yanny, you seem like a nice person, but also a confused person. you called me "crude", yet you gave a pass to the person who called me a "cocksucker". do you even know what "crude" means? you're right about the arrogance though, all the good lawyers i know are arrogant, and when it comes up, i tell people "the occasional perception of arrogance is the price of personal excellence."

stupidity flourishes here, witness intersurfa above "catching the rapist on video is a quid pro quo, and a lawyer should not get the perp off because of a technicality. justice does involve ethics." i'll forgive him for misusing "quid pro quo" (what, exactly, was exchanged for that video?) because latin is a difficult language, but not for the rest of it. all the ethics i need are in the canons of legal ethics, which every lawyer must study before being admitted to the bar, and i must know a little something about them, considering that i've been exonerated every single time after each of my (numerous) state bar investigations. first chair at the defense counsel table is not like a church pew, it is no place for self-righteousness or public piety (i leave those to the prosecutor). my clients don't pay me big bucks for me to remain in a moral and legal comfort zone, to sermonize to them or supply additional ethics outside the canons to the situation, they pay me to win the case, that's all, and the only downside to winning on a technicality is that i don't get to bill any more hours in the file.

we're building a potentially useful record here, so i invite any additional detractors who may be lurking to step up. a standard question in voir dire (jury selection) is "have you ever posted to an internet forum?" then you either have to perjure yourself, or else reveal the whole breathtaking range of your stupidity before we decide whether or not we want you on our jury. just a little something for you to think about before you hit the "post" button is whether your comment might, at some time in the future, get a defender, a prosecutor and a judge all together in leading the rest of the courtroom in laughing at you.

this will be my last word on this issue, best wishes to tarquin, intersurfa and all the rest of you. stay out of trouble, i have more business than i can handle.

 is "have you ever posted to an internet forum?" then you either have to perjure yourself, or else reveal the whole breathtaking range of your stupidity before we decide whether or not we want you on our jury. just a little something for you to think about before you hit the "post" button is whether your comment might, at some time in the future, get a defender, a prosecutor and a judge all together in leading the rest of the courtroom in laughing at you.

Here's hoping for some big laughs from the judge. If it gets me thrown off the jury, alls well and good, because i couldn't think of a less enjoyable and inefficient waste of fucking time than jury service. I've only spent time in the antiquated arena of a British court but if it's anything like the American system then i'd rather sit at home and watch Law & Order again. 

As it happens, i think you're doing a valuable job as it seems to me that the rich in America seem well able to buy their way out of trouble and your juries are chock-a-bloc with casual racism (as opposed to my well-thought out racism). My only gripe is that you are a bit of a blowhard. You can charm the panties off an American jury, no doubt, but my knickers are still firmly affixed to my buttocks.

4. lacking culture, refinement, tact, etc.: crude behavior.

5. undisguised; blunt: a crude answer.

I believe your response about saving a man that "raped and murdered a bus full of nuns" lacks culture, refinement and most definitely lacks tact. Your response is also very blunt. So yes, it is far more crude than "cocksucker" or anything the people here or most anywhere is used to. Even though I have no problems with crude comments for rude people. That was my point.

With that comment it makes me wonder if you trully do have the intelligence to back up your arrogance when it appears you do not understand the simple definition of one of the most commonly used words in the english dictionary. Especially when vocabulary is one of my weaknesses.

Couple things I've learned about the internet.

When someone toots their own horn, tries to impress people by their position, education, intellegance, career or social standing & acts superior over everyone, is that they are usually liars, in a dead-end job/sucky life & has self esteem issues.

I got it! Sweet Caroline, in spite of her/his etiologically hysterical name (or a bad pun), is actually a sweet self effacing hermaphrodite (I always had a weakness for hermaphrodites) who found a forum to let out steam... I doubt that she/he is a lawyer, but you never know....

Suite Caroline, please let your binary nature show. I'm afraid you must have been victim of bullies and so are taking revenge anonymously on all cyber comers. You don't have to do that, you know..... You can join a spirited conversation and have fun like the rest of us dummies!

"I think everybody here handled this thread very badly."

Really? I found the whole thing pretty funny, actually. Bring out the popcorn!