Death Penalty Still No Way to Achieve Justice By Randy Johnston Ruben Gutierrez had just moments to live. The Texas death row inmate, convicted of the 1998 murder of an elderly woman in Brownsville, was set to die at the hand of the state in July. And then, 20 minutes before he was to receive […]
After the Supreme Court decision in Peeler v. Hughes & Luce, criminal defense lawyers felt that they had immunity from malpractice. Ms. Peeler was convicted of tax fraud and sentenced to five years. She sued her criminal defense counsel for malpractice because he had failed to communicate a plea-bargain to her under which she was […]
After the Texas Supreme Court’s decision in Peeler v. Hughes & Luce, Texas criminal defense lawyers generally felt that they had immunity from malpractice claims. In that case, after being convicted and sentenced, Ms. Peeler sued her criminal defense counsel for malpractice because he had failed to communicate a plea-bargain to her under which she […]
Some of us remember the “good old days.” You could share your fees – i.e. pay or receive a referral fee – on almost any terms you wanted so long as both of you accurately reported your income to the IRS. There were times when I would receive a blind call on a personal injury […]
To read the first part of this article, click here. In my previous blog, I outlined the risks that clients face when they terminate a lawyer whom they hired on a contingent fee basis. The Texas Supreme Court’s 1969 decision in Mandel & Wright is that a client who fires a lawyer employed on a […]
Clients routinely seek to change lawyers at some point during a lawsuit. It is usually not a problem—unless the first lawyer was retained on a contingent-fee basis. Because many clients who retain a lawyer on a contingent fee are unsophisticated consumers of legal services, they often stumble into risks that could have been avoided when […]
I recently prepared a presentation for a group of lawyers on a case I had concluded representing a retired Navy SEAL, and—was trying to think of what value it might have to them other than just hearing a war story. I came up with two objectives for myself. First: My wish for them—and for every […]
In 2001, attorney Mary Roberts had sex with four men after discovering the affair of her husband, attorney Ted Roberts. The couple reconciled and Mr. Roberts sent demand letters to the four men—a lawyer, an accountant, and two chief financial officers—threatening to file petitions for rule 202 depositions about their sex with his wife. Or, […]
