Paintball -- something different

I did something different last night. Some friends invited me to play (if that's the right word) paintball. This is where you run around with guns that shoot balls of paint. You shoot at the other team and they shoot at you. Well, mostly what I did was hide behind the inflatable objects that are there for that purpose. Once in a while I'd peek my head and gun out and take a few shots, and then

More on bail

After my last post, someone posted a comment on my old criminal injustice post. The comment was:However, if the case you cited is a Felony, CPL 530.20 requires the people to be heard on bail before a decision is made.By PML, A local JudgeAs I mentioned in a follow-up comment on that post, the comment by the Hon. PML is not correct. CPL 530.20 states, in pertinent part,(b) No local criminal court

Bail - Its true purpose and how it is subverted

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

Judges, policies, and the law

[Note: I did a new post about the Pringle Hearing in DWI cases.]One of the irritating things I've been noticing more and more lately is when a judge has a policy. The way I've seen it most is where there's this notion of "quality of life" offenses. One local judge I know had a policy where offenders had to do community service on such violations. I also know of a couple judges who have policies

Following Too Close (Tailgating) - The traffic law that should be enforced.

If you were ticketed for following too close, please check out our New York Traffic Lawyer page.I've complained off and on about the excessive focus on speeding and the excessive punishments for DWI. Despite what some might think of me, I do think some laws should be enforced, and in some cases more vigorously.The biggest one that stands out in my mind is "Following Too Close," a violation of

For all those who think I'm wonderful ...

In case you think I'm wonderful, there are those who disagree. Our recently fired paralegal has posted her thoughts on us on her MySpace blog. I'm the "asshole" in the story, by the way.Let's just say that I don't quite agree with everything she wrote, and in particular I didn't know a workplace was supposed to have a specific rule about being on time for work. My general sense is that when you

Google -- Very Good, But Not Perfect

I'm still happy with Google overall, but my latest experience wasn't what I'd hoped for. I've been concerned about the Google Checkout badge on my AdWords ads. So I sent a message into their customer service. Here was my message:Question: While the Google Checkout badges are probably helpful for some of my cases, especially speeding tickets, some of the work I do for clients is done where payment

A trip to Dallas

I'm still scratching my head about this.My client was sued in Albany by a NY corporation which has its main office in Dallas. We counterclaimed. The original claim was dropped but our counterclaim survives.We were getting ready to depose someone from the corporation. They decided to argue that they shouldn't have to bring their guy here. I should do the deposition by telephone or do it in Dallas.

Albany judge censured

I don't know how I missed this. One of our local judges, Hon. William Carter from Albany City Court, was censured in September by the Commission on Judicial Conduct.You can read the details here: http://www.scjc.state.ny.us/Determinations/C/carter.htmThis is one of those moments where you see a man unfairly assessed based on one or two incidents when he's had a substantial career. I've known

More NY traffic courts

Our town court directory project is moving along quite nicely. We're now over 500 courts and not all that far from 600 courts, and I think we've got all or part of 41 counties online. I even did a test court in New Jersey.Some of the court pages getting the most attention include:White Plains City CourtDutchess County CourtClarkstown Town Court (in Rockland County)andFarmington Town Court (in

You're suing for how much????!!!!

People often get excited about the amount asked for in a lawsuit. In our recent suit against the Rensselaer District Attorney we asked for $52,000,000 (52 million dollars). This reminds me of when Dr. Evil threatened to destroy the world unless world leaders gave him ONE MILLION DOLLARS (which he quickly corrected after being prompted).Some people have told me that $52 million is too high. This

Extradition

Recent events prompted me to reread the standards for extradition. It has been suggested by some that the District Attorney's role in such matters is limited.To clarify on this point, below are excerpts from the text of Section 570.54 of New York's Criminal Procedure Law. I've added boldface for emphasis.1. When the return to this state of a person charged with crime in this state is required,

Prosecutorial Misconduct -- The Complaint

The Complaint in the case against the Rensselaer DA is posted below. See my Stop Wasting Money campaign blog for more details.UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURTNORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK__________________________________________________JEREMY PHILLIPS and KELLY CHADWICK, individuallyAnd as parent and natural guardian of COURTNEY PHILLIPS and SHELBY PHILLIPS, Plaintiffs, v.

Moments of stress

It's not all fun, games, and dancing in the fields.I'm starting a DWI trial tomorrow - should be a short one, but still that gets stressful. A few days ago I was contacted by a prospective zoning client. I was retained on Saturday (yesterday as I write) and upon review decided we need to act right away to get papers filed to seek a temporary restraining order. But I'm on trial Monday so I've

Attorney websites and ethics

Back in July I did a post about the proposed rules for Attorney Advertising and how they affect the web. I did another post about it these ethical issues in attorney advertising in June.So I was reading an e-mail today and noticed a sponsored link for New Jersey Traffic Tickets - the website is www -dot- NewJerseyTrafficTickets -dot- us. I use the -dot- instead of . to prevent them from getting

Grand Jury and the "No Bill" or "No True Bill"

Some time ago I did a post about a specific case I'm handling. This is a case where I was very upset by the behavior of the prosecutors.I have very good news on this case. It was submitted to Grand Jury in the last couple of weeks. The Grand Jury returned what's known as a "No Bill" or "No True Bill". For those more interested in what that means in detail, I found a good article about Grand Jury

