tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-125830052012-01-27T12:05:20.518-05:00Blog by an Albany lawyer about law, life in Albany NY, etc. Plus news about <a href="http://www.town-court.com">county court</a>.Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.comBlogger5101100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-10096496727302668502012-01-23T14:45:00.002-05:002012-01-23T14:46:02.163-05:00

We just started working on a new website/blog: West Boca News. We'll see how it goes.

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-15048586721157897222011-12-08T13:28:00.001-05:002011-12-08T13:29:25.335-05:00

Here's a link to a bunch of blog posts about Ron Paul on my Stop Wasting Money blog.

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-20608256687685979682011-11-25T11:52:00.004-05:002011-11-25T12:08:12.512-05:00

Merit Rating Plan is a common term used by insurance companies and state regulators. In general this is something used by insurance companies to define how they might increase or decrease insurance rates.In the world of car insurance, a merit rating plan would look at the driving record of the insured. If you have a history of accidents or traffic violations, that would lead to increases in your

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-46533895648120466482011-11-18T09:54:00.011-05:002011-11-18T10:15:56.582-05:00

Yesterday's Wall Street Journal article on Angie's List upcoming IPO suggests that the site will be valued at $723 million based on a share price of $13. At this writing the stock is now trading at $16/share, making the company worth nearly $900 million.You can see by the graphic that Angie's List had 2.1 million unique website visitors in October, and that the site loses an awful lot of

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-36986066785078521332011-10-15T10:42:00.002-04:002011-10-15T10:43:29.905-04:00

A "friend" of mine is doing an experiment. Please check out this blog: Kids Book Ideas.

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-40990589868676987032011-10-14T09:40:00.003-04:002011-10-14T09:41:38.489-04:00

Thanks to my friend Chuck, here's a promo video for our Traffic Court website.

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-56819687722051613272011-09-01T10:58:00.005-04:002011-09-01T11:07:47.663-04:00

There is a fake e-mail going around that indicates the recipient has a NY traffic ticket in the town court in "Chatam". The message is fake and the attachment contains a virus. So don't open it! A couple of obvious indicators: 1. The town name is Chatham, not Chatam. There is a real Chatham Town Court. They had nothing to do with it so please don't bother them. 2. In NY at least, the police

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-60153819027491124042011-07-11T22:04:00.003-04:002011-07-11T22:12:34.592-04:00

Yes, the rumors are true. The Albany Lawyer is moving to Florida.Our new business address (effective July 15th) is:PO Box 970244Boca Raton, FL 33497-0244Phone and e-mail will stay the same. We will continue to handle cases in the Albany area and the rest of upstate New York. Our associate, Stacey DeLoach, will open her own firm and we will continue to work together through a reciprocal of-counsel

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-85319415821696215992011-07-02T10:44:00.009-04:002011-07-02T11:27:07.327-04:00

Looking at my Google Analytics numbers for the first half of the year, I noticed something about traffic sources. This shows how much traffic came to my sites from various sources, and there is substantial difference between my sites in how much traffic comes from Google, Yahoo and Bing searches.First, my law firm website:Nearly 75% of the traffic comes from "organic" searches on Google. The next

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-81789539020500844262011-06-18T12:25:00.005-04:002011-06-18T13:35:58.343-04:00

Sometimes criminal defense attorneys feel like it's two against one. That's when the judge acts as a second prosecutor.I've been telling people this one story for years and I just stumbled on the transcript. Now I can relate it with the precise words that were used.First some background. My client was accused of a residential burglary. The homeowner came home and saw the burglar, who fled. She

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-55354934601569962492011-05-13T23:44:00.006-04:002011-05-14T16:32:14.855-04:00

For those who are involved in pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, AdWords is the big player. It is the main advertising avenue for Google.AdWords advice focuses on something called Quality Score. If you have a good quality score, then your ads get better placement and you pay less. One of the biggest factors in quality score is, supposedly, a high click-through rate (CTR). That's when a high

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-78479191873678446662011-04-27T20:22:00.008-04:002011-04-27T21:18:13.592-04:00

