By Thomas G. Wilkinson, Jr. and Michael P. Zabel Can joint representation with independent counsel remedy a conflict of interest? In a recent criminal case in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, a federal judge denied…
Blog Archives
Child Abuse Reporting Laws – Penn State Scandal
By: Hayes Hunt and Brian Kint An omission, or failure to act, is a crime only where the law imposes an affirmative duty to act. Historically, the law has been reluctant to impose such duties. Yet in some instances, the law does…
Tagged with: Child Abuse Reporting Law, Cleary Act, Criminal Law, Duty to Report Child Abuse, Omissions, Penn State Scandal
Posted in Prosecution & Defense
Posted in Prosecution & Defense
Juror Misconduct & Criminal Contempt. In California, Tweet and Go to Jail
In an effort to deal with the ever increasing misuse of social media at trial, the California Legislature amended the criminal contempt definition to include juror misconduct as outlined below. CA Assembly Bill 141. Signed into law by Gov. Brown…
How Jurors Decide — Witness Credibility
By Benjamin E. Zuckerman How do jurors reach their verdicts? It’s simple: they vote for the party whose witnesses they like best. Early in my career, I handled a criminal defense matter. The client had been charged with burglarizing a…
Posted in Trial
Effective Video Depositions — The Director’s Chair
By Benjamin E. Zuckerman of Cozen O’Connor Nothing is more boring than watching a witness testify on videotape. Especially after lunch. Jurors who don’t nod off should be given prizes. We live in an age of hyper-active movies, videos and…
Corporate Search Warrant Protocol: Email to Employees
After publishing “Search Warrant Protocol – What Every Company Should Do to Prepare”, I received a number of requests for a sample notice-of-warrant email from a company to its employees. Here you go: Our offices are being searched by law…
Tagged with: Company Protocols, Corporate Law, Email to Employees, Employee Interviews with Government, Rights of Company, Search Warrant
Posted in Corporate Compliance
Posted in Corporate Compliance
Double Jeopardy and Roger Clemens
Less than two months ago, U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton declared a mistrial in the Roger Clemens case after the prosecutors played an inadmissible video clip to the jury. Judge Walton said the experienced prosecutors made a mistake that…
Tagged with: acceptance of responsibility, Criminal Law, double jeopardy, double jeopardy clause, double jeopardy waiver, Fifth Amendment, Hayes Hunt, inadmissible evidence, Judge Reggie Walton, obstruction of justice, perjury, prosecutor's conduct, reprosecution, retrial, Roger Clemens
Posted in Prosecution & Defense
Posted in Prosecution & Defense
The Bad Habit of Emailing and Texting During a Conversation.
Something has changed dramatically about the way we communicate: we don’t talk to one another. We text, tweet, “like”, and comment as an alternative to speaking and listening. Why speak when we can merely type? Professionally, we email rather than go through the…
Tagged with: Client Communication, Conversation, Credibility, Emailing, From the Sidebar, Hayes Hunt, Nonverbal Communication, Texting
Posted in Ethics & Professional Conduct
Posted in Ethics & Professional Conduct
Innocent but Guilty: “West Memphis 3” Alford Plea
On Friday, 3 men pleaded guilty to first and second-degree murder of 3 children but, minutes later, told the judge they were innocent of the same crime. This unique and rare plea agreement, called an Alford plea, enables a defendant…
Tagged with: Alford Plea, Criminal Law, From the Sidebar, Guilty Plea, Hayes Hunt, Innocenct, Justice, Malicious Prosecution, Parole, Plea Agreement, Prosecution, West Memphis 3
Posted in Prosecution & Defense
Posted in Prosecution & Defense
In Brief: 10 Qs to Jeff Friedman, Manager of Civic Innovation and Participation – Philadelphia
Interview with Jeff Friedman, Manager of Civic Innovation and Participation City of Philadelphia – Mayor’s Office 1. What is “Civic Innovation and Participation” for the City of Philadelphia? It’s what the City and its partners are doing at the intersection…
Tagged with: City of Philadelphia, Civic Innovation and Participation, Code for America, From the Sidebar, Hayes Hunt, Jeff Friedman, OpenAccessPhilly
Posted in Interviews
Posted in Interviews
