Where's the JQC when 'ya need them?

"I get real excited about things because I see myself as a conductor or an actor, and I realize that it's very powerful."
-- T. Jackson Bedford, Atlanta lawyer in a three-attorney firm

Verdict is in: Fulton judge way over line
Bob Barr - For the Journal-Constitution
Wednesday, April 26, 2006

"The recent incident in Fulton County Superior Court when Judge T. Jackson Bedford ordered District Attorney Paul Howard handcuffed and detained in a holding cell is not only unseemly and bordering on bizarre, but also highly corrosive of the respect for the law and for our judicial process that is essential to the proper functioning of civil society.
[...]
"The roots of the dispute between the judge and the DA go back even before January, when Bedford suppressed an incriminating statement by a defendant charged with a violent murder over the objections of the assistant district attorney trying the case on Howard's behalf. The judge, in refusing to allow the DA's office to appeal his ruling (as is allowed), berated Howard for questioning the court's decision. The defendant was subsequently acquitted.
[...]
"Discussing a case with jurors, especially a case you've lost, is a long-standing and common practice in courtrooms throughout Georgia and across the United States. Indeed, for a district attorney who has just lost a case --- especially one that will be followed by others involving the same defendant --- not to seek insights from such a jury would be highly irresponsible.
"Yet, apparently based on prior bad blood between these two elected officials, Bedford tried to prohibit the district attorney himself from speaking with jurors, insisting that only the assistant district attorney who actually tried the case could do so.
"While a judge, based on sound rules of procedures as well as common sense, is responsible for the proper administration of all official proceedings in his or her courtroom, there are --- or ought to be --- limits to such power.
[...]
"Employing the power of sheriff's deputies to forcibly handcuff and detain an elected district attorney for doing nothing more than what he not only is allowed to do, but essentially is obligated to do, raises serious questions about personal judicial power that truly must be addressed by higher and more temperate authorities. (Furthermore, deputies' allegiance ought to be to the system of ensuring order and safety in the courtroom, not to a judge who seeks to use them as personal Praetorian Guards.)
"Although Bedford apparently has enlisted the public support of at least one former judge to defend his actions and to explain publicly that a judge's power to control everything that takes place in "their" courtroom is absolute, those tasked with addressing the fallout from this latest incident probably will take a more learned and reasonable approach."
Former congressman and U.S. Attorney Bob Barr practices law in Atlanta. Web site: www.bobbarr.org.

Judge reverses his decision to arrest Fulton DA

By RHONDA COOK and BILL MONTGOMERY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 04/28/06
"The arrest warrants against Fulton District Attorney Paul Howard were stayed, less than 24 hours after a Douglas County judge signed the papers allowing a deputy to move forward with her attempts to have the prosecutor face criminal charges for a courtroom altercation.
"Former Gov. Roy Barnes, one of Howard's lawyers, confirmed that Douglas County Judge David Emerson had reversed himself.
[...]
"Barnes called the issuing of the warrants "outrageous" and accused the deputy, Levoular McCray, and her lawyer, Dennis Scheib, of "judge shopping."
"I've never heard of anybody arresting a district attorney in my 35 years of practicing law," Barnes said."

Opening the Mind's Eye
With clients demanding more and competitors cutting in on lawyers' turf, any practice can thrive by dumping rote thinking and getting creative
By Steven Keeva
"A Houston law firm with a nonhierarchical structure constantly reinvents firm processes, making change the firm's lodestar. The firm operates under the principle that doing work and learning to do it better can be one and the same thing, and that they must happen simultaneously. For example, the firm recently completed a case that required six months of relentless work, ending in trial. As the case was concluding, the lead attorney asked all the lawyers involved to spend billable time reflecting on how they worked and what could have been done better. Rather than doing a post-mortem, the emphasis was on getting the freshest possible perspective by looking at the work while it was still in progress.
[...]
"As a springboard for discussing a problem, Couger copies a page from an encyclopedia and distributes it. "For example, we were looking at the problem of meeting project deadlines, something every company has wrestled with over the years. I copied an entry on ant colonies and how they are established and organized, and how the ants keep them going successfully," he says. "Then I tried to do a direct translation to the problem at hand: Does the way ants do this lend any insight into how we might tackle the problem? I usually borrow from nature as my starting point."

