http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com en-us Copyright CNHI All Rights Reserved. 5 Fri, 16 May 2008 14:39:00 +0000 http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/opinion/local_story_137144038.html http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/opinion/local_story_137144038.html Forget the Oscars, the Emmys, the Grammys, and the Tonys of the entertainment world. If you ask me, many of the more unusual goings-on in the legal world have proven just as entertaining as some of the shows on television or the movies crowding your local multiplex this year. I think they deserve some, shall we say, special recognition all their own. Fri, 09 May 2008 01:27:00 +0000 http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/opinion/local_story_130012904.html http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/opinion/local_story_130012904.html If the wackiness afoot in the legal system makes you wonder sometimes if the end of the world is approaching, then you’re not alone. Some of the hard to believe developments that have occurred recently make me wonder if the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are going to show up carrying briefcases. Thu, 01 May 2008 19:50:00 +0000 http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/opinion/local_story_122195145.html http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/opinion/local_story_122195145.html After the British army formally surrendered to George Washington at the Battle of Yorktown, heralding the end of the Revolutionary War, Gen. Cornwallis’ once-proud military band played a tune they must have thought quite appropriate – “The World Turned Upside Down.”Given the strangeness of recent goings-on in the legal world, I can’t help but whistle that tune myself as I ponder some of the following developments. Thu, 17 Apr 2008 18:03:00 +0000 http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/opinion/local_story_108180415.html http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/opinion/local_story_108180415.html Sgt. Chris McMaster, USMC, a 1999 graduate of Royse City High School, has just recently returned from an assignment in Japan where he was the crew chief on a CH-53 helicopter. Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:54:00 +0000 http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/opinion/local_story_102135534.html http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/opinion/local_story_102135534.html I had originally intended my “Lawyers Behaving Badly” series to be a two-parter. But these darn lawyers just keep on getting into trouble, and that trouble keeps on making news. Sat, 05 Apr 2008 18:17:00 +0000 http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/opinion/local_story_096181845.html http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/opinion/local_story_096181845.html This is not a pretty story. And it is certainly not a feel-good story. Instead, it is the story of a young man who grew up in Anchorage, Ak., went to war for his country, got wounded and medically discharged from the US Army, and now he and his wife are wondering how they are going to live a “normal” life. Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:45:00 +0000 http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/opinion/local_story_094204615.html http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/opinion/local_story_094204615.html In the first part of this series, I discussed lawyers with some serious ethical shortcomings – stealing from clients, bribery, filing made-up lawsuits, and so on. Unfortunately, the spectrum of lawyer misbehavior is broad, indeed – which is why this week I continue my own list of ethical rules that some lawyers, apparently, never grasped in law school. Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:27:00 +0000 http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/opinion/local_story_087132854.html http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/opinion/local_story_087132854.html Like virtually every lawyer out there, I was required to take a law school class called “Professional Responsibility” and to pass a test called Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE) as part of being admitted to the practice of law. Fri, 21 Mar 2008 16:11:00 +0000 http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/opinion/local_story_081161239.html http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/opinion/local_story_081161239.html Timing is odd sometimes, because while a first-generation Colombian-American is making news in the world of music — music itself was making news in the world of Colombia. Fri, 21 Mar 2008 00:26:00 +0000 http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/opinion/local_story_081002718.html http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/opinion/local_story_081002718.html Trickery and deception are things that society tends to associate with the legal profession.Clients will sometimes ask me if I can secretly tape a conversation with a witness (I can’t), or pull some other type of underhanded move, and I have to explain the strict ethical boundaries within which I have to operate. Thu, 06 Mar 2008 19:29:00 +0000 http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/opinion/local_story_066193003.html http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/opinion/local_story_066193003.html Pamela Aye Simon has written a book designed to cheer folks up when they’re feeling glum. Thu, 28 Feb 2008 22:24:00 +0000 http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/opinion/local_story_059222539.html http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/opinion/local_story_059222539.html I have on my desk a copy of this week’s Rockwall high school newspaper, a good, straightforward newspaper. And I quickly scanned through it, as I do with the two dozen or so different newspaper titles I look at each week, until a headline caught my eye. Mon, 25 Feb 2008 01:32:00 +0000 http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/opinion/local_story_056013336.html http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/opinion/local_story_056013336.html On February 12, 2008, at a Black History Month event at the White House, President Bush noted the disturbing recent displays of nooses at schools, workplaces, and neighborhoods around the country, and suggested that some Americans may have lost sight of the suffering endured by African-Americans. Fri, 22 Feb 2008 00:10:00 +0000 http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/opinion/local_story_053001104.html http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/opinion/local_story_053001104.html About six months ago, a friend e-mailed me a list of safety tips for women, with the suggestion that I read it and pass it on.I alerted a few others, but since the e-mail letter is still on my file, it occurs to me that this column might be a good way to get the word out to more women. Fri, 08 Feb 2008 13:14:00 +0000 http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/opinion/local_story_039131547.html http://www.rockwallheraldbanner.com/opinion/local_story_039131547.html As many of you know, I write a year-end wrap-up recognizing some of the strangest lawsuits and legal stories of the year. However, 2008 is off to such an early start in this department that I just can’t wait – there’s just been too much weirdness going on in the courtroom.