More New York traffic courts

Our traffic court database is growing rapidly. We've got over 300 courts in the database in 32 counties. Some examples of new additions include:Mount Pleasant Town Court and Harrison Town Court in Westchester County;Goshen Town Court in Orange County;Niagara Town Court and Niagara Falls City Court in Niagara County;and both Grand Island Town Court Evans Town Court in Erie County.There has been a

A simple request

As you may know, I'm running for Congress in NY's 21st district. The media will not cover the campaign. There appears to be a deliberate policy of not covering challengers except in rare circumstances. What kind of a democracy do we have if the voters don't know who the choices are?If you think newspapers and other media should cover challengers, please contact the appropriate people at the media

Traffic Courts in Saratoga County now complete

We've managed to finish entering the traffic courts (and criminal) in Saratoga County. Total of about 225 courts in the database and growing strong.Feedback is appreciated. If you see anything incorrect or inappropriate about a court, please enter a comment on that court's page.

Traffic Courts and Traffic Violations Bureau

Our ny traffic court directory project is going well. We now have about 200 courts in the database. We have completed all or part of 29 counties (there are 62 counties in New York State, with roughly 2000 courts). My friend Dave Cheng, who work in executive coaching for women, has helped me with his skills in Human Resources. He's put together a team that is entering data.I'm most excited about

A good day for my speeding and marijuana clients

Had a good day the other day, handling three cases in two courts. For one speeding ticket client, I got a typical reduction from a high 6-point speed to a 3-point speed. Usually you hope for a little better but her driving record wasn't clean.For the next client I made a big difference. I'm handling three high speeds for this particular client in three different courts. The speeds range from 95

Seems odd - politics in Bethlehem ?

This seemed odd to me. I went to court late yesterday on some Bethlehem speeding tickets. The parking space next to me had an official Bethlehem town vehicle. Inside it, as you can see in the picture, were some campaign signs. The picture shows the town logo on the vehicle, and the campaign signs in the back.At first blush I thought it was inappropriate for a town vehicle to be used to carry

Lawyers in Albany - Courtesy

If you get lawyers in Albany talking, one thing that gets many of us going is a perception that downstate attorneys (i.e. New York City and Long Island) are unpleasant to deal with. I have actually had quite a few good experiences with downstate attorneys, but I have at times had such bad experiences. The truth is that not all attorneys here are courteous, and that's what prompted this post.We

How clients see lawyers and the process

One of the toughest things for lawyers is understanding how their clients feel about the process.For experienced lawyers, the process is what it is. We get our client through the process as best we can. There can be a number of steps, and many of them are mysterious to our clients.Because of our experience, we are used to it and it's hard for attorneys to see how unpleasant this is for the

Respecting the police

I was deeply saddened by the death of Trooper Longobardo. He died in the line of duty attempting to apprehend an escaped criminal.Readers of my blog will often see comments from me critical of prosecutors, and sometimes of police as well. While I will not hold back in my criticism of police or prosecutorial misconduct when I see it, that should not be misread to imply any dislike of the

Cops, prostitutes and the dying population centers of Central NY

Well that was interesting. I recently had the pleasure of visiting one of the population centers in Central NY. My client was charged with having something you're not supposed to have. I'm pleased to report that the case was dismissed (thanks, of course, to my fine legal work ... and a good judge, reasonable prosecutor, and some well-written laws).Anyway, the circumstances were interesting.

Supercop

Supercop is a police officer I see on a regular basis. For starters I should mention that he's a good guy and is reasonably pleasant, to me at least.He writes a lot of speeding tickets and takes this more seriously than any other cop I have met. I've been told he has a nickname among his fellow officers due to his overenthusiasm (combined with a bit of a slight) but I won't mention it because

Dell let-down

I've been seeing commercials for Dell Computer where they show the computer being assembled as the person is ordering it on the phone. I know it's an exaggeration, but at the moment I'm pretty pissed.I ordered a computer, printer, and extra toner over the weekend for our new associate. The toner arrived a couple days ago. I went on the Dell site today to check on the status of the order. Neither

Lawyers and that personal touch

Had an interesting experience this morning. A couple years ago I represented a client in a traffic matter arising out of a car accident. She was recently served with papers for a personal injury lawsuit from an occupant of the other vehicle.The plaintiff in the new case is represented by one of those firms we see advertising somewhat heavily on TV. I called the firm today to confirm that my

No good lawyer goes unpunished

I came out of the shower this morning to find two messages from my answering service. Both were from the same person, in a distant county, indicating that it was a criminal matter and it was urgent.I returned the call. In the process I endured one of those annoying messages people leave on their machine/voice-mail (too long and rude - "if I think your message is important, I might call you back")

The Fixer

While I will maintain anonymity as best I can on this profile, this person's nickname is for real and is known by many in the legal community. If I know it a lot of people must. I'm not worried about it because this will be a flattering profile.The Fixer is a successful criminal defense lawyer. He is not a high-profile guy. You don't see him in the papers or on TV much. I've known him for some