I was in a local court last night and saw this poster, which is misleading about NY's DWI laws.The poster is also available online as a pdf: Leandra's Law PosterHere's the relevant quote:... anyone in New York State convicted of drunken driving (even first-time offenders) will be required to install at their own expense an ignition interlock device on any vehicle they operate.First, the use of "

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-42375023146963390832011-04-25T11:05:00.003-04:002011-04-25T11:18:55.696-04:00

As an attorney with a website, I get deluged with "experts" who want to help me with my SEO - search engine optimization. Here's excerpts from an e-mail I got today (in italics), with my comments (in regular font):Hi Warren. I called your office today after seeing your PPC ad on the internet.We did not get a call. For those who don't know, PPC means Pay-Per-Click - usually ads on Google.We ...

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-1074723045673128272011-04-22T14:33:00.008-04:002011-04-22T15:32:47.027-04:00

I was stunned by a recent experience with the involuntary commitment process. No, for those who think I'm crazy, I was not the one committed. I got a call from a close friend who had been taken to an emergency room against his will.As Wikipedia puts it: "Involuntary commitment is the practice of placing a person to [sic] a psychiatric hospital or ward against his or her will ...."My friend had

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-56329904044937866052011-03-26T10:07:00.011-04:002011-03-27T08:55:14.123-04:00

In putting our house on the market (Guilderland House for Sale), I posted information on a number of real estate websites. My first choice was Zillow, because I like the site myself, including the Zillow iPhone app.One of the things I decided to try on Zillow is Zillow Showcase Ads. I was reviewing the numbers today and found something disturbing.Zillow says that my showcase ad has had twenty

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-37287109408359998292011-03-16T14:34:00.004-04:002011-03-16T17:22:39.265-04:00

Our firm played a small part in the case of Figel v. Dwyer. We were hired as local counsel by Attorney John S. Chambers. He handles pistol licensing cases in NYC. He did all the paperwork, taking my suggestions into account, and we appeared in front of Judge Dwyer in Bethlehem Town Court. We were trying to get a "certificate of relief from disabilities" from a very old conviction so that the

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-26958826795163391452011-03-16T09:27:00.004-04:002011-03-16T09:48:32.449-04:00

It's been a rough morning. A small child woke us up repeatedly last night. I had (and have) a dull headache and mild nausea.I did manage to get to Court on time, stopping at the office to pick up the file, where I noticed that certain documents were missing. I had just discussed these last night with the client but for whatever reason the client did not get them to us.When I went in front of the

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-59887393151821722772011-03-14T08:54:00.004-04:002011-03-14T09:25:17.322-04:00

We decided to sell our house ourselves (Guilderland Real Estate). We did think about hiring a real estate agent, and I talked to a friend who is one before making the decision.There are some key issues in making this kind of decision. First you have to consider yourself, and second you have to consider the agent.I'm motivated by what I saw yesterday, so I'll address the second one first. Agents

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-23492262016043882082011-03-09T20:41:00.005-05:002011-09-25T11:28:18.598-04:00

Update: This house was sold in July of 2011.Looking for Guilderland real estate?Yes, the Albany Lawyer is selling his house. Where will he go? Time will tell. We're thinking about an undisclosed location with Dick Cheney. But I'm not going hunting with him.The house is at: 6946 Suzanne Court.

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-50413717526006543602011-02-28T21:35:00.002-05:002011-02-28T21:37:45.312-05:00

Police are not always the good guys. This is just stunning.I routinely encounter prosecutors insisting on confiscating items from defendants, though nothing as bad as this one. For some reason they seem to like my clients' laptops though.

