Re: Ask Howard Treesong About Law or Lawyering
 

Why do you think juries are so pro-prosecution in criminal cases? I've seen statistics that indicate conviction rates of 75%+ in some jurisdictions. Given how easy it is for prosecutors to get indictments, There should be a LOT more aquitals in our court system. It's very very difficult to prove that a person did something beyond a reasonable doubt. Especially given constitutional limitations and rules of evidence. Just looking at the design of the U.S. criminal justice system on paper, I would guess the conviction rate should be somewhere between 15-25%.

I think the two factors that contribute most to this phenomenon are the facts that sample of the population that serves on criminal juries is skewed towards excessively pro-government people, and the police/prosecution have exponentially more resources at their disposal than your average defendant.

Any thoughts on this?

Do you think there's a chance that this bug in the system can/will be fixed?

Re: Ask Howard Treesong About Law or Lawyering
 

this is very me specific, but im hoping you could answer anyways:

My brother is debating between law schools and has a full preacceptance scholarship offer from GWU. If he accepts the conditions is he has to go there. Im wondering 1) What can they do if he doesnt? And 2) It is that much more highly regarded than a canadian school like University of Toronto or Mcgill?

Re: Ask Howard Treesong About Law or Lawyering
 

Howard,

How did you come to make the transition from big firm to in-house? Was your new employer a former client? How does being an in-house lawyer compare to being a partner at a firm?

Re: Ask Howard Treesong About Law or Lawyering
 

[ QUOTE ]
this is very me specific, but im hoping you could answer anyways:

My brother is debating between law schools and has a full preacceptance scholarship offer from GWU. If he accepts the conditions is he has to go there. Im wondering 1) What can they do if he doesnt? And 2) It is that much more highly regarded than a canadian school like University of Toronto or Mcgill?

[/ QUOTE ]

I would be surprised if it weren't less regarded, generally. Looking at rankings online, it looks like Toronto and McGill are 2 of the 3 most esteemed law schools in Canada, and GWU is in the 20s in the US. Especially if he wants to practice in Canada, the Canadian schools seem like a better bet, but a free ride is nothing to sneeze at here.

Re: Ask Howard Treesong About Law or Lawyering
 

Where is your brother hoping to practice? If he wants to practice in Canada, then it's a no-brainer--go to one of the Canadian schools.

If he wants to be in the U.S., then a solid middle-first-tier school like GWU is probably going to open more doors than even a top-ranked Canadian school. (Incidentally, if UT and McGill were lumped in to the U.S. market, I doubt they'd be ranked that much higher than 20th.)

Some major U.S. firms might hire an applicant or two a year from top Canadian law schools, but recruiting and alumni networks are much more focused on American schools.

Also, GWU has some very good young faculty members and is aggressively building its reputation. I wouldn't be surprised to see it move up in the rankings over the next few years--I think it'll certainly break the top 20, and may move up to the mid-teens.

No idea what the consequences of breaking a "preacceptance condition" would be. I imagine the school would just blackball you if you tried to reapply in the future; not sure if they'd be able to do more than that.

Re: Ask Howard Treesong About Law or Lawyering
 

HT,

Long time no talk, how the heck are ya??

1. If you're arrested or brought in for questioning for something you didn't do, how long before you should ask for your lawyer?

2. Same question, but you DID do it.

3. El Diablo asked first, but I was going to ask about Law & Order as well.

T

Re: Ask Howard Treesong About Law or Lawyering
 

Howard,

I'm a young attorney, just licensed, and your last job as a civil litigator is exactly what I want to be doing in 5-8 years.

In terms of preparing myself for that, would you say that a job in the DA's office, the City Attorney's office, or a small general practice civil firm would be best?

Re: Ask Howard Treesong About Law or Lawyering
 

What would you advise this guy to do? He ignored a jury summons and now has his own court date on misdemeanor charges.

Re: Ask Howard Treesong About Law or Lawyering
 

Interesting, I studied engineering before becoming a lawyer, worked in BigLaw and am now basically in-house (no timesheets!). Incidentally, I’m chickening out of the Joe Horn conviction prop bet. After a second reading of the statutes I think he will almost certainly get off.

Re: Ask Howard Treesong About Law or Lawyering
 

Hi HT,

2 questions, completed unrelated, 1 dated & irrelevant now...

wrt the MSFT anti-trust case like, 8 or 9 years ago? It was about MSFT bundling IE with Windows versus people having to pay for Netscape. I didn't understand why MSFT lawyers never presented the case as a water company offering water freely available to drink as part of your water bill (IE) versus people buying bottled water to drink (Netscape). No one's ever sued the water company for giving away water that people could buy... That analogy seems apt to me and I don't understand why it wouldn't be applicable...?

Frivolous lawsuits (& the costs of defending/settling them) are oftentimes identified as a key driver of insurance premiums. I don't expect that you to be subject-matter-expert in this space, but from your view of the elephant, are they? If so, are there any process/procedural "fixes" you could put in place to curtail them? I've always thought that instead of capping the amount you could win in a lawsuit, you should fix the % that a lawyer can earn off medical claims (tho I think you might create a problem where lawyers will only cherrypick the easiest/most profitable cases) Your thoughts?