Profile: The Bully

In the past 10 years I've handled cases in something like 20 counties, in traffic court, lower level criminal courts, higher level criminal courts, Family Court, Supreme Court (New York's main civil trial court, at least in the Albany area), the Appellate Division (Third Department), as well as federal courts in Manhattan, Albany and Syracuse.I've practiced in front of quite a few judges -- well

A new kick for the Albany Lawyer blog

I had an idea in the last couple days. To make this blog more interesting, I'm going to start doing some profiles of lawyers and others from the Albany area (and by that I mean the greater Capital Region). The profiles will not identify the person, and along the way I may create some entirely fictional profiles. Some profiles may be blends. Some profiles will be flattering. Others will be less

Life as a lawyer in Albany

As for the whole life as a lawyer in Albany thing (wasn't that the original purpose of this blog?), we expect to have our first associate starting in early August. This should free up some time for me to see my family more, get web work done (I've badly neglected the Daniel Cady website), and maybe get back to having a hobby. Regular people have hobbies, right?Most likely I'll start doing Tai Chi

Update on town court website

I should also mention that our traffic court website is doing well. We've got well over 100 courts in the directory now, including all of the New York City traffic courts. We're also very close to 1000 visitors a week. If things go well, we'll have most of the courts in NY done by the end of the year. But I'm always an optimist.And we've got another law-related site in the works. Hope to have

Drug war blog post

I keep trying to avoid mentioning the campaign blog, but since this post is relevant to Criminal Defense, I'll mention it. I posted about how we're wasting money in the War on Drugs. Read it if you're interested.I've got a criminal topic I want to post on, but there's something still going on in this case and I'll have to wait at least a week to get to it -- stay tuned. :-)

Dish Networks: Consumer griping

We're planning to upgrade our TV setup at home. We have Dish Networks satellite, mainly because I wanted Japanese programming and no one else seems to have it.So I tried calling the number to do this. It gave me four or five choices, and none of these choices was for upgrading equipment.So I pressed 0 for an operator.If you're a company that sells things to consumers, your phone system should

Attorney advertising rules and web content #2

I'm still upset about the proposed rules on attorney web content. I'm sending a second letter to the Office of Court Administration about it, and I'm pasting the text of my letter below. I would appreciate any comments.-----------------Michael Colodner, Esq.CounselOffice of Court Administration25 Beaver StreetNew York, New York 10004Re: Proposed rules for attorney advertisingDear Mr. Colodner:I

Problems with Yahoo continue

My problems with Yahoo advertising continue. See my previous post for more info on the past. After my dissatisfaction with their response about my "search" ads appearing on "content" pages, I contacted customer service to cancel my "LocalMatch" account.I got an e-mail that said: "We received your request to cancel your account. For security purposes, we request that you call us to cancel your

Speeding ticket post on my stop wasting money blog

I wrote an article on speeding tickets as a public policy issue on my campaign blog. I don't expect to mention my campaign blog often on this blog, but since the speeding ticket topic is one off the core elements of this blog, I figured I'd mention it.

Why Google is better than Yahoo

I advertise my law firm on Google and Yahoo. By that I mean, if you search for the right words on their search engines, my "ad" pops up in "Sponsored links".I focus a lot more on my Google ads than my Yahoo ads. Google's ad program (called AdWords) is easier to use and more effective than Yahoo's (called Yahoo Sponsored Search).A couple times now I have been burned by Yahoo doing something

Congress - the Stop Wasting Money blog

Quick update on the congressional campaign -- the Stop Wasting Money blog is now up. Just getting started, but it will start to roll soon.

BUSTED: Video on how to handle police

An organization I'm quite fond of, Flex Your Rights, has put their video on youtube. The video is named Busted, and I highly recommend it.Basically, the video offers suggestions about what to do when you're confronted by police, including traffic stops, when you're stopped on the street, or when they come to your front door.I don't agree with everything in the video. In particular, I don't like

A great comment on one of my previous posts

In April I did a post titled Criminal Injustice. I just got an anonymous comment on it and I'd bet my regular readers will be interested in it. I really want to encourage people to comment on my posts. It makes the blog more interesting.An acquaintance actually said something to my wife about not agreeing with one of my posts on my restaurant review blog. I had criticized a local restaurant and

Traffic lawyers are really just tax lawyers

Some of my traffic ticket callers seem upset at the injustice involved. They have a variety of complaints: weren't really speeding, others were going faster, police drive fast or use cell phones when they're driving, etc.My personal opinion about this is simple. This system has nothing to do with justice or traffic safety. It's just another tax - a particularly unfair one, but still a tax.If

Speeding Ticket Excuses: 12 weak ones and a couple that might work

I get a lot of calls about speeding tickets, and some callers have excuses. Most clients accept responsibility -- they know they were speeding and they just got caught.Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course. I like to reassure my clients that this is not about justice. It's an unfair tax, and I'm really just a tax lawyer, working to reduce their taxes (in the form of fines,

The paper trail

One issue I frequently see is clients not making a paper trail. The client will call me about a problem with their town, or someone they're dealing with on a contract.The client will describe to me how they've talked to so-and-so on the phone, and the person says "x" and then doesn't do "x", or does "y" instead. For example, a town official tells them it's okay to build something, and then after

