense trial lawyer is NOT all about winning. In fact, our job is to fight for our client and uphold the United States Constitution? Today I heard a wonderful description of a criminal defense lawyer’s role. We are Officer’s of the Constitution. We Police the Police. Our job is to keep Police Officers in check and to serve as protectors of the rights and protections we are afforded by the Constitution. We are the last protection for a civilian who has been accused of a crime. We are the only ones standing up for an accused and the only ones standing between the accused and the people trying to convict him.
In dealing with a case such as a Blood or Breath DWI, we are External Quality Control. Our job is to verify the lab work performed that the State will rely on as evidence. We have a duty to arm ourselves with special knowledge of the areas of scientific evidence so that we can insure that unreliable lab work is discovered and exposed when found. We must present the issues we find in simple understandable terms and let the jury decide. Our job is not to win but to investigate and defend.
When we have diligently defended an accused and insured their right to a fair trial, we have done our job. Winning is certainly more but enjoyable but we can never try to achieve that goal to the exclusion of personal and professional values. A win at all cost attitude is very damaging to the lawyer and to the system. The costs associated with this mentality come in many forms, including, compromised ethics, a perception of low morals, damaged professional reputation and potentially a lessening of faith in the justice system held by the lay person and jurors.
Here is a link to the article: Voice for the Defense
by Tyler Flood on November 4, 2011
Wednesday, November, 2, 2011, I celebrated 10 years being licensed to practice law. The time I spent applying for law school, going through law school and then studying and taking the bar exam seemed to take forever at the time but 10 years later, looking back, it was just a brief moment in time. The first milestone I achieved was becoming Board Certified in Criminal Law, but having 10 years under my belt now is another. Here are some things I learned along the way so far:
- You don’t know anything about practicing law when you get your bar card.
- You THINK you know everything about practicing law when you get your bar card.
- The worst kind of lawyer is one who has the “answer” for every legal question you ask them. The smart ones say they don’t know and then find the answer.
- Everything should not be a fight.
- Say a little less than you know. This goes for personal life and the law practice.
- If you think you found a big problem in a piece of State’s evidence against your client, it probably isn’t. But even if it is, if you tell anybody before trial it will NOT be a big issue at trial.
- Pay your bar dues on time. I have seen colleagues suspended unnecessarily for just not paying their dues.
- There is only one way to do your job as a criminal attorney – be a TRIAL lawyer. Try jury trials, period.
- If you want to go to Spence’s trial college, do it before you are married and have kids.
- Be careful what you say to the media.
- Keep your head up and eyes forward and fight for your clients and ignore what anybody says about you.
- If you can find a mentor you are lucky. Learning how to do anything is much harder on your own. (I didn’t have a mentor).
- If you do your job for your client over and over, you will not make many prosecutors happy with you…oh well!
- Read everything you can about the area of law you practice and be the best in one area.
- Seminars are great vacation excuses for your family.
- Don’t give an internet marketing company your credit card info to hire them over the phone.
- Don’t give any internet marketing company any money at all, ever. Your competitor is paying them also and they can’t make you their number one priority. Find someone who will.
- Judges don’t know everything about DWI law like I assumed they did when I started. This was one of the biggest revelations when I was new.
- Lots of “DWI” lawyers don’t know much about DWI. When asked, though, most have no problem offering some sort of answer and most of the time it is wrong.
- Always request an ALR hearing, period. There is no excuse for not doing so.
- If a case is triable, TRY IT, even if your client can’t afford a trial fee. You shouldn’t have taken the case if you weren’t planning on doing everything it would take to defend your client.
- Nobody can make a shoe look as good as Weldon can.
- Hanging out at Char is bad for a marriage.
- Be nice to your staff.
- Don’t assume Democrat criminal judges will be good for the defense.
- Partnerships have low survival rates.
- Start off with a Mac instead of a PC.
- Be open and generous with knowledge you accumulate, younger attorneys need you.
- You have to stop yourself before you argue one word too many! Everybody will do this. If you are lucky it will be just once.
- If you seek any political position, know that you could end up being indicted. Politics is a dangerous game. Prosecutors are politicians.
- Your family is more important than your practice.
