Florida Criminal Law

What does the Criminal Mind look like?

2007-12-26T15:30:00.000-06:00

AS a practicing lawyer, I like watching television and movies about lawyers about as much as you would like watching . . . a show about your day at work. Before you start to think that your televised workday is so cool, let me quickly throw some ice on that happy thought: Most of what everyone would see about your day at work would be fake, overly glamorized, and just plain wrong.

For me, this happens whenever I turn on the news and *Surprise!* lawyers and/or crime is the topic. The dramas are wrong, the news is wrong, and it all is . . . wrong, wrong, wrong!

One of my favorite areas of crime and the law involves THE Criminal Mind (there is only one, apparently). Most of the time, these types of shows involve well-spoken psychobabblists deconstructing the (THE) Criminal Mind of someone who did something terrible. This equation degenerates into Law + Crime + Evil + Person = Crap.

The saddest aspect of all of this nonsense is not the plight of the victim of this episode of made for media victimization. Rather, it is how the public as a whole is victimized by nonsensical thinking, criminal justice system psychobabble and the failure to solve the problem of crime itself. As a result, more and more people will be victimized by the failure of the criminal justice system to actually solve the problem of crime, not just this week's CSI drama.

So let's actually look, yes, look at a healthy brain and that "Criminal Mind."

First, let's look at a SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography) scan of a healthy brain (bottom to top view):

Courtesty of the Amen Clinics, this is what a human brain looks like in a healthy, young adult. Notice how smooth it is compared to the next image:

These two images are from the perspective of looking from the bottom to the top, and are imaging scans of the surface only. However, a trained psychiatrist can use these scans in conjunction with other tools (patient history, neuropsychological testing and such) in order to make a more accurate psychiatric diagnosis.

Now, I am no medical doctor, but even a lay person can tell that the two images are different. One is healthy, one is not so healthy. Beyond that I cannot tell you much about these scans, except for this: Brain = Behavior.

This equation explains why people break the law - over and over again. People with brain dysfunction act . . . dysfunctional. Most "repeat offenders" don't think they are Jesus, they aren't controlled by microscopic space aliens and they do not hear voices. Some do, with tragic results.

Thus the solution to the problem of crime is a matter of mental health. Up until the advent of neuroimaging, we could not see a living brain any more than you could look at someone's broken arm, squint your eyes and see the actual bone. Now, trained professionals can actually see the organ responsible for human behavior, make a more accurate diagnsosis, and prescribe a personalized treatment program based on that person's individual needs.

Of course, this is not nearly as much fun as vengence, but I submit that it makes more sense diagnose and treat the next Andrea Yates before she kills her children in a bathtub or someone dies in a domestic dispute.

Respectfully submitted,

Stephen G. Cobb

2007-06-19T09:59:00.000-05:00

The Smoking Gun

For several years now, I have been asserting that there is a definitive link between mental illness and crime. To recap, repeat offender crime is caused by one of two factors:

1) A small number of repeat offenders have a personality disorder. Think of this as a willful desire to break the law due to bad character.

2) A large number of repeat offenders have mental illnesses that do not qualify for an insanity defense under Florida law, yet affect their behavior and cause criminal behavior.

This second view is very controversial: If criminals are simply “bad characters,” it would justify increasingly harsh punishment. Incarceration would then serve the dual purposes of protection of the public and retribution However, if some criminal are bad characters and others are not, we have a problem: Harsh punishments will not deter the mentally ill, and retribution becomes and act of cruelty.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report published in September of 2006 exposes the level of cruelty - and ignorance – prevalent in our society. While most of the public thinks that harsher punishment is the solution to the social problem of crime – to “teach them a lesson” and other such nonsense, the reality is that we are behaving like prisoners who hurt others without remorse: Our society is quite bluntly put, cruel.

• 45% of federal prisoners have mental health problems.
• 56% of state prisoners have mental health problems.
• 64% of local jail inmates have mental health problems.

This stunning document was produced by the United States government’s own Bureau of Justice, not some “bleeding heart” group. They used professionally accepted definitions and standards:

“Symptoms of a mental disorder were based on criteria specified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV).” - Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, page 1, September 2006.

One final thought: The incidence of mental illness was probably understated because many facilities and many inmates refused to participate.

2007-06-07T22:31:00.000-05:00

Florida Bar Board Certified Criminal Trial Specialist versus "Super Lawyers" and the Martindale-Hubble “AV Rating”

Florida criminal law is a competitive business just like any other professional service. If someone is the greatest lawyer in their field, yet have no clients, economically they lose. Yet if a mediocre lawyer is profitable, they win. Money isn’t the most important thing in the world, but for many, it ranks up there with oxygen. This is not ideal; it’s just how it is.

Lawyer rating systems marketed by law firm vendors are affected by the necessity to market legal services. Always remember this critical fact when selecting a lawyer in any field. There have been what I consider to be bogus attempts to pad lawyer resumes with labels such as "Super Lawyer" and an even older scam such as the Martindale-Hubble "AV Rating."