A lovely day

We just had a lovely day. Our original plan was to meet a New Jersey friend in Bear Mountain State Park. The weather forecast was not good, so we postponed that.But we had promised our older daughter a trip to a park, so ...We went to Thacher Park in the morning. Put the baby (is 16 months still a baby?) in a backpack carrier and walked the Indian Ladder Trail. The baby really seemed to like the

Proposed rules on attorney advertising

You may have read about a set of proposed rules that would affect attorney advertising. I went through them quickly tonight and drafted a letter comment that I'm sending in to the appropriate person. My letter is below ([bracketed material] is not in the letter, but is for readers to understand what the proposed rule is). I would appreciate any comments and I will submit a supplemental letter if

Constitution Schmonstitution

Our illustrious Supreme Court has again decided that that Constitution thingy doesn't mean much. Who need rights anyway. The police are better trained these days and they don't violate people's rights nearly as much as they used to. The case is Hudson v. Michigan.Justice Scalia's reference to better police training is a laugh. Well, maybe the police are better trained in how to violate rights and

Blogging for over a year

I just realized I've been doing this blog for over a year now. My first post was on May 1st, 2005. I missed the birthday. :-)

The first appearance date and suspensions

Somewhere I mentioned that the date on the ticket isn't really a hard date. I was at a seminar yesterday and we were told that the real date is 60 days after that. Once that 60 days runs, the court can (but doesn't have to) contact DMV to initiate a suspension. When DMV issues the suspension notice to you (and hopefully they have your correct address or you have mail forwarding), it gives you

Connecticut and traffic tickets from other states

Connecticut seems like the place for speeders. If I'm getting my information correctly, the holder of a CT drivers license gets no points for speeds under 85 mph if you pay the fine with no fuss. And while it appears that state law authorizes CT DMV to recognize out-of-state tickets, it looks from the regulations like the point system only applies to in-state tickets.Also, the fines look much

Vermont and NY tickets

I was just reading the VT DMV website. Violations from other states do not count for points in Vermont, but the website indicates that some violations from other states may be reported on a VT driving record, and some violations can lead to a suspension of the Vermont drivers license.So if a violation from another state shows up on a VT record, but it doesn't carry points, does that mean it can't

Out-of-state tickets for NY drivers

Once in a while a NY driver will call and ask me about a speeding ticket they got in another state. Generally, the answer is that a ticket in another state won't affect you, as long as you deal with it. If you ignore it or otherwise screw up the process in that state, they might suspend you there and NY would then suspend you here. That's bad.One comment: Tickets in Ontario and Quebec are

Debt collectors

I'm coming to believe there may be no lower profession than the debt collector. Keep in mind I'm not referring to attorneys who do debt collection. I deal with them on a regular basis and they follow the law. I'm referring to the businesses that repeatedly call and harass the supposed debtor.I've got a pro bono client now who repudiated a contract. The contracting company is treating her like a

Lucky morning

Showed up to Court this morning. Client met me there, which is unusual as I always tell my clients they don't have to come -- all they have to do is sign a form and fax it to me but anyway ...The Trooper didn't show up. The Court was already pretty quiet. After about a half-hour, the Judge called me up to the bench. I moved to dismiss. Motion granted.The Troopers usually show, maybe 95% of the

Interview on UPN - This Sunday

I interviewed Peter Christ for Ernie Tetrault's show recently. The interview will air this coming Sunday (11 am, I think) on UPN (Time Warner cable channel 4 in most places around here).Peter is the co-founder of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a group of police officers who support drug policy reform and, as you might guess from the name, feel that prohibition doesn't work.Despite my poor

Consequences of criminal conduct

I've got a couple of clients dealing with the consequences of their actions. One is facing a long prison term. The other will be out soon, but discovered a different kind of problem the other day.His wife and young son visited him. He had talked with both on the phone some in the last couple months, but for some reason the authorities made it nearly impossible for him to call them. He and his

New York speeding tickets and Ontario drivers

I get calls from Ontario and Quebec drivers who get speeding tickets in NY, and I've represented a number of them. Today I came across a page from Ontario's Ministry of Transportation that discusses the Ontario demerit point system and specifically mentions violations from New York (Michigan too).The short story is that if an Ontario driver gets a NY traffic violation, Ontario treats it as if it

Congress?

It's semi-official now. I'm running for Congress again. I ran in 2004 and, considering the small amount of money, we did well. 30% of the vote doesn't sound like much, but the previous 7 challengers each got 25%.The campaign theme then was "Stop Wasting Money Overseas (defending rich countries like France)". We're trying to be more efficient this time, so we're reducing the theme to just three

A beautiful drive

One of the nice things about being a lawyer in the Albany area is the occasional drive somewhere different. Tonight I went to Claverack Town Court one of the traffic courts in Columbia County. Then I went to a meeting in the Town of Schoharie, in Schoharie County.Initially, Google Maps suggested going back to I-90 and then to I-88 and down into Schoharie. But that seemed way out of the way. And I

Relief

I've really been struggling for the last month or so. The move to our new space took a lot of time. While that was going on I had a very high pressure criminal case with a judge who was pushing too fast for my tastes. Fortunately, both for client and myself, the client took a deal with a rather lengthy prison sentence. Fortunate for him because he faced a big risk of a lot more time. Fortunate