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-74757836351536269582011-02-12T16:52:00.003-05:002011-02-12T16:57:39.874-05:00

Just read that cell phone violations will now count for 2 points on a NY driving record. The recent texting law also carries 2 points.Also, there is a new law this year requiring cars to "move over" when passing an emergency vehicle on the side of the road. Read more at the Utica Observer Dispatch.You can also read about the cell phone points change on the Times Union. Please note that I disagree

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-75428908456282299322011-02-07T08:53:00.003-05:002011-02-07T08:57:11.968-05:00

How does the Super Bowl affect web traffic? The picture below shows web traffic by hour on our traffic court website. The blue line is for this Sunday and the green line is for the previous Sunday. Traffic did drop noticeably during the game, but not by nearly as much as I would have expected. It was about a 20-30% drop. I checked last year and the numbers were similar.

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-50430477008426085832011-02-01T08:58:00.004-05:002011-02-01T09:27:29.180-05:00

Our Traffic Court website continues rapid growth. The image below shows we had nearly 300,000 visits in January, compared to 170,000 the year before. That is 74% growth. Going back to January of 2007, we had 19,000 visits.Other milestones in January include 70,000 visits in a week. That happened twice. We had only done 60,000 once before. We also had our first day with over 14,000 visits and that

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-52899319567266446252011-01-30T21:31:00.004-05:002011-01-30T21:40:55.430-05:00

Usually an FAQ (frequently asked questions) has responses to questions regular people ask. Our law firm website has faqs for speeding tickets, DUI, personal injury and criminal law.But today I'm writing an FAQ from a different angle. These are questions I frequently ask people who call our law firm. From a law practice management perspective, I find these questions, and the answers they prompt,

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-10950694735659156952011-01-22T23:56:00.002-05:002011-01-23T00:45:29.227-05:00

As I continue studying for the Florida Bar Exam, I keep coming across questions that are very rare in the real world. Few lawyers will ever deal with a separation of powers question, for example.Here are some questions that (maybe) should be on bar exams:1. Ethics: A client walks into your office to pay you $100 he owes you. He slaps down a $100 bill on your desk, says "here's your money you

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-76954960766830224122011-01-15T21:57:00.008-05:002011-01-15T22:39:31.095-05:00

With 15 years of experience in personal injury cases, I have some strong opinions about insurance companies. Most of my experience has been with car accidents, so I'll focus on that but some of the companies also cover homeowners or other types of insurance. And my opinions will center on how the companies are toward their customers, not towards plaintiffs or plaintiff attorneys.First of all, I

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-90489317961963071042011-01-11T08:07:00.003-05:002011-01-14T22:08:23.247-05:00

Reports indicate that Jared Loughner's case in Marana Municipal Court was resolved through a diversion program. There's no link on the Court's official website about diversion, but it is just northwest of Tucson, and the city of Tucson's site has more about their own diversion program: Tucson Diversion Program.In my last post about Loughner, I mentioned a concern that drug court diversion

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-92145646416060932472011-01-09T08:15:00.003-05:002011-01-09T08:42:05.329-05:00

I just read an article in the Arizona Daily Star about Jared Loughner, the Tucson shooter.The article indicates that Loughner completed "diversion programs" after minor criminal charges. This is just another example of how our so-called criminal justice system fails to deal with mental health problems.We have a relevant case pending right now. We applied for the new Judicial Diversion program for

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-51471072053396128402010-12-30T09:03:00.011-05:002010-12-30T23:00:35.407-05:00

As a criminal defense lawyer sometimes we get cases where we have pretty good but not overwhelming evidence that our client is innocent.In some counties, I contact the prosecutor and explain the evidence. Sensible prosecutors will agree to a deal where my client pleads guilty to a lesser offense that's better than the original charge. Yes ideally it would be dismissed but this compromise tends to

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-30164823438756291762010-12-25T09:27:00.004-05:002010-12-28T12:16:17.064-05:00

Okay, so I'm studying for the Florida Bar Exam. I am encountering one problem repeatedly. I think I'll get past it, but it's a little funny so I'll share ...Here's a sample question from the review course:Bob is showing off his new gun to Ted. Thinking there are no bullets in the gun, Bob reenacts a scene from his favorite movie – points the gun at Ted and pulls the trigger, hitting and killing

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-73423008186201185292010-11-30T12:10:00.000-05:002010-11-30T12:11:43.719-05:00

Our public service announcement on WTEN for the holidays. I hope everyone follows this advice.

