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My Grandmother Passes
Ever since launching my website in 1999 and then my blog in 2006, I have made my life more transparent than ever, usually in various Sunday postings. Last Thursday and Friday I went to the gathering and funeral for my grandmother Esther Zimmer. Her obituary is...
Virginia rape law criminalizes forced prostitution, says Fairfax lawyer
Virginia rape law is not only geared towards people who physically and sexually force their bodies on others, but also to people forcing their victims into prostitution activity with others. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I strongly believe in leaving consenting adults alone for the...
Local News Interviews Fairfax Criminal Lawyer Jon Katz on Marijuana Medicinal Extracts
Local news interviewed me on February 14, 2018, for its televised story aired the same date about the Virginia legislature-passed law permitting physicians to prescribe CBD and THC-A oils to patients. The local news segments with me begin here, shortly after minute 1:00. I blogged...
Convincing Prosecution Witnesses To Talk, Through A Third Approach
Criminal complainants can be valuable sources of information to a criminal defense lawyer both for preparing the defense and for seeking to settle the case. Watch out, though, for the risks that criminal complainants will clam up, whether out of fear or uncertainty, out of...
“I felt I had touched his heart” – Sister Ardeth Platte. Persuading with non-anger
I grew up with a lot of anger. Of course, anger is rooted in fear. When I did not feel anger, I often felt a lot of tension. It took decades for me to come to sufficient grips with the bigotry that so many people directed...
Persuading in a suit, when we were once children frolicking in the sun
As I became ten years old and beyond, I noticed more often the premium that was paid for children to act more mature as they got older. Why? To have a disconnect with the power of our children within? To become easily tamed humanoids, so...
In Praise of Lawyer and Psychodramatist Simina Vourlis
My close friend and teacher Trudy Morse — a great grandmother who learned many key life lessons before I ever was born — once wrote in thanks to those who supported her along the path of life. Local taijiquan teacher David Walls Kaufman, who very generously...
Sex and consent: A continuum from full consent to no consent
When I interview candidates to work for me, I inform them that a passion for civil liberties heavily drives my choice of cases. That means that I have never rejected a client merely because s/he is accused of a heinous act, even when I strongly believe s/he has...
Come and listen to a story about a man named Jed
Do jurors want to be tortured for hours by droning lawyers, witnesses and judges, interspersed with waiting for bench conferences with silence that might be even more excruciating? Or, do they want to be transported into the middle of an interesting story, experiencing the action with...
What drives criminal defense lawyers to fight for the accused?
What drives criminal defense lawyers to fight for the accused? I am not talking about the mere willingness to do such work, but about the very thirst to represent such clients and to do it excellently. Here is my brief story; I welcome the stories...