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In praise of Ernie Lewis.

By Marks & Katz, LLC

Photo from website of U.S. District Court (W.D. Mi.). Every criminal defense lawyer should attend the National Criminal Defense College's Trial Practice Institute, known in shorthand as Macon for the program's location. At least when I attended in 1994, competition for each Macon slot was very high among state-level public defender lawyers. The program sough diversity among private practitioners (from whom applications were much fewer than from public defenders), state-level public defenders, federal public defenders, twelve experience levels, and gender. For those not accepted into Macon the first time, I recommend to try, try again, and to attend NCDC's long weekend programs in the interim. Some NCDC applicants get admitted off the waitlist, and it helps for the waitlisted applicant to tell the NCDC if s/he can have the applicant's calendar cleared and a plane ticket in hand if a spot comes open  When I attended Macon, my first small-group instructor was Ernie Lewis, covering the initial client interview, where we had separate professional actors playing the roles of a rape defendant, two murder defendants, and a bank robbery defendant, Ernie had the gift of being at once gentle, caring, actively listening and communicating, and persistent for lawyers to "get it right"...continue to full post

Full post as published by Underdog on April 21, 2008 (boomark / email).