Town Court site - completed three NY counties

Thanks to a gung-ho law student intern and some sleeplessness on my part, the town court directory website is on a roll. We've completed three counties now, including courts in Albany County, courts in Schenectady County, and courts in Onondaga County. We now have over 85 courts in 14 counties in the directory, and should have well over 100 by the end of the June.There's a lot of learning along

Last minute speeding ticket calls

It never fails to amaze me. People will call me at the last minute before they have to show up for trial. Today I just got a call about a trial 100 miles away on Thursday morning. It's Tuesday afternoon now.Here's the deal. If you got a ticket, hire a lawyer right away. I charge less money, take care of more of it for you, make sure the whole process is done right, and save you a lot of

Another lawyer blog

I was just contacted by another NY lawyer who has a blog. His blog is http://www.jamestownlawyer.blogspot.com. I enjoyed reading it and recommend it.

New York DMV - Negative Units

A NY DMV friend and I were just talking about the "negative unit" system. Down below I've pasted 15 NYCRR 136.6, which contains the scoring of negative units for safety factors. I'm not sure it will line up right, but we'll see. The first number is the number of units during the period from 1-3 years after you get them. The second number is how many you have in the first year.Apparently in some

Criminal Defense: The Show-Up Identification

Most people are familiar with the "line-up" process used by police, where a witness is brought in to identify the suspect. Six people who generally fit the description are lined up. One is the suspect. The witness is not told which one. The witness views all six, and attempts to identify which one is the person he/she observed at the crime scene. That's what you see on TV.There's another process.

Speeding ticket fines: Is NY the highest?

I got a call from Ontario the other day. Woman was charged with 96 mph in a 65 mph zone. I gave her the bad news. Maximum fine is $600. $55 mandatory surcharge. On top of that the DMV "Drivers Responsibility Assessment" is $450, for getting 8 points within 18 months. Total of about $1100.Her response: "New York is brutal."A while back I looked at NJ fines, and I think they top out at about $250.

More on speeding tickets for out-of-state drivers

Out of state drivers continue to get speeding tickets in NY. Back in October I posted a few times about how this can affect them in their home states.They keep calling. I've had some more call from Pennsylvania recently. Speeders from NJ and MA continue to call as well.So far it seems that most states recognize NY speeding tickets, so most out-of-state drivers benefit from having a NY lawyer get

Lawyer joke

My trial today reminded me of a good lawyer joke:The jury is brought in for the verdict. The defendant and his attorney are standing as the foreperson announces "Not Guilty". The defendant whispers "Thank you Jesus".The attorney leans over and whispers:"My name is Warren, and you're welcome."

Not Guilty!

Some time ago I discussed representing innocent criminal defense clients. I briefly mentioned a case, and we just got the verdict today: Not Guilty!The client was originally charged with Grand Larceny for allegedly "stealing" (quotes for a reason) a capuccino machine from the place where he worked. The biggest problem for the prosecution is that he did not steal the item. He gave it to a customer

Moving - almost done

We've nearly completed our move into new space - at 255 Washington Avenue Extension, in Albany. My brother Steve updated the main website to reflect that, but all the map sites show our building at 225 instead of 255. Weird.Anyway, it's been a hectic few days getting the move done. We'll finish most everything tomorrow. It feels like a big step up. Our last space was ... well ... a dump. It was

TV Interview - Justice Now

Ernie Tetrault informs me that his latest interview of me will be broadcast Sunday at 11 am on UPN 4. Tune in for our discussion of the metatheoretical presuppositions underlying the inappropriately named criminal justice system.Oops. I must have taken a sociology class or dated a sociology student once. Ernie and I talked about the criminal process in NY.

Blog post on Schenectady and new license plate reader

I was tipped off to this post on new technology in Schenectady, and asked to post my thoughts about it.It will probably not surprise regular readers to know I'm not fond of the idea of police having a scanner reading license plates seemingly at random as the police vehicle drives down the street. A bit too much Big Brother.Concerns include the accuracy of the device. What if the device misreads a

Police officer blog

I got a comment on one of my posts from a police officer. I checked out his blog. Looks like it's new, but I wanted to recommend it because I think it's great to hear from their perspective.

SJ Mercury News on Criminal Defense Lawyers

The third part of the SJ Mercury News series deals with the failings of some criminal defense lawyers. They discuss a practice where lawyers will charge a high up-front fee and then push the client to take a plea bargain. That makes for a good effective hourly rate, but not for good lawyering. In the particular case they discuss, the lawyer allegedly told the client he would only get one year

Cracks in the criminal "justice" system

The San Jose Mercury News is one of my favorite newspapers. I read it when I was a student at Stanford, and it pops up from time to time because they occasionally take on controversial issues, and because they have aggressively cultivated a web presence.Recently the paper did a 5-part series on criminal justice, focusing on Santa Clara County in California.The whole series is great, but the most

The difficult prospective client

Had a call today from a prospective client who got a speeding ticket near New York City. For some reason the conversation was difficult. This guy would ask me a question, and I would answer it, and then after a few minutes he'd ask the same question again. After round three or four, I decided he needed to find another lawyer.This happens once in a while. I tend to gauge it by how long the phone

Speeding tickets, police, and your attitude

Just handled a speeding ticket in a local court. Met with the trooper to discuss the case. He reviewed his notes. Aha, he said. There's your problem. He pointed to the word "Attitude".I knew exactly what he meant. This client had been difficult with me as well, and I remember from speaking with him that it sounded like he'd been difficult with the court staff as well.So this particular client did

Malpractice in Florida

I got such a kick out of this I posted it on my other blog too. Went to a walk-in clinic in Florida and they had this sign up. It did not inspire confidence. I was not impressed with the doctor either.