A Florida criminal lawyer is an expert (a specialist) or is not. There is no middle ground:

Florida Bar Certified Trial Specialist

* Must take an advanced written test created by other certified experts

* Must have a minimum number of legal cases tried to completion

* Must have a certain number of cases of a “serious and complex nature” tried to completion

* Must complete Continuing Legal Education (CLE)

* Peer Review requirements

* “Certified attorneys are the only lawyers allowed to identify or advertise themselves as Florida Bar Board Certified, specialists or experts.” – The Florida Bar

* Board Certification is recognized by the Florida Bar for a lawyer’s expertise and competence.

Martindale-Hubble “AV Rating”

* No testing

* No trial requirement

* No complexity requirement

* No CLE requirement

* Peer Review requirements

* Any lawyer meeting the legal vendor’s criteria can identify themselves as “AV
rated.”

* An AV Rating is not recognized by the Florida Bar – for anything.

Peer Review Requirements

Check out this gem straight from the Martindale-Hubble website:

"What is the role of the Martindale-Hubbell Ratings Specialist in the rating process?
Peer Review Ratings Specialists work closely with Martindale-Hubbell's larger law firm clients to educate, engage and assist their lawyers in the Peer Review Process and the marketing opportunities surrounding the Peer Review Ratings."

Let me tranlate that one for the general public - have all of your friends in the legal profession scratch your back and you will scratch theirs. There are no exams, no CLE requirements, and best of all, Martidale-Hubble has sold this pap to large law firms for so long, that many lawyers actually believe it!

I am not a "Super Lawyer" nor am I "AV Rated" by some marketing division of a vendor of legal publications. I never will be, either: Like many of my colleagues, I am a Board Certified Expert in Florida Criminal Trial Law. None of us can promise you a "win."

That may not be what our "pratice advisors" want us to tell you, but the public needs the truth, not a slick advetising campaign. "Super Lawyer" designations and "AV Ratings" are not even recognized by the Bar. They are little more than slick marketing to make you feel better. These "rating systems" imply a golden results in a legal field where we cannot promise a particular result.

Actually, experience has prove that telling it like it is consitutes the best marketing strategy.

Respectfully submitted,

Stephen G. Cobb
CobbLawFirm.com

2007-05-19T21:10:00.000-05:00

The Florida Anti- Abortion Murder Act of 20??

This is not one of those posts that will please everyone. There is a critical abortion issue that must be addressed in the public forum, for this issue may arise before we have had time to debate it. Therefore, we must hold this debate now.

This issue comes in to play only if the United Supreme Court reverses Roe v. Wade and allows states such as Florida to make abortion illegal.

Here is the problem no one is talking about: What is the penalty?

Think about this carefully, regardless of your position. Here is the logical line of reasoning and where it leads.

1) What is the argument that posits abortion should be made illegal?

ANSWER: Abortion should be illegal because it is the murder of an unborn child.

2) What is the penalty for premeditated murder?

ANSWER: Florida Statute Section 782 states that the penalty is death or life in prison.

If some future Anti-Abortion Murder Act is passed, then the abortion murder sentence must be life or death. There is no logical way to make abortion an act of premeditated murder without a life or death sentence.

You noticed that I said "logical" and correctly point out that politicians are not always logical. Many have a tenuous connection to logic, at best. Yet what happens to our society if some future Anti-Abortion Murder Act passes?

Either 1) we have a murder statute section where the entire logical justification for it is a lie, or; 2) we imprison or execute doctors, women who have abortions, the nurses who assist and even the sister who drove the woman to the doctor.

I warned you that this post wouldn't be pretty.

Respectfully submitted,

Stephen G. Cobb
CobbLawFirm.com

NOTE: After this post was completed, I received a comment that caused me to check out another post that intrigued me from one sentence: "Life is life OR it's not." This is striking because of the incisive nature of the logic behind yes or no questions - they get to the truth rather quickly because the fuzzy avoidance of hard choices is eliminated quickly, and an issue gets distilled to its essential question rather quickly.

2007-05-11T21:30:00.000-05:00

How to Solve the Problem of Crime

Here is a cost neutral way to solve the social problem of crime.

When a criminal defendant is arrested, they are usually held until they see a First Appearance judge within 24 hours of arrest. At First Appearance, the judge will often determine bond issues.

First Appearance is often a criminal defendant’s first contact with the judicial system, their first contact with someone empowered to solve the problem of crime. First Appearance judges can:

1. Learn the patterns of mental illness that fly below the radar. Substance abuse is an obvious red flag. Driving on a suspended license isn’t, but should be.

2. Order a Diagnostic Psychological Evaluation as a condition of bond. Do not order cookie cutter treatment such as Batterer’s Intervention Program, Anger Management, AA or NA. Diagnosis first, treatment second.

3. Impose a condition that the defendant follow through with treatment as recommended while the case is pending. A limited medical release can be required for the purpose of ensuring compliance with this condition of bond.

The key to effective intervention is diagnosis first. The failure to properly diagnose criminal defendants is why Drug Court, Shoplifters anonymous, court ordered AA/NA and Anger Management counseling programs are statistical failures: The wrong treatment is often worse than no treatment at all.

