Maintain vigilance with prosecutors says Fairfax criminal defense lawyer

Maintain vigilance with prosecutors and police or pay the price, says Fairfax criminal defense lawyer

Maintain vigilance with prosecutors and police. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know the necessity of such an approach. When Richard Nixon and Mao Zedong were photographed heartily laughing with each other at their first meeting, they were at all times maintaining their calculation, cunning, and awareness. They both knew how ruthless each other was, that Mao was willing to have slews of his countrypeople die for his dictatorial edicts, and that Nixon had no love whatsover for communists. The two got together not out of weakness, but from recognizing the geopolitical reality of countering the much larger menace to each of their nations that the the Soviet Union represented.

Prosecutorial and police arrogance is but arrogance

Power gets to too many people’s heads, and prosecutors and police have substantial law enforcement power. If I had a dime for every time a prosecutor or police officer approached me with misplaced arrogance, that would be enough money to build many skyscrapers. It is one thing for a cop or prosecutor to do that when my client is not within earshot nor eyeshot, but an entirely different matter if they pull that before my clients’ eyes in the courtroom, when prosecutors start talking with me in the hallway before providing a chance for my client not to be within earshot, and when cops talk anywhere, because they are not bound by the lawyers’ professional conduct rules barring attorneys from communicating about the matter with represented opposing parties. Maintain vigilance with opponents.

Preparing criminal defendants for potential shocks to their systems and to maintain powerful calm

Criminal defense lawyers need to prepare their clients for shocking words and actions from judges, prosecutors and police. Such actions can make their upstanding colleagues look bad. Often worse is when the seemingly upstanding judge, prosecutor or cop acts underhanded. Remember that each of them has their own agenda, and that will not necessarily overlap with the criminal defendant’s agenda. Defense lawyers and their clients must maintain powerful calm.

Preparing the martial arts vessel and the t’ai chi approach to disharmony

As we criminal defense lawyers add years of experience, we develop thicker skins and a vessel to withstand, dissipate, transcend and blunt underhanded actions of others, negative energy, and bad news, all while maintaining the calm.  Criminal defendants have not developed that, so I tell my clients to expect anything in the courthouse and courtroom, and encourage them to leave the fighting to me, and the teamwork to both of us.

Never kiss anyone’s ass

Nothing good ever came from kissing anyone’s ass, which leaves poop on the ass-kisser. A colleague one day told me that he schmoozes prosecutors in a particular county. There can be a fine line between doing that and kissing ass. Maintain calm and tell a joke to disarm a prosecutor? Fine. Talk about a point of commonality, for instance hiking and the great outdoors in my case? Be my guest.  But never hand over your power to anyone.

Good lessons from Master Kan, Steve Rench and Gerry Spence

The fictitious kung fu teacher Master Kan aptly counsels: Avoid before you check, check before you hurt, hurt before you maim, and maim before you kill, and maintain calmness at all times. The same figurative principles apply to criminal defense and all other confrontations.  My teacher Gerry Spence will approach an opponent with the personality and strength of the entire state of his native Wyoming, whereas my teacher Steve Rench gets his fight done with a smile on his face, always powefully ready for battle.

Fairfax criminal defense lawyer Jonathan L. Katz pursues your best defense against felony, misdemeanor and DUI prosecutions. To discuss your case with Jon Katz, please schedule a confidential consultation through his staff at 703-383-1100.