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MISSION STATEMENT
When Abraham Lincoln defended Duff Armstrong for murder in 1858, he achieved an acquittal by using a simple almanac to demonstrate that the moon could not have illuminated the crime scene at the time of the killing. When Earl Rogers represented William Alford in 1899, he created a defense in an ironclad murder case by demonstrating with his forensic expertise that the angle of the wound supported self-defense. When Samuel Leibowitz took on the Scottsboro Boys rape case without a fee after an Alabama court sentenced eight of the boys to death not only did he win a reversal from the U.S. Supreme Court but also succeeded in establishing the legal principle that a Negro cannot be assured a fair trial in a community where they are systematically excluded from jury service. All of these attorneys used a combination of common sense, experience and imagination to accomplish justice for their clients in these cases.
Trial lawyers should be supremely prepared but cannot get lost in their paperwork. They must be legal masters but not so buried in legalize that they are unable to communicate with ordinary citizens. Gifted trial advocates must be fearless but not careless. One's study of history shows how rare is the courage to defend an unpopular case and Robert F. Kennedy once noted that "Courage is the most important attribute of a lawyer. It is more important than competence or vision. It can never be an elective in any law school. It can never be de-limited, dated or outworn, and it should pervade the heart, the halls of justice and the chambers of the mind." When someone or a loved one is under investigation or accused of wrongdoing, the world seems to collapse around them. It takes strength to face criminal charges and the pressure makes the simplest of decisions difficult. My goal is to make such a traumatic experience bearable by providing experienced, honest and aggressive counsel and representation for my clients inside and outside of the courthouse.
I never judge any person based on the charges against them and during my many years of experience there is very little have I have dealt with or seen in our criminal justice system. In order to do my job, I use private investigators, trial consultants and forensic experts such as criminalists, photographers, engineers, physicians, psychiatrists and psychologists among others to assist me. Preparation, investigation, motion practice and trial presentation is all-important in my work and if the case goes to trial, which is a last resort, no one will out-work, out-prepare or out-perform my defense of any client. G.K. Chesterton once wrote about the judicial system that "...it is a terrible business to mark a man out for the vengeance of men. But it is a thing to which a man can grow accustomed, as he can to other terrible things; he can even grow accustomed to the sun. And the horrible thing about all legal officials, even the best, about all judges, magistrates, barristers, detectives, and policemen, is not that they are wicked (some of them are good), not that they are stupid (several of them are quite intelligent), it is simply that they have got used to it. Strictly they do not see the prisoner in the dock; all they see is the usual man in the usual place. They do not see the awful court of judgment; they only see their own workshop." I have and will always see the prisoner in the dock and view the court through the eyes of a person accused. It is my job is to protect my clients and their rights in our courts and I truly believe that we can only protect our liberties in this world by protecting another's freedom.
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