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-321022118701415282010-11-22T11:04:00.004-05:002010-11-23T10:40:06.093-05:00

This revolution has started with a whimper, not a bang.In the spring of 2009, New York adopted a new Article 216 of the Criminal Procedure Law. It became effective in October of 2009.This is a huge development in New York for handling drug offenders with treatment instead of incarceration, through Judicial Diversion. Or it should be. In some counties the courts are applying it faithfully. We've

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-18617009810846717712010-11-14T08:12:00.008-05:002010-11-14T19:40:06.426-05:00

I'm not sure I've ever written up a summary of what we do in our firm. We cover a few areas of law.Personal Injury LawyerWe handle a small number of personal injury cases, usually from car accidents and motorcycle accidents along with a few other areas.Most of these cases are in or near the Albany area, but we do take some further away. We keep the number small by only accepting cases where the

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-29915167098111792582010-10-09T07:31:00.004-04:002010-10-09T07:36:15.477-04:00

November 8th I will be on a panel speaking about "Using a website and social media to build your practice":NYSBA Solo/Small Firm Success CLE.It will also be shown here in Albany via video conference.You'd think they could set this up so I wouldn't have to go to New York City. But then, I get to go to New York City. Haven't figured out yet if they're paying for my train ride. Hmm ....

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-23323335906545248532010-10-05T09:54:00.002-04:002010-10-07T07:59:53.333-04:00

Here is our new TV commercial for the Warren Redlich for Governor campaign:Or on YouTube: Republican vs. Democrat.The version that will air on TV is: New York: Republican vs. Democrat

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-82937115475513176812010-10-01T09:34:00.003-04:002010-10-01T09:52:10.740-04:00

Our Town-Court.com website is growing nicely. The image below shows the number of visitors from January 1, 2006 (shortly after we started measuring) to the present. We have helped nearly 4 million different people find information about traffic courts, with over 10 million pageviews.September is the biggest month yet, with over 240,000 visits by over 210,000 different people (some visit more than

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-78686989711402359692010-09-18T09:03:00.004-04:002010-09-18T09:13:27.445-04:00

Some time ago, I acquired the domain name christineodonnell08.com in an auction on GoDaddy.A candidate for US Senate in Delaware had allowed her domain name to lapse. I bought it fair and square in that auction. I've done the same with a few other websites, both here in Albany and distant. The idea originally was to preserve the historical record of those campaigns.Due to some controversy that

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-18014050714914786612010-08-31T12:48:00.004-04:002010-08-31T13:14:17.867-04:00

We are frequently asked by clients if NY tickets will affect them in their home state. Below is an image showing a Pennsylvania ticket on a Maine driving record, and it looks like this violation did not count for points. So if it's the best that you can do for a Maine driver, an 1110(a) isn't terrible.Our biggest blog post on this topic is Do Points Transfer from July of 2009.

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-3156865242260372732010-08-06T15:43:00.003-04:002010-08-06T15:54:51.974-04:00

As part of my campaign for Governor of New York State, I did a quick video to show why I don't fit in with typical politicians.You can see it on YouTube as NY Politics: Top 10 ListOne of the things I'm doing in the campaign is a very small amount of advertising. In particular I'm advertising this video on YouTube through Google AdWords. Last night I got a message that my ad had been "disapproved.

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-11188165924675039302010-08-01T09:10:00.003-04:002010-08-01T09:25:52.921-04:00

The Redlich Law Firm no longer accepts American Express through PayPal. I logged into my PayPal account today. There was a notice that, going forward, AMEX transactions will require a higher fee of 3.5% of the transaction, plus 30 cents per transaction.We currently pay 2.2% of the transaction plus 30 cents, so on a $1000 fee, we pay $22.30. If we agreed to the 3.5% rate, we would be paying $35.30

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-35761641026736978692010-07-11T22:39:00.003-04:002010-07-11T22:43:32.401-04:00

