Do Not Change Lawyers Unless You Must

Posted on April 8, 2010 by Tom Crane

 It is very unwise to change lawyers in the middle of a lawsuit.  Allen Stanford, the Houston investment counselor who has been charged with fraud, has changed lawyers a couple of times already and is seeking to change lawyers yet again.  His case is criminal, but the same principle applies: a lawyer or a set of lawyers understand nuances about a case that cannot be simply interchanged.  When a lawyer deposes a witness, for example, the lawyer acquires valuable information about a witness' ability to testify.  These observations include much more than just what the witness says in response to a particular question.  When a client changes lawyers, much of those observations are lost.  

Change a lawyer if you must, but be very sure when you do so.  It now looks like Mr. Stanford had differences with his lawyers about trial "strategy."  It better be important strategy to incur the risk of losing so much "institutional" knowledge. 

Tags: ,

It Must be Tough in Your Average Detention Facility

Posted on July 28, 2009 by Tom Crane

 It must be tough in prison.  Allen Stanford, the investor who stands accused of bilking his clients out of millions of dollars has filed a motion asking to be transferred from the Conroe detention facility to a downtown Houston facility.  Seems the air conditioner at the Conroe facility has been out for a week. There are no windows.  It sounds tough.  He has not been to trial, yet.  So, we need to presume he is innocent.  

When I was with the US Army in Iraq, we had air conditioning most times.  But, hey, what about those times when we did not have a/c?  Guess we should have asked for a transfer to some other facility, too.....

Tags: , , , ,