A proper diagnostic evaluation is not a fifteen minute question and answer session with a counselor with a bachelor’s degree. Such a drive through diagnostic session is a waste of the counselor’s and the patient’s time. Yet this is exactly how most court ordered programs operate.

The best practice is one of two methods of diagnosis:

1. Medicine: A SPECT brain scan by a well-trained psychiatrist, such as those at Amen Clinic. However, it is too expensive for a judge to impose it as a condition of bond. As the technology becomes more available, that will change. A full imaging and follow through will cost around $4,000.00.

2. Psychology: A Mental Status Exam coupled with Advanced Psychometric Testing, such as the MMPI-II and the MCM-III. A full battery of tests can be done for about $750.00 – well within the means of most who want to get out of jail.

A diagnostic evaluation and follow through treatment is not with the means of every single criminal defendant. However, it is within the means of most. After all, the courts have been imposing treatment without adequate diagnosis for years.

Just look at well that system has worked.

Respectfully submitted,

Stephen G. Cobb
CobbLawFirm.com

2007-05-06T12:03:00.000-05:00

A Special Note To Florida Criminal Defense Lawyers

This is a departure from my normal material due to the new conflict case system Florida has adopted. There are numerous posts elsewhere about how this will hurt indigent people charged with crimes, so I will not dwell on this important aspect. Instead, we will focus on that subject most lawyers hate: Law office economics.

Florida’s conflict case system was drastically altered to make it more “cost effective.” Many Florida criminal defense lawyers are freaking out because they rely on the conflict system for much of their income. There is now less conflict business at lower rates. Here is how smart lawyers will survive the new system:

1. Raise your fees. A “fee for any budget” price war will cause legal fees to be driven lower and lower – among lower priced criminal defense lawyers, not the best lawyers. Service will immediately decline, and your clients will be the ones who suffer most. FANTASY - "The legal fee doesn't affect the quality of legal service." REALITY - The legal fee directly affects the quality of criminal defense legal service.
2. Get off of the conflict list. The new rates pay less than minimum wage. Taking a case under this new system is tantamount to admitting 3.850 IAC. FANTASY - "The new system will be cost effective." REALITY - Taking cases for less than minimum wage is a 3.850 waiting to happen.
3. Raise your fees. My minimum fee is $5,000.00 – plus costs – for any criminal case, even a misdemeanor. Raising your fees may seem counter intuitive, as there will be more lawyers competing for private practice clients. However, raising your fees will actually work. Remember, your banker will repossess your house and your vehicle, but not your kids. You can’t help your clients if you can’t financially help yourself. FANTASY - "No one can afford high legal fees." REALITY - Some can, those are the ones you want as clients. If you and your secretary give up your salary and benefits, you can provide free legal service - and your clients will get what they pay for.
4. Get Board Certified or get out. In the criminal defense private market, you are either a specialist, or you are competing against one. FANTASY - "I don't need board certification because I am just as good." REALITY - You will get kille din the marketplace unless you are extremely savvy.
5. Raise your fees. Your time spent defending a client’s liberty will never be returned to you at the end of your life. These seconds become minutes. Minutes quickly become hours. Hour after hour, you are quickly approaching the end of your time allotted on this earth. Value your time, and your clients will value you.
6. Never take “payment plans.” You can always spot the “Budget fee, payment plan” criminal defense lawyers. They are routinely late for court, always have schedule conflicts, frequently continue cases in the foolish hope that they will be paid, and they always have the most difficult clients. I have seen them get disbarred. FANTASY - "People need payment plans, they don't have the money." REALITY - If you take payment plans, you will chase clients for fees. They have lenders - with lawyers - who specialize in that. You are a criminal defense lawyer, not an interest free lender.

When you are overloaded with too many clients, too many cases, too little time for yourself and your family, you are hurting your client’s lawyer. Performance suffers, people will get hurt.

FANTASY – “I am a professional, money does not matter.”

REALITY – You can't help your clients with legal matters if you can't help yourself with financial matters.

That's just how it is.

Respectfully submitted,
Stephen G. Cobb
FBN: 0835171

CobbLawFirm.com

2007-04-26T12:12:00.000-05:00

Crime is the Answer. Question: What Happens When Mental Illness Goes Untreated?

A mother throws her kids off of a pier in San Francisco. A mother in Texas drowns her children in a bath tub. At Virginia Tech, a young man massacres his fellow students. In each of these high profile cases, it was reasonably foreseeable that these crimes would occur because it was well known that these people were mentally ill.

Each day, the phone rings at my criminal defense law firm because someone has been arrested. Each day, my Assistant, Janice, prepares a report for me. This report includes information about the case, and unlike most criminal defense lawyers, includes information as to whether my prospective client needs to be examined for a hidden mental disease, defect or disorder. Guess what? We send about ninety percent of our clients for detailed diagnostic evaluations. In the past decade, two have come back normal. Two. So how do we solve the problem of crime in our community? The answer is blisteringly obvious: Mental health diagnosis and treatment.