Here's our campaign's new video, a parody of the LeBron James Decision:See more about the campaign at http://wredlich.com/ny

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-39201633237614402732010-07-02T10:11:00.003-04:002010-07-02T11:16:25.326-04:00

One prominent local lawyer keeps insisting that Joe Bruno's case will be dismissed because of the Supreme Court decision in Skilling. He might be right but I'm not so sure.The attorney talks about how the Supreme Court decision limited the "honest services" law to bribes and kickbacks. He claims that this case did not involve a kickback.Bruno's case is right on the edge of this, however. In their

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-77347302004019433282010-06-26T22:01:00.002-04:002010-06-26T22:05:08.366-04:00

I often read or hear people say that a blogger should post frequently, like once a day or more. I don't come close to that and have been quite happy with the results. This blog gets 4000-5000 visits a month.Finally someone saying what I've been thinking:Thanks Matt!

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-22274524836879595142010-06-25T06:58:00.007-04:002010-06-25T07:21:42.164-04:00

There's been a lot of talk in the local news about Joe Bruno and the recent Supreme Court decision - Skilling v. United States, 561 US ____.Bruno was convicted under the "honest services" law, 18 USC § 1346. So was Jeffrey Skilling, of Enron fame. Skilling's conviction under this statute was overturned by the Supreme Court, and many are wondering if Bruno's conviction will also be

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-90913623996895338292010-05-27T08:27:00.003-04:002010-08-03T20:59:06.795-04:00

The Tea Party movement has a new star in New York. But is he really a Tea Party guy? Find out more about this new site about Carl Paladino.Okay, maybe I'm a little biased. But everything on the site is true.The best part? This video:Carl Paladino Tea Party video

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-41757048809857772892010-05-15T07:20:00.004-04:002010-05-15T20:46:33.714-04:00

I got a few calls about my recent DWI trial so I figured I should tell the story. Despite a breath test showing a BAC of 0.16, the jury found my client not guilty.Here are some details:For starters, breath tests are not reliable -- see my post on breath test videos for some idea. Also key - in this case my client was innocent. For a variety of reasons, I have no doubt whatsoever.My client, a

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-80517538396626511722010-05-13T14:40:00.003-04:002010-05-13T15:01:45.173-04:00

A few new milestones for our traffic court directory:In the last 31 days (4/12 to 5/12), we had just over 200,000 visits. There were 175,000 unique visitors in that time (the "unique" roughly means different people).And we now have over 10,000 courts on the site. Actually just over 10,100.

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-64693390062326406502010-04-14T09:58:00.004-04:002010-04-14T10:01:54.137-04:00

Tried to plan my trip to a nearby office this morning using Google Maps. This was the result. Google Maps on the computer came up with a much better option:Hmm ... 25 miles in 26 minutes, or 6 miles in 13 minutes ... :-)I love my iPhone and the Google Maps app, but you can't trust technology too much.

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-58365386061359073402010-03-18T14:10:00.003-04:002010-03-18T14:21:15.817-04:00

Most of our speeding ticket clients are concerned about insurance rates. But we also get calls from people who don't own cars. They rarely drive and when they do it's a rental.So a common question is: Can my driving record affect my ability to rent a car?The answer is yes, it can. As an example, see this FAQ answer from Thrifty.Certain things they look for:1. Suspended or revoked license2. Eight

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-45716664537830817242010-03-03T22:55:00.002-05:002010-03-03T22:57:52.397-05:00

Google Analytics defaults to the last 31 days. We just hit new records for town-court.com - over 190,000 visits and over 400,000 pageviews in 31 days. To put it another way, we are now on a pace to help over 2 million people a year.

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-68941933444132770622010-02-25T22:52:00.004-05:002010-02-25T23:05:41.194-05:00

In January the US Supreme Court reaffirmed its recent decision about the Confrontation Clause. The new case is Briscoe v. Virginia. I wrote about this in the context of DWI in NY - Melendez-Diaz.New York's highest Court addressed Melendez-Diaz. Here are some quotes from People v. Brown (11/2009 - 