Month: May 2010

This week the Austin Young Lawyer’s Association bestowed Kristin Etter with the prestigious 2010 President’s Award for her work and community outreach in prison re-entry.

Several years ago, one of our neighbor’s kids got into a significant amount of trouble. We’re not talking about “I got caught with pot at school” trouble. We’re not talking about “I shoplifted something at Target” kind of trouble.

We’re talking about First Degree Aggravated Robbery kind of trouble. Exposure to life in prison kind of trouble. The prosecutor’s first offer was 20 years in prison kind of trouble.

Last week I had the pleasure of spending the day with our forensic psychology doctoral student, Lauren Farwell. (Both of us also had the pleasure of getting up at 4:00 a.m. to drive to Ft. Worth for a hearing, but that’s another matter.)

During our drive, we had a great conversation about why forensic psychologists have a much better quality of life than criminal defense lawyers. Specifically, in our differing roles as advocates.

I’m on call this week. Like doctors, the lawyers in our practice share rotating call duty for after-hours emergencies. Last night my kids and my clients conspired to keep me awake until 3:00 a.m.

I was out watching a Cubs game the other night, and made insta-friends with some other guys at the bar. (Chicago sports fans tend to bond quickly over shared heartbreak.) During a commercial, one of them started playing with his coaster, which was placed there by a DWI attorney and advised strongly the basic things […]

For the record, apparently I was one of the 17 people in the world that honestly believed that Elin was trying to “rescue” him by smashing out the car window. (Yes, I saw the Saturday Night Live skit which cleared it up for me.)

In my feeble, lackluster defense – my first reaction to the news story was that this was a DWI and she was trying to remove him from the car before the authorities came. After excerpts from Steve Helling’s new book, Tiger: The Real Story, were released, the DWI aspect to the case again resurfaced – which provide a small amount of proof that I’m not an absolute moron:

When entering the criminal justice system – or merely popping by for a friendly visiting – think of it like trying to return a sweater at Target: You’re going to need to hang on to your receipt. Although Target’s return department has backed off their waterboarding technique when you try to make a return, the […]