Each day, people in this community are charged with crimes that are not high profile cases. These criminal defendants are not jumping off of a balcony flapping their arms claiming to be Jesus. Yet most have a hidden mental illness that negatively affects their behavior, mental illnesses that cause them to break the law.

The tough on crime, short on smarts crowd wants more incarceration – and it will cost you about fifty dollars per inmate, per day. This is more than a poor public policy. This is stupid. We can’t punish the Virginia Tech gunman, and even if we could, punishment is a poor substitute for the losing someone you love. I would suggest we solve the cause of most crime before someone at a local high school or college decides to enter the Biggest Shooting Massacre record books.

Here is a smart cost neutral way to start:

• Add a few questions to the pre-screening of inmates before their First Appearance when bond is addressed for the first time.
• Make “Obtain psychological/psychiatric evaluation and follow treatment as recommended” a standard bond condition in cases where it is appropriate. Diagnosis and treatment can also be made a condition of supervision in non-incarcerative sentencing cases.
• Eliminate the failure path of imposing cookie cutter talk therapy without adequate diagnosis in DUI, Domestic Violence, and drug cases. These programs skimp on the diagnostic portion and rely too much on talk therapy. Talk therapy has its place, but all the talk therapy in the world won’t heal a medical problem in someone’s brain any more than it will heal a broken arm. Diagnose accurately first, treat appropriately second.

Some people need to be locked up. Most don’t. Most people who are guilty of committing crimes need to be accurately diagnosed and appropriately treated. Diagnosis and treatment are the only way to break the cycle in our community without breaking the bank.

Unless you like setting your money on fire.

Attorney Stephen G. Cobb has been designated an expert in criminal trial law by the Florida Bar Association. He has practiced criminal law since 1990 and has four college degrees. His e-mail address is Stephen@cobblawfirm.com.

2007-04-18T14:52:00.000-05:00

Cashing In On Crime: The Dark Ages, Part II

The cornerstone of our current system of justice can be summed up in three words: Crime and Punishment. The focus on crime consists of a focus on guilt or innocence. Everything boils down to the focus of whether someone did something illegal. The focus on punishment consists of what is the proper infliction of suffering for a crime that has been committed. Crime = Punishment.

As any rational person can see, our criminal justice system has utterly failed. Likewise, any rational person would never commit crime because of the punishment, right? This is where the whole system breaks down: The founders of our criminal justice system believed it was rational when it is not.

This is not a minor distinction. This is the key to understanding the stupidity of our criminal justice system. The way we look at our criminal justice system is just as important as what we believe we see. What if our way of thinking were to become Crime Solution instead of Crime and Punishment?

In order to see the problem different, we must know something different. Something that the politicians, the media and the pressure groups want to hide from you: They don’t want you to know why we have crime I n the first place. Knowledge empowers. Belief enslaves. The less you know and the more you think you believe, the easier it is to use tricks of psychology to get your time, your vote and your money.

You have been fed crap and kept in the dark.

A prime example of being fed crap is the current hysteria, sex offenders. MSNBC has a popular series, To Catch a Predator. Here’s their spin:

“An ongoing hidden camera investigation into computer sex predators -- grown men, trolling the Web for young teenagers. This time, police are making arrests.”

Does that pass the smell test? I mean, really, does that sound like MSNBC is interested in solving the problem of sex crimes or that MSNBC is more interested in creating a climate of fear, scandal and higher ratings?

To Catch a Predator preys on your fears, preys on your emotion, preys on your logic and ensures a serious problem is transformed into cheap entertainment. If the show were a factual presentation of methods, techniques and strategies for keeping your family safe, that would be one thing. But it isn’t. To Catch a Predator is all about the chase, the titillation, and the big bust.

Although Doc Block and To Catch a Predator are criminal justice cable crap standouts, MSNBC is not the only offender.

CNN’s Headline News inflicts Nancy Grace upon us nightly.

2007-04-11T16:24:00.000-05:00

Cashing in on Crime: The Dark Ages of Criminal Law, Part I

Long ago, during the middle ages, something was against the law simply because the king said so. There were no legislatures, no courts as we understand them today, and no check or balance of any kind. Law created by the Divine Right of Kings – God’s chosen representatives who could make up any law at will. Thus, in France, when a peasant whistled appreciatively at a young French queen, the king had the man imprisoned for life on the spot. This arbitrary system of “justice” was not very popular, and the problem was apparent to the intellectuals of the day: The system of governance was unfair and irrational.

Over the centuries, intellectuals began to postulate a new system of criminal justice as part of a new system of government. They argued that law should be created by group of elected leaders who would represent will of “the people.” They believed a rational group of men could create a rational system of government. Rational law could then be created by a rational representative government. Rational punishment would only occur after a rational legal proceeding with rational checks and balances to ensure the fairness of true justice. Rational people would not want violate laws they had a stake in creating. Some people would break the law, they reasoned, but policing and punishment would round out a fair system

The exact form of government varied – a parliamentary system in Great Britain, a republic in America – but the underlying theories were essentially the same: A democratic republic would produce a rational, fair system of justice.