Interesting private investigator blog

When I'm searching for information on town courts, I often come across Jon Sabin's blog. Mostly it seems to be a listing of police blotters in the Watertown NY area, and lately there is a focus on some kind of problem with an animal control officer there.Here in the Albany area, I have used Centurion Private Investigators LLC. When I was with Allstate we used Joe for some investigations. I have

Violations and out-of-state records

One issue for speeding ticket cases (and other traffic tickets as well) with out-of-state drivers is how the result will show up on the driver's home state record.It is a widespread impression that non-moving violations do not transfer to other states. So far I've seen no evidence to the contrary.Sometimes we are unable to get non-moving violations for our clients, but we are able to get

So much going on lately

There's been so much going on lately, I forgot to mention that we (my brother and I) have incorporated a new business -- SpinJ Corp. This entity will house our web efforts. The first couple of projects are the Daniel Cady historical website, and the Town Courts directory website. Both are doing well, and hopefully we can find some time to work on them and get them up to full running status.Why

New Jersey Speeding Tickets

I was reviewing my main Albany Lawyer website statistics, and noticed that the New Jersey Speeding Tickets page is getting a lot of traffic now.I added this page a few months ago, along with New York City and California, to see if they would get traffic. My main speeding tickets page gets an awful lot of traffic already, so I thought that might lead to traffic on pages that come off of it.It's

A speeding ticket moment

I just have to describe an interesting moment in one of my favorite courts. This particular court gets a lot of Thruway speeding tickets. I had been told that one of the judges is married to a retired Trooper, and might be a bit partial to the Troopers.So I get there, and the Trooper on my case isn't there. In many courts around Albany, you wait about an hour, and then judges will call your case

More about our new office

We're getting more excited about our move to new office space. As I mentioned before, we'll be moving to 255 Washington Avenue Ext., Suite 108, Albany, NY 12205. An image of the floor plan of our space is above. There are always compromises, but, well, we're just ecstatic.Our new landlords are the folks at Tri-City Rental, and they have been great to work with so far. They own the building and

Capital District Business Review

I'm pleased to hear that the Capital District Business Review published an article about lawyer blogs in the area. I haven't seen it yet, and it does not appear to be online, but they apparently wrote a lot about this blog and even printed a photo of me in my extremely messy office. I can assure all readers that the photo cannot possibly show how messy my office really is. Fortunately, there is

Personal Apology

I previously apologized without naming the person, and offered to apologize to him by name upon request.Today I received a letter making such request, and I will now do so. I hereby apologize to Joseph M. Ahearn, Esq., of the Rensselaer County District Attorney's office.In a post a few days ago I named him and made some inappropriate remarks about him. After he complained, I reviewed those

Criminal Injustice

Recent experience has prompted some reflection about the criminal process. This is sometimes called the criminal justice system, but the word justice is out of place.What are some of the problems that stand out, in the eyes of this criminal defense lawyer?In no particular order:1. A systemic disregard for the rights of the accused. There are so many cases (and I'll probably discuss that below),

Apology

I made an inappropriate post the other day and I now wish to apologize for it.I named the particular prosecutor involved and I went over the top with my criticism. While I still feel strongly that the factual issues underlying what I said were fair, I should not have named the particular prosecutor, and some of my comments were inappropriate. I have modified the post to take out the inappropriate

Something's fishy in Rensselaer County

[Note: This post has been edited slightly in light of a complaint that was made.]I previously posted about a new criminal defense case I've got in Rensselaer County. Today we went before the town court judge. I had applied for bail or release. Bail means someone has to put money up to get the client out -- kinda like ransom. :-) Release means the client gets out without having to post bail.The

Lessons in lawyer advertising

Going through my bills for the year so I'll have all my expenses down for taxes.Noticed a bill for $400 for "Prof Internet Directory". Figured out it's for a directory of attorneys called "AttorneyFind" dot com. I remembered it once I saw it. I paid $100 each for 4 listings (personal injury, drunk driving, etc.).Well, I reviewed my web traffic and found that since 1/1/2006, I've had one (1)

Movin' on up!!

It's final. We're moving. We'll be leaving 1736-A Western Avenue on April 30th, and moving into 255 Washington Avenue Extension, Suite 108. The image above is of a nearby building that looks similar.Our current space is a tolerable building in the parking lot of a restaurant. The building is poorly insulated and not very well maintained. The problems range from potholes to the super-loud

More about prosecutors

[Note: In light of a complaint, I have edited this post. Changes are in [brackets]].I've blogged about prosecutors a few times - a good example is the prosecutor mentality post.Well now I'm going to lay into a particular DA's office that has gotten quite a bit of bad press recently - The Rensselaer County DA's office. The DA is a friend of mine from law school. Most of the complaints I've heard

DWI Victory!!

