Anytime I get a case that has some media interest (about three times in 10 years so far), I get nervous.  Getting a high-profile case has been a miserable experience for some, like George Greer, the judge in the Terry Schiavo case.

I met him once.  He and my dad have been friends since college when they were roomates with someone else who gained fame.  The article is a good read, check it out.

If I could give my criminal defense clients just one piece of advice, it would be a lot like this:

After all we wouldn't be wasting time trying to get the statement suppressed if you had just had the sense not to make one.  And another thing, could you try saying "no" when someone asks for consent to search?

 

These showed up in my e-mail box.   A nice break from the Viagra, mortgage, and Nigerian bank scams that seem to collect there.

It is somewhat unusual to see someone with a black and fawn pug.  I like the contrast myself.  When they curl up to sleep in the winter they form a kind of Yin and Yang design.

I was on the phone the other day with an attorney for a large credit card issuer about settling a dispute. First, a little background. In order to protect the shamelessly greedy I will identify the bank only by its initials, MBNA. Several months ago after my client filed bankruptcy MBNA drafted money from her checking account using an electronic draft it prepared. This violates the "automatic stay" that bars creditors from attempting to collect debts owed outside the bankruptcy process. The client called MBNA to ask that the funds be returned to her account. MBNA refused. She asked me to contact MBNA. Clients often believe that a call from an attorney will scare a company into doing something, it usually won’t. I called MBNA pointed out that a bankruptcy was pending and asked that the money be returned. The response was "suck wind" in various dialects of corporate speak. I said that if the money was not returned I would ask the court to order its return. I was told a manager would call me. No return call. I then filed the motion sending a copy to MBNA. There was no response to the motion so the judge ordered MBNA to appear for a hearing next about whether it should be held in contempt for submitting the draft. Hence the call. The attorney did not like the fact that I don’t consider the matter resolved just by a refund of the money. I told him this story.

A young man once went to U-Haul to rent a truck for a move. The place was plastered with signs that read "Rent a truck for $19.95." The parking lot was full of trucks at 7 a.m., opening time. Upon asking the attendant about a truck he was told, "We don’t have any trucks available." Incredulous the young man asked about all the trucks parked outside. The answer "I don’t have to tell you what those trucks are for." The young man had heard that tone before, it is the tone a person uses to say: "I am screwing you over and there is nothing you can do about it. In fact I am employing this tone just to rub your nose in it."

That disillusioned young man was me, and I burn with a hatred of U-Haul to this day.

Large companies play the percentages, they take advantage of large numbers of people knowing that few of them are in a position to anything about it. When absolutely caught with their hand in the cookie jar they can apologize call it an oversight. I’m suspecting it is not really an oversight so much as a strategy, especially since I deliberately asked for the name of the person I spoke with on the phone and now the company says they have never employed anyone by that name.

Fortunately in some cases I am now in the position to do something about it, sometimes. I will not bring the credit card behemoth to its knees, but I can cost it a little extra cash. This is the "cost of doing business" for times it got away with it. So it is a small thing to a big company, but I like the fact that occasionally I can keep someone from getting their way every time.

While I was in law school I had the idealistic notion of being a crusader for justice, but most weeks I have to settle for being a transaction cost. Oh and U-Haul, as Jackie Childs once said, "I’ve been waitin’ a long time to get my hands on some of that money."

I got a column about bankruptcy reform published in the Winston-Salem Journal.

From a client (in prison) I am representing on appeal:

 

That's OK with me if  he doesn't mind that my answer will involve Ben Gay.