Over time, the debate has shifted. The founders of our nation are long dead. Our memory of governmental legal abuse is gone. Today, our beliefs are influenced by the media, not a bad memory from the past. Instead of worrying over whether the government can force us to house troops in our homes and horses in our barns, we are whipped into a frenzy over whether the system is fair to the victims.

When you hear that someone has burned crying puppy to death, strangled a pregnant mother, or sodomized a little boy, doesn’t it make you angry? Of course, it does. The media, the politicians and the pressure groups are counting on it – angry people act without thinking. And the politicians, pressure groups and the media don’t ever want you to think, they want you to do something. They want your vote, your time, and your money.

Especially your money.

2007-04-09T09:37:00.000-05:00

Cashing in on Crime: Politicians, Pressure Groups and the Media

Each day, you pay about $46.10 for each person incarcerated in a jail or prison. Most of these inmates will be released - and re-arrested.

For those of us who work in the criminal justice system every day, it is reasonably foreseeable that they will violate the law in specific patterns. More importantly, it is actually possible to break the cycle of dysfunctional behavior in about 80 percent of all criminal cases. But this isn’t happening. Instead, your tax dollars are being set on fire by a government that just doesn’t get it. People are being hurt, property is destroyed, and the broken system of criminal justice continues to break the heart of many mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters each and every day.

Here is how the game is played.

Someone gets hurt by a criminal act. Next, the media sensationalizes the case for ratings. In response, the public is angered and afraid. A political pressure group is formed. A politician sees an opportunity, so yet another “get tough on crime” bill is introduced. Other politicians jump on the bandwagon, and a bad law is passed. The result? The problem of crime remains unsolved.

Actually solving the problem of crime is unthinkable to the players in the system. Let’s review the impact of actually solving the problem of crime on the players in the system.
The Media: True crime is one of the most popular news subjects for print, internet, television and radio media. If the problem of crime were to be solved, then the media would lose customers and that means losing money. Watch your local news tonight – it will probably start with the crime report.

The Pressure Groups: Can you imagine MADD’s paid political and administrative operatives disbanding because the problem of driving under the influence was solved? MADD brings in millions of dollars each year, and much of this money goes to pay very good salaries. About 19 cents for every dollar raised goes to for charitable works.

The Politicians: Entrepreneurs exist to make money. Politicians exist to get re-elected. When it is time to place an Intoxalock on a convicted driver’s vehicle, the profit potential for both is staggering. For the entrepreneurs (think ‘donors to you political campaign’), consider this passage:

“In the state of Wisconsin, service centers are getting between $75 and $150 for install, about $20/month to exchange the unit, and $50 to $100 for removal of the unit. That $20/month is just unplugging the thing, shipping it to the leasing company, and plugging in a new one that is supplied by the leasing company. Most states require the user to have this installed for more than one-year on their vehicle. Imagine the potential if you have many people in your area requiring these units!” Click here for the full article.

There is a recurring theme here. Money. Crime is a big business. Crime is a safe business, too. Economy booming? Crime is a great way to make money. Economy crashing? Crime is recession proof, and actually more profitable.

In my next article, we will answer a critical question: How did we end up with this poor performing legal system?

2007-01-31T12:01:00.000-06:00

Working Outside of The Box

Another Monday at 10:56 a.m. My first client consult is scheduled to begin in four minutes, and I have been at work, off and on, since about 7:30 a.m.

My next appointment is at 1 p.m., and I have research and writing to finish. My case status staffing was completed a little over an hour ago. No court appearances are scheduled for today. So I put on my headset and begin the first appointment . . . just another day practicing law outside of the box.

Most lawyers get up in the morning, put on the lawyer suit of the day and head to the box, AKA, “the office.” Some have a long commute, some have a short one. Some work for a large firm with a large box, some work in a medium sized box and some have a small box.

The box is filled with people, phone systems, computers, printers, copiers, files, and coffee pots. Whether the law firm is a large box or a small box, most work outside of the courthouse is performed in the box. True, some work is done outside of the box, yet in most firms, 95% of the work is done in the box. The home office is an afterthought for work to be completed after a day in the box, or on weekends.

But I am outside of the box. W-a-a-a-a-a-y outside of the box. Let me explain.

I have been a practicing lawyer since 1989. I am a Board Certified Florida Criminal Trial Law Specialist with a practice limited to Florida criminal law in the state courts. Before 2004, I practiced law like most other lawyers – in the box. After Hurricane Ivan, we realized that our disaster recovery plan was a joke. The hurricane forced us to remake our entire firm, from the legal structure of the law firm right down to how we draft a motion. Later, when the cost of gasoline blew through the roof, we found that our clients preferred our disaster recovery mode of operation. Even the Florida Supreme Court encouraged the use of technology to save energy.

So here is how we practice law at Cobb Criminal Defense Law Firm today, outside of the box:

We have two offices in two different counties. They are only used to meet with clients. I go into to one or the other office an average of three (3) hours per week.

