by Andy Chen | Jun 8, 2013 | Law, in real life
It might not seem like it to most people, but law is not something that just happens in the abstract confines of a courtroom. What happens in a courtroom appears in real life all the time and most people likely don’t even realize it. My goal with this Info Series is to show you those incidents of when law from a court room appears in real life. We’ve all seen police interrogations on television shows before. The suspect is brought in to an interrogation room with a one-way mirror where the suspect can be observed and recorded. One of the things that the police can do when interrogating a suspect is to lie and, for example, tell the suspect that they have evidence linking him to the crime already so he might as well confess. While it may seem strange that the police would lie, doing so during an interrogation can be perfectly legal thanks to a line of cases beginning with the 1969 US Supreme Court case of Frazier v. Cupp. In that case, Frazier was convicted of second-degree murder in Oregon. He appealed his conviction alleging, among other things that the police had lied in telling him that (a) his associate had already fingered him for the crime, and (b) that the victim had been at fault too by starting the fight that eventually lead to the death. The US Supreme Court disagreed and said that such questioning by the police can be proper, but it depends on the totality of the circumstances under which such interrogation occurs. As with most things in law, the outcome in...
by Andy Chen | Jun 6, 2013 | Tech Series
Regardless of its pros and cons and my personal feelings on the subject, people send text messages. When it comes to court proceedings, those text messages can often be used as evidence. You can print out an email fairly easily, but printing out a text message from your phone is more difficult. As with most things these days, there’s a smartphone app that will help. It will depend on the kind of phone you have. The app that I use is called SMS Backup + and it’s free through the Google Play store. As with most Android apps, it connects to your Google ID account. Your texts will appear in a folder in your gmail account. Here’s the HowToGeek tutorial on how to use and install SMS Backup +. Here’s a Youtube review of it as...
by Andy Chen | Jun 4, 2013 | Swag
A few weeks back, I wrote a celebratory post on my new line of branded swag pens. Quite surprisingly, I got quite a few retweets and follows from that, largely it appears from people who sell branded merchandise. #PromoIdeas: The Write Touch! | @chrispiperor @andychenesq #PPW! fb.me/2zqc1HtpZ — Robert Bruce (@LogoPrintWear) May 29, 2013 #PromoIdeas: The Write Touch! | @chrispiperor@andychenesq #PPW! fb.me/1yV0YVRDg — Promo Products Work! (@PromoProductsWk) May 28, 2013 In this follow up post, I’m going to go over some of the criteria I used to select which merchandise to get. I’ll also interlineate some of the feedback I’ve gotten from clients who have received pens from me. If you even try to look for branded merchandise like pens, you’ll discover that the selection is vast. I’m also a big fan of cars and a lesson from my love of cars helped me choose what pen to actually get. Criteria #1: Touchpoints: It’s part of human nature to want nice things, or — at a minimum — to not be reminded that something is wrong. When you drive a car, you use your senses to interact with it directly in numerous ways. For example, you’ll feel the seat and the steering wheel and you’ll hear the tone of the exhaust or the howl of the wind through the windows or the road through the floor. If any of these interactions are poor — for instance, the seat is really uncomfortable or the road noise really excessive — it will be a constant reminder that you’re driving a lousy car. The takeaway lesson, then, is to spend money on...
by Andy Chen | May 27, 2013 | Feel good series
In my last post, I mentioned that one of the reasons why I like being a solo practice lawyer is that it allows me to pick and choose the cases I want to take and not take. One of the kinds of cases that I generally will try and take are those in which I can help a veteran. There’s a lot of bad news in the world, so today I’m beginning a new series of posts in which I relay a good story to, hopefully, restore your faith in humanity. Today’s story begins like this. Bob (not his real name) was in the Navy. He and his wife Jane (also not her real name) had a home in which they had raised two children. About 7 years ago, Bob and Jane — like many people — borrowed against their home. When the economy turned in 2008, Bob and Jane found themselves unable to pay back the loan they had taken out. When the bank came to take their home, Bob and Jane put up a fight. During the course of that fight, they were ordered by the court to put up a $4,000 security bond. Sadly, Bob and Jane ultimately lost their fight and their home was taken from them. They should have been able to get back their $4,000 when they lost their house, but didn’t. It turns out that their old attorney neglected to tie up that loose end for them. Bob and Jane tried on their own for almost 10 months to get the $4,000 back on their own, but with no success. The court...
by Andy Chen | May 25, 2013 | Swag
I’m a solo practice lawyer. I enjoy the freedom it offers me to, for example, pick and choose the cases I want to take or not take. I also enjoy the freedom to work wherever and whenever I want. That doesn’t mean I’m alone, though. I’m on several email lists and one of them is run by the American Bar Association. The ABA posted a while ago offering pins to any solo lawyer on the list who wanted one. The supplies were limited, of course, so I didn’t think I would be lucky enough to score one. However, guess what I was surprised to find in the mail...
