Crime & Federalism

No one in the criminal defense blogosphere seems to like "Strike Lawyer" much, mainly because he's crazy while not insane. He had a prophetic post today:

It’s a little weird for a jury to be out for a long time and not ask any questions.

One thing that might be going on is that they, or at least some of them, don’t trust the judge.  The questions always go to the judge first.  If there’s a feeling that the judge is not a reliable source of information, that could result in eschewing the idea of looking to him for information or guidance.

His coverage was the best out there.

I dunno...People die. Guys in perfect health with work-life balance drop dead while taking a jog on the beach. Who knows if she died of "overwork." While people talk about overwork, it's likely the girl died of overstatus.

To paraphrase Frank Sinatra: If you can make it at Skadden, you can make it anywhere. So why work at Skadden? There are dozens of firms with work-life balance where your partners will treat you like a human being.

Young lawyers don't work at Skadden because the work is interesting. People work at Skadden for the business card. It's just so awesome and flashy to show everyone how much better you are because of the Skadden card. That card is status.

Now one might ask what the point of the status is. Other ugly lawyers think you're tits for working at Skadden? That's who you want to impress. Why? It's not going to get you laid (well, other ugly lawyers will want to fuck you, I guess), and if you're at Skadden, earning money as a lawyer will never be a problem. You'll always be able to make at least a hundred grand.

If you're going to work Skadden hours, it's totally moronic to work those hours at Skadden. Go to a law firm where you'll actually make partner, take some vacations, and actually have a weekend or two off a month.

But then you wouldn't get that nice business card, would you?