I previously blogged about a couple of DWI cases I have going. One is where my client's car broke down, he walked home, a neighbor called the police, and he was arrested about 45 minutes later from inside his home without a warrant. We moved to suppress the arrest as a Payton violation (warrantless arrests in the home prohibited without both probable cause and "exigent circumstances"). About two

Harvard finally noticed me ...

I still can't believe anyone reads my blog. There seems to have been a surge lately. I got a call from two reporters from local papers in the last month or so, plus a call from a reporter from Fortune Magazine. One local reporter was writing about local businesses that use blogs. The other two were writing about speeding ticket issues. And today I got a nice e-mail from a guy who writes a blog on

Cruise ship fire - Princess Star - and my in-laws

This has nothing to do with being a lawyer in Albany, not even close, but it's interesting nonetheless.My wife's parents went on a cruise a few days ago and my wife read that there was a fire on the ship. The Albany Times Union has a story about it.The good news, as far as my family is concerned anyway, is that my in-laws were apparently not injured.The interesting part is the phony effort by

The busy lawyer

One paradox lawyers face is being busy. If you're not busy, you might go broke. If you are busy, you're too busy, you don't have a life, and your wife gets mad at you.I know I'm busy at the moment because I'm pulling an all-nighter trying to catch up on all my paperwork. I am making a dent, but at 3:44 am on a Sunday morning (i.e. I started Saturday night), you start to wonder if you're too

Speeding tickets in New York - On the horizon

Another new thing coming, and a lot sooner than the Extreme DUI I mentioned in my last post, is a change in how New York State Trooper tickets will be handled in local courts.One of my best friends is a Trooper. The other day we were out and he mentioned this coming change. I've talked to a few other Troopers and a couple of attorneys about it and it sounds like it's for real. ... Oh, you're

Extreme DUI - Coming soon?

I attended a seminar for New York DWI lawyers. A great program that covered a lot of topics. One new development nationally is a concept called Extreme DUI. The idea is to increase penalties when the person's blood alcohol content (BAC) is over a certain level.Arizona has already adopted Extreme DUI. You can read a bit about their DUI laws on this page from the Arizona Governor's Office of

Town Court website

I'm pleased to report that our new version of the town court directory website is up and running. The site is a directory of local courts. We're starting with New York town courts. It should take a month or two to get all the courts for NY up. Next will be other states, probably starting with NJ and MA.For now we have several pages up for town courts in Albany County, and a few other

Personal injury - taking in tricky cases

Some personal injury cases are straightforward. Car accidents are a good example. Fairly early on, for little or no cost, you can get a good idea of who was at fault, how the accident happened, and what the injuries are. For the facts of the accident, the police report is usually accurate, or at least in the ballpark. For injuries, you get medical records from the client's doctors.Others are

The Vacation challenge

I'll be leaving town for about a week shortly. This is a tremendous challenge for a solo practitioner. You have to get all the work on your desk done, so when you get back you can deal with all the stuff that came in while you were gone.You have to get someone you trust to read your mail, and tell you if anything comes in that requires attention before you get back (or right when you get back).

Interview on Schenectady Public Access

I was interviewed a few weeks ago by Ernie Tetrault for Justice Now. We discussed criminal justice issues and some other topics. Very nice experience.Well now Ernie tells me it's actually going to be on television. Okay, that's not really a surprise. The show will air on the local UPN affiliate, cable channel 4, on Sunday, 2/26, at 11 am.I'm particularly flattered that Ernie asked me to interview

brrreeeport

What's brrreeeport? It's a hot new meaningless term on the web. Some guy named Scoble's idea of an experiment. This just shows how complicated the process of search engine optimization is. If you want to learn more about it, search Google for brrreeeport, or SEO, or search engine optimization.

Personal Injury - copyrighted

The other day I received my "Certificate of Registration". I copyrighted my screenplay and treatment of my "Personal Injury" TV series. I'm so excited I scanned it in and have posted it here. I've never been copyrighted before.Of course this is silly. The odds of success on a TV series are slim to none, and all I really did was pay a fee ($30?) and fill out a form. But I'm excited nonetheless.The

Pleading guilty to speeding tickets

In contrast to my earlier post today, something in the same ballpark just popped up.In this case, the client pled guilty by mail to three speeding tickets between 5/04 and 9/05 (within 18 months of each other). Under NY law, you get your license revoked for that. Each of his speeds were relatively minor (81-85 mph in 65 mph zone).Had she hired a good lawyer to handle these tickets, each would

Speeding ticket websites

I knew this kind of call would come someday. It came today.Caller: Do you handle appeals of speeding tickets?I asked him to tell me more about the situation. He had gotten a speeding ticket in Athens Town Court. Athens is in Greene County, a bit south of Albany. The ticket was for 90 mph in a 65 zone.He went to trial himself, using the Tipmra method. He seemed surprised I'd never heard of it.Of

Superbowl - Worst referees ever

That was the worst officiating I've ever seen. The most lopsided calls ever. I'm a Giants fan, and I like both the Seahawks and the Steelers. I thought the Seahawks were the better team going in, and after those calls, I still feel that way.Take nothing away from the Steelers. They're a good team and they played a good game. But the refs stole that game from the Seahawks.Bogus interference call.