"I get real excited about things because I see myself as a conductor or an actor, and I realize that it's very powerful."
T. Jackson Bedford
Atlanta lawyer in a three-attorney firm

"UCLA law Professor Gary Blasi, who is known as a creative lawyer himself, is currently doing research on creativity in public interest law. Some of his suggestions are valid for any kind of practice:
* Think about what tools you have, then try using them. Earl Rogers, a well-known lawyer in turn-of-the-century Los Angeles, was astute enough to realize he had a powerful tool in the unjaded mind of his 8-year-old daughter, who often accompanied him to court. Sometimes her "child sight," as he called it, suggested solutions that his adult, legally trained mind consistently overlooked.
* Develop the habit of running through several different perspectives. "It doesn't take long to say, 'What would an economist say about that? What would a doctor say? What would a single mother on welfare say? It can be liberating to bor-row someone else's prism and look at the world through that for a while."
* In meetings, make sure people are not afraid to express ideas, even off-the-wall ideas. Some big organizations, Blasi says, develop the antithesis of an idea-friendly culture. In the end, they pay for it. [emphasis added]
* Read broadly. "My experience is that everything helps." For example, reading literary criticism on what makes a good story or what makes a detail more compelling can help a trial lawyer structure an argument.
* Resist the temptation to seize immediately on what you already know. Don't just accept the way a client frames a situation or the interpretation your own experience superimposes on it. Look for other possibilities.
* Keep in mind that anything can be questioned and reconsidered for a more creative approach. "Why didn't I offer that client coffee when she came in?" is a worthwhile question.

On monstersandcritics.com's Water Cooler Stories, "Terry Sullivan, the jury foreman, described the scene as 'two stubborn mules.'"

And on ajc.com:

"State Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta), former Atlanta City Councilman Derrick Bozman and Michael Langford of the United Youth and Adult Council said Monday they planned to file a complaint against Bedford with the state Judicial Qualification Commission.
"We're concerned that Judge Bedford's actions in putting Paul Howard in custody [were] excessive. It just seems something could have been done so that the situation didn't get to that point," Fort said.
"Fortunately, Judge Bedford isn't taking any of this personally," Brogdon said."

Trash Talk Culminates in Judge's Recusal
"Bedford appointed Thomas' co-counsel Thomas M. West, but he denied Thomas' petition. Bedford said in a prepared statement that his decision was "prompted by what I believed to be unfounded and unprofessional derogatory comments that he made about me in the Daily Report several years ago." Bedford said he was afraid Thomas' attitude might affect his conduct in his courtroom."

White justice treats all Blacks equally
by ALTON H. MADDOX JR.
Originally posted 4/5/2006

"Can you imagine any judge in New York ordering court officers to handcuff Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau and put him in a holding pen with murderers and rapists for legally discussing an acquittal with a willing jury after it had rendered its verdict? No.
"This happened to Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard in Atlanta. Howard is Black. The judge, T. Jackson Bedford, Jr., is white. Howard replaced legendary District Attorney Lewis Slaton, who was able to nail Wayne Williams on questionable, voodoo evidence for the ''Atlanta Child Murders.''

Superior Court, Fulton County, GA
The Atlanta Constitution
12-04-1997
"Fulton County Superior Court Judge T. Jackson Bedford gave Casey Carpenter an unusual sentence, to say the least. Instead of the 15-year prison term Carpenter could have gotten for vehicular homicide, Bedford ordered an 11-year probation with conditions including no rock concerts or football games, period, and no dating or marriage unless the judge gives his permission."