ATTORNEY PAUL A. KSICINSKI 414-530-5214
ATTORNEY PAUL A. KSICINSKI
TOP 100 WISCONSIN CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER
​414-530-5214
  • Home
  • References
  • PEER ENDORSEMENTS
  • PAST CASES
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
  • How to deal with police
  • Practice Areas
  • About
  • Criminal Law Links
  • News

Discussion of current legal issues

Henry Nellum case selected by USA Network as a compelling homicide trial to keep an eye on in 2018

Button Text

WIN A CASE BY HUGGING A PROSECUTOR?

12/19/2014

1 Comment

 


Often as a criminal defense lawyer, I will walk into court and joke around with the prosecutor before a client’s case is called.  On more than one occasion, a client has called me on the carpet for laughing with the prosecution before their case is called.  I usually explain to the client that simply because I may laugh with the prosecutor, or heaven forbid, even be on friendly terms, does not mean I will not fight zealously for their cause.  Moreover, I expect no less from the prosecution.

However, in honor of the Holiday period, I thought it might be useful to think about this idea in more detail.  So is there a basis to be “friendly adversaries”?  I think so.  If I look down my nose at the prosecution’s case I do a grave injustice to my client.  Such a condescending (and emotional) review of the prosecution’s case means that I judge their case in harsh and likely inaccurate terms.  The practice of building my case consists of finding an advantage, leveraging the superiority of my position.  The danger in case case-building is a corresponding tendency to think the other side is crazy for proceeding to trial.  That is a big mistake.  In fact, one study found that negative emotions, like disgust, shuts down a person’s ability to reason.  Horberg, Keltner, Oveis, Cohen, Disgust and the Moralization of Purity, 97 J. Of Pers. & Social Psych. 963 (APA 2009).  In fact, those touchy feely people in alternative dispute resolution now tell me that the most important predictor of my effectiveness isn't my ability to leverage the advantages of my position, but the ability to empathize with an adversary. Reilly, Theory that Leads to more effective dispute resolution, 10 Nev. L.J. 433 (2010).

So, I guess being an ass in court is not helpful to a client.  Effective advocacy means a fundamental respect and appreciation for the prosecution -- their claims, their reasoning, and their motives.  Maybe Ghandi and Dr. Martin Luther King had the right idea.  You cannot fight force with more force.  Dr. King once said:

Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.

1 Comment
Jesse link
12/19/2014 03:24:18 am

As we renew our vow that all of Africa shall be free, let us also resolve that old wounds shall be healed and past scars forgotten. It was thus that Ethiopia treated the invader nearly 25 years ago, and Ethiopians found peace with honour in this course. Memories of past injustice should not divert us from the more pressing business at hand. We must live in peace with our former colonisers, shunning recrimination and bitterness and forswearing the luxury of vengeance and retaliation, lest the acid of hatred erode our souls and poison our hearts. Let us act as befits the dignity which we claim for ourselves as Africans, proud of our own special qualities, distinctions, and abilities. Our efforts as free men must be to establish new relationships, devoid of any resentment and hostility, restored to our belief and faith in ourselves as individuals, dealing on a basis of equality with other equally free peoples.
Haile Selassie I. May 25. 1963.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    These are reflections I have had about our criminal justice system.  Some of it may make sense, some of it might not.

    Archives

    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.