Marijuana defense - dismissal under NY law - CPL 170.56

If you're facing marijuana charges in New York State, we might be able to help. Please check out our Marijuana Lawyer page.Got part of another case resolved tonight. Client was charged with UPM (unlawful possession of marijuana). Criminal Procedure Law section 170.56 provides for dismissal or ACOD (adjourned in contemplation of dismissal) for UPM and the two misdemeanor marijuana charges, if it's

DWI - Lawyer thinking on his feet

Finally made a deal tonight on a case that had been going for a while. Client charged with DWI after an accident. He was also charged with a few other misdemeanors.The case has been dragging on for a while now. The first ADA seemed to be disinterested and we weren't making any progress. I jumped through a few hoops, and had my client jump through a couple more (alcohol evaluation). I had the

Speeding tickets

With all the traffic on the Speeding Ticket FAQ page on my main site, I figured I should add more information. Plus, I get calls occasionally from people with tickets in other places that I don't handle. I've had calls about Georgia, Texas, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and many for New York City, Long Island and Westchester.So I've added three new pages:New York City speeding tickets,New Jersey

Sprint cell phone service fails

A problem started with my cell phone tonight. Since my cell is very important to my business, a problem with it is very disturbing.Warning: This is going to be a long story, and I'm going to say some negative things about Sprint and their cell phone service, though I will probably be polite.Around 9:45 pm, my cell phone rang. It was a wrong number, a girl trying to reach Matt. She called again.

Criminal Defense and good prosecutors

I'm often critical of prosecutors, so I feel a special duty to comment when I see one who understands.I just had a young client with a minor drug misdemeanor. The typical reduction would be to a lesser drug charge - a violation. But with a young client, you need to be concerned about the prospect for financial aid in the future.Federal law makes anyone with any drug conviction ineligible for

Speeding tickets and insurance

Update (12/08): I've been told that Insurance Law § 2335 has expired. I'm not sure if this will have an effect on insurance rates in NY. In the short term, probably not. In the long run it's hard to say. Original post follows.-----People often ask me how their speeding ticket will affect their insurance rates. There is actually a specific provision of the law, Insurance Law § 2335, that addresses

Lawyers and SEO

I did a post a while back about Lawyers and SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Basically, SEO involves doing things that help a website rank well on search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN. Currently I do well on a variety of keywords on all the search engines. I do surprisingly well on Yahoo and MSN for keywords where I probably shouldn't do that well. For example, if you search Yahoo for

Free legal advice

One of the things you encounter when you start your own law practice is the caller looking for free advice. This happened yesterday, and I probably get a call like this once or twice a week.Someone calls up with what sounds like a simple question. Yesterday's was: "Hi. I got a ticket in Pennsylvania, and I have a New York drivers license. Will the ticket affect me in NY?"I started with a simple

Winter in upstate NY

Home with our young daughter today. Went out to run an errand. On the way out, going downhill, I passed a $50K Lexus that was trying to go uphill. It was half off the road. There's a trend in modern cars, especially luxury cars, for "performance" tires. Typically that means larger wheels and a higher aspect ratio (If your car has 225/60-15 tires, they're 225 mm wide, on 15" wheels, and 60 is the

An evil corporation

Can't believe I haven't blogged about this before. I have a case where my clients were ripped off by their mortgage company. This company, with a history of ripping off their customers, getting sued, and paying very large settlements to federal agencies, is about as evil a company as I've ever seen. It specializes in "subprime lending", what many people call predatory lending.Their modus operandi

Criminal Justice and the media in the Capital Region

I just had a very interesting experience. I was interviewed by Ernie Tetrault for a program that airs on Schenectady public access cable (channel 16) and apparently also on UPN 4.Ernie is a long-time news anchor for WRGB, CBS channel 6. I think he's either retired or semi-retired from WRGB now, but he is still active. He's the kind of guy you just can't help but like.He has become involved, along

Daniel Cady - more coming

I added a few more of Daniel Cady's letters today. Doing his early writing to Peter Smith. The recent entries show some heavy sarcasm, particularly about James Monroe, the NY legislature, etc.

PWT - Practicing (Law) while tired

With all the talk about drunk driving, I thought today's experience is an interesting reflection. Our 11-month old has not been sleeping well. Last night was particularly bad, and I ended up with about 2 hours sleep. But I had an early conference with our area's most feared judge (he was pleasant today), so I had to go to work. The conference went well, but it was very difficult to get work done

DUI Update

In a recent post I discussed two DWI cases I've been handling. In the first, a DWAI with a 0.07 BAC, the ADA has agreed to take this one "out of alcohol". My client will plead to a fairly severe speeding ticket to resolve the case. We had a strong case because my client had passed 4 of 6 field sobriety tests, and the Trooper apparently made some other mistakes with his paperwork.In the second, my

Busy lawyer

Now I'm getting busy. On one day a couple of weeks ago I was in Troy City Court at 8:30 am, Albany City Court (Criminal) at 9:30, had a mediation at 11 am, met a client in the office at 2:30, and went to another traffic court (dwi) at 4 pm. The next day I was in two courts, and the day after that I was in three courts.Tomorrow I'm starting a personal injury trial, and at 6:30 pm, I'm meeting a