Our entire “on payroll” staff telecommutes the majority of the time. Phones are forwarded to a central telecommunications hub, the calendar is kept up to date online, all files are electronically stored in a central location, and we have a system for sending and receiving mail. Out of the box, we are actually more in touch with each other than most law firms.

Most of our “co-workers” are actually outsourced colleagues in various different disciplines necessary to represent our clients. This enables us to build large legal defense teams at a fraction of the cost. We pass those savings on to our clients.

I am writing this article as I normally work on non-court days: Wearing a pair of shorts, a tee shirt and a baseball hat while sitting in my “work” recliner. CNBC is usually on mute, but not today. Stumpy is asleep next to me, curled up in his doggie blanket. My telephone headset is right next to me, and I haven’t bothered to shave. No one on the other end of a phone line is concerned with how I am dressed, rather they are more interested in my experitse, as it should be.

My computer is on my lap with twelve (12) screens across the bottom and six (6) tabs across the top ready for action. I am tied in to my calendar, my e-mail, my research projects, my client files and the courthouse. My tricked-out Gateway Convertible Notebook is a top of the line computer so advanced that I can literally sign documents with a digital pen directly on the screen. My secretary prints the hardcopies and we send what we can electronically to various recipients.

“Box office appointments” or jail visits are scheduled on court days because I am in a suit anyway. When my life revolved around a daily commute to and from the box, I came to hate business attire. Now I enojy it.

The quality of life difference is profound. Our productivity has grown exponentially. Our clients love our service, and the convenience we are able to provide. We have made our technology easy for eveyone to use, and it pays us with more than money, it pays for itself with the most valuable asset one can have - time.

So now it is time to end this break, and get back to work, outside of the box. I will hit the ‘save’ button, open another screen and finish that exciting motion to have Florida's sentencing laws declared unconstitutional based on that Cunningham case from the USSC . . . .

2007-01-14T12:23:00.000-06:00

Why The Proposed Florida Regulation of Lawyer And Law Firm Websites Will Fail

The Florida Bar Board of Governors is trying to regulate advertising by regulating lawyer and law firm websites. Currently, websites are treated as information a client has requested.

Now, some members of the Board of Governors want to make websites subject to Rule 4-7.2. As reported in The Florida Bar News, “Rule 4-7.2 bars the use of testimonials, language describing the quality of a lawyer or law firm’s services, references to past successes, or language promising results, among others.” However, this information is available to legal consumers when they ask for it.

Chobee Ebbets, chair of the special Bar committee proposing these changes, said lawyers could “still post such information, but it would have to be in a restricted area of their Web sites accessed only by the viewer taking an affirmative action indicating he or she desired further information.” Florida Bar News, January 1, 2007.

The special committee has three proposals on the table, according to the News:

1. “[A]sk viewers for e-mail addresses and then send them the information — like providing an electronic firm brochure.”

2. “[S]et up a secure part of the Web site and require viewers to register and pick a password to access that additional information.”

3. “[H]ave a “button” on the Web site home page asking the viewer if he or she wished to receive more information. By clicking on the button, they would be taken to the secure part of the site with additional information.”

As reported in the News, “someone using a search engine, such as Google, to look for a lawyer must not be able to directly reach the pages in the secure area with information that does not meet advertising rules.”

Rule 4-7.2 and the Internet

Rule 4-7.2 was designed for radio, television and print ads. Unlike print, radio and television ads, websites also have search terms, meta tags, page titles, abstracts, keywords and more. Consumers normally view much of these web components, which are critical to search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is what causes a website to be found when a consumer performs internet searches. It is unknown at this time if the special committee considered web components for regulation.

Weblogs, or Blogs, are not traditional lawyer or law firm websites. Rather they are First Amendment protected websites which contain political and other commentary. In fact, many experts in the field of marketing now believe that blogs are more important than traditional websites. It is not clear if the special committee intends to regulate blogs.

Ad Sense Farms are Pay Per Click (PPC) websites, regardless of the search engine used. Ad Sense is a program by Google which allows a web designer to create hyperlinks on one website in order to draw users to other websites. The site owner receives money for each Ad Sense click a user makes. Ad Sense Farms have no real purpose other than to scam users into clicking these PPC hyperlinks. Since legal terms pay more per click than many other search terms, there are many different types of Ad Sense Farms associated with law related search terms. They produce little to no value for legal consumers.

Hiding What Consumers Want

Any of the proposals would require virtually Florida law firm to redesign their firm website in order to hide certain content from over 230 Internet search engines – even though consumers are actively searching for it. This content would still be available, but consumers would be unable to find it because this content would be hidden from search engines. As a result, most Florida law firms would disappear from organic search listings. Consumers would find that their searches of organic content would yield out of state law firms, Ad Sense Farms, blogs, and irrelevant content. The lawyers that consumers actually want to find would be virtually invisible. Searching for a Florida lawyer on the Internet would become extremely burdensome for the consumer.

E-mail Registration Proposal: Angry Spammed Consumers

At some point, most Internet users have chosen to ‘register’ to a seldom used website only to be rewarded with spam. Nothing has made Internet users angrier than spam. Therefore, legal consumers would be reluctant to give a law firm website an e-mail address. Internet users will register for paid subscriptions to financial, news and similar websites, but intensely resent registration at websites they may want to visit only a couple of times or less. They are tired of registration scams and spam. The very presence of this proposal demonstrates that at least some of the members of the committee are ignorant when it comes to understanding the Internet, how it is used, and what consumers expect.

Cost to Lawyers and Law Firms

Each lawyer website in Florida would have to be redesigned in order to comply with this proposed rule. The cost to each lawyer and law firm would be staggering. The cost to each firm would vary according to many technical factors. However, a reasonable estimate can be made based upon what it costs to have an inexpensive web designer build and/or optimize a website. Thus a conservative estimate would therefore range between $1,500.00 to $25,000.00. These numbers are skewed to the low end.

This estimate does not address the cost to Bar members by increases in Bar membership or other fees due to enforcement. There would be a substantial cost involved with either hiring or training personnel to review the content of millions of lawyer websites. A cost analysis is beyond the scope of this article, but it is rather easy to foresee that the cost of enforcement would be substantial by even the most conservative estimates. This cost would ultimately be borne by Bar members.

Technological Failure Due to Weblogs

Lawyer websites have been bypassed by blogging – in less time than it has taken the Bar to come to terms with websites. Unless a lawyer/blogger is incredibly dumb, these proposals cannot be implemented on blogs, since blogs are clearly 1st Amendment non-commercial speech. Blogs can legitimately contain all of the content the special committee seeks to regulate and publish it on the Internet. Think of Legal War Stories Online. The search engines can pick up the content, send legal consumers to the blog, and then legal consumers just click a hyperlink to the lawyer’s Florida Bar Rule 4-7.2 compliant website.

Technologically savvy lawyers would clobber their competitors. Thus the Florida Bar would have an expensive set of new regulations, the proposals would fail to produce the result intended, and consumers would be harmed by technologically savvy lawyers who may not have the skill set the legal consumer actually desires.

Technological Failure Due to Ad Sense Farms

You will probably not ever see a genuine lawyer or law firm website with Ad Sense or other hyperlinks designed to generate PPC revenue. No lawyer wants to earn relatively few dollars on a website hyperlink in exchange for losing far more dollars by sending a fee generating case to another lawyer. This does not stop Ad Sense Farms.

Ad Sense Farm owners are not lawyers, are not practicing law, and are not regulated by the Florida Bar. These sites are created with generic legal content (often as a ‘Business’ or ‘Local’ directory) and highly optimized so that consumers will find them if the search for common legal terms. The Ad Sense Farm owner simply uses a tool to determine what legal consumers are searching for. They then create an Internet ‘directory’ which is optimized to rank high in the organic (free) search results when a consumer types in the appropriate legal terms. The legal consumer is then duped into clicking on an inorganic (PPC) hyperlink, often vainly searching for a lawyer or law firm to meet their legal needs. Instead of finding a law firm or an attorney to help them, they usually wind up going through several Ad Sense Farms in a row, becoming more and more frustrated because their search terms are yielding garbage.

Ad Sense Farms are already a problem for consumers. These proposals would block legitimate lawyers from the organic (free) search results and would drive the Ad Sense Farms to the top of the organic search rankings.

Overseas Websites and Exploiting the Competition

The regulatory nightmare faced by over 80,000 Florida lawyers can be summed up by an experiment you can conduct in your own law firm.

Have a member of the firm try to remove a website located in an eastern European nation or Asia. You have already contacted another law firm to secretly hire a web designer to clone your website, make some unflattering changes, and then made sure that all search engines block the site so it will not hurt your firm. The owner of this ‘pirate’ web domain is, of course, anonymous. They will not be able to shut the offending website down.

The above exercise is actually entertaining until the Bar approves any of the three proposals and you end up defending a Bar Complaint. You haven’t done anything wrong, but you and your firm could be answering a Bar Complaint, and unable to take the offending website down. The Bar faces a dilemma: If you win your Bar Complaint, could an unscrupulous lawyer put one up in the same manner, take advantage of a fully optimized site, and then use the same “It wasn’t me” defense? Either way, the intended purpose of the Rule is thwarted, and good people are harmed.

Do all of the Special Committee Members Understand the Internet?

“[B]oard member Gary Leppla said that potential clients can look for specific types of cases and geographic locations in the Yellow Pages, and the Bar regulates what language can be used in that source. The same standards should apply on Web sites, he said, unless there is a specific request for further information.” – Florida Bar News, January 1, 2007.

Comparing the Yellow Pages to websites is comparing apples to electricity. When considered together with these three proposals, it appears that at least some members of the special committee do not understand even the most basic aspects of the Internet.

Conclusion

No lawyer should promise a specific result that may not be obtainable. Each of these proposals destroy the legal consumer’s power to search the Internet for Florida legal services. They victimize legal consumer by hiding information, force consumers into unproductive and potentially dangerous searches, and make the easy prey for Ad Sense Farms – often while the legal clock is ticking. Every Florida lawyer will be financially penalized by proposals that will not work. Bloggers will skip past the Rule’s provisions and render any of the proposals obsolete prior to the effective date. Internet legal consumers will select the most technologically savvy lawyers rather than the best lawyer for their specific legal need.

Implementing any of these proposals would make over 80,000 Florida lawyers look like they belong to the most technologically illiterate bar association in the nation.

Respectfully Submitted,

Stephen G. Cobb
Florida Bar No. 0835171
www.CobbLawFirm.com

2006-10-27T16:54:00.000-05:00

One Stop Therapy: Solving your loved one's legal problem and the behavior that caused it

Does your loved one have a history of problem behavior?

Please understand: Many people are just at the wrong place, at the wrong time and are wrongly accused of being on the wrong side of the law.

Yet many criminal defense clients have a long history of problem behavior. Their families are frustrated because the person seems to repeatedly do things that doesn't make sense. The person in question isn't necessarily "crazy" (as in thinking they are Jesus or possessed by aliens) but their behavior has caused problems in several areas of their life. Usually, the problem behavior is the result of "brain illness" - a real medical problem that can't just be talked away through counseling alone.

One Stop Therapy is a program designed by me after many years of studying people accused of crimes. The goal of One Stop Therapy is simple: Solve the problem behavior that created the legal problem and solve the legal problem at the same time.

Here is a brief test to see if the person you love fits the One Stop Therapy Program criteria:

□ Did your loved one finish high school?
□ Is your loved one impulsive in matters of money or love?
□ Does your loved one appear to sabotage themselves?
□ Does your loved one make empty promises?
□ Does your loved one have a substance abuse problem?
□ Has your loved one been in substance abuse treatment previously, but it didn't work?
□ Has your loved one ever been prescribed anti-depressants or anti-anxiety drugs?
□ Has your loved one ever sought out or been court ordered to attend counseling?
□ Does your loved one attract people who are a negative influence?
□ Does your loved one make ridiculous excuses for misbehavior?
□ Is your loved one unreliable?
□ Have some family members "written off" your loved one?
□ Has your loved one been arrested before, even if it was a long time ago?

If you marked two or more of the above questions, then your loved one may be a candidate for One Stop Therapy. This does not excuse wrongful behavior nor does it fit every individual's circumstance. However, after having hundreds of clients evaluated by a PhD level psychologist using advanced psychometric testing, most "repeat offenders" have chemical imbalances and other brain illnesses which affect their behavior. This may be why your loved one doesn't get it.

I believe that this approach is the future of criminal law. The merger of pscyhology, psychiatry and law has the potential to actually solve the social problem of crime in over eighty percent (80%) of all criminal cases.

2006-10-27T15:13:00.000-05:00

How to Select a Criminal Defense Lawyer Who is Right for You

One of the advantages to lawyer's marketing on the Internet and in the phone books, it that consumers have access to information. Obviously, one of the disadvantages is the asymetry of information: The lawyer has more information and knows how to use it to land a case.

The best phone book ad doesn’t guarantee the best lawyer. For example, a lawyer may have a big, flashy ad that says “DUI Only!” yet that lawyer may not be a criminal law specialist. In fact, there is no specialty in DUI recognized by the Florida Bar Association or the Florida Supreme Court! The only two specialties in criminal law are criminal trial law and criminal appellate law.

Select a lawyer by asking questions before you go to the lawyer’s office. A handy checklist is provided.

Most lawyers in the criminal defense field provide free initial consultations. The free initial consultation has two purposes: 1) explain what a lawyer can do for you, and; 2) what the fee would be if you and the lawyer agree to representation.

Desperate lawyers will offer low money down payment plans, cheap fees and cheap service. The best best criminal defense attorneys are lawyers who will expect their fee up front, they will charge more, and they will have the time to provide the best service. Most importantly, they can answer the questions on the checklist with a ‘yes,’ not an excuse.

Checklist for Hiring A Criminal Defense Lawyer

Are you certified by the Florida Bar Association and the Florida Supreme Court as a specialist in criminal law?
Does your law firm focus on criminal law exclusively?
Have you handled at least a thousand or more criminal cases?
Are you a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers?
Are you a member of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers?
Are you a member of your local Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers?
Do other lawyers call you when they have questions about criminal law?
Are you a “Lone Ranger” or do you have a defense team?
Have you ever led a defense team?
Have you handled cases like mine in the past?
Have you had trials in cases like mine in the past?
Have you practiced law for more than ten years?
Have you won any cases that have been reported in the Southern Second Edition Case Reporter?
Are you qualified to handle capital death penalty cases?
Have you ever won a capital case?
Have you ever won any motions to dismiss?
Have you ever won any motions to suppress?
Have you ever won any judge trials?
Have you ever won any jury trials?

Now, some of these won't apply in every case: If you or your loved one has been charged with Burglary, then this Checklist for Hiring a Criminal Defense Lawyer can be modified to suit your needs.