Criminal Defense
For non-lawyers: Effectively navigating the courthouse, testifying, and going to courtroom battle
The court system belongs to all of us and is here to serve us all. It is not some sort of secret society with secret handshakes and incantations.
Why Effective Storytelling is Critical in the Persuasion Process
People don't decide in fragments. They decide in the full context of stories and feelings -- often with their entire beings -- and how that fits in with their life experiences. Therefore, storytelling is critical in the persuasion process.
Self improvement links and steps for your Virginia criminal & DUI defense
Self-improvement / rehabilitation — what I sometimes also call homework — can sometimes help criminal defendants with case negotiations with the prosecutor, and with any case sentencing in the event of a conviction. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know it is ideal criminal defendants to talk...
Terry MacCarthy’s positive approach to persuasion
Long ago I watched a video of Terry demonstrating what he calls look good cross examination, where the cross examiner persuades not just with his or her words and with emphatically delivering those words, but also with his body language, for instance re-enacting a shooting...
Clearing the distractions to success – Effectively standing up for what is right without being merely reactive
A key to personal and professional success is to start by looking inward. Yes, we must engage with the reality and world around us. Yes ,we must help others as well as ourselves, and not just ourselves. To engage and help others and ourselves the...
Virginia Supreme Court rules 4-3 on the wrong side of the law for exigent searches
Praised be the three Virginia Supreme Court justices who on September 17, 2015, dissented from the four-justice majority that affirmed a warrantless apartment search purportedly conducted pursuant to exigent circumstances. Evans v. Virginia, , ___ Va. ___ (Sept. 17, 2015). The search found a substantial...
Former Virginia government Bob McDonnell obtains rare Supreme Court prison stay
Sentenced to two years in prison for public corruption, former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell has by now spent substantially more funds than any financial benefit he obtained from his convicted corruption, on top of great angst and likely losing any chance of becoming president or...
In Trial Battle, Relax and Practice, and Be Ready for Vomit and Other Messes
My blog entries on trial practice boil down to relaxing and practicing, just as amazing taijiquan teacher Ben Lo reminds his students that the key foundation of excelling in taijiquan is “relax and practice”. For relaxation, I mean active relaxation, not collapsing. Certainly, brittleness is...
Critical Crossroads for Overhauling the Police State, Supporting Good Policing and Speaking Out Against Police Abuse
The United States is at a critical crossroads for overhauling the police state, supporting good policing and speaking out over wrong policing, in the face of widespread police abuse, with some of the starker recent examples being the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner,...
Virginia Ct. App. okays limits on challenging identification of a robber
People misidentify others all the time. We think we see our best friend in the grocery store and realize it is a stranger. We meet a group of people and mistake two from the crowd for each other. We pay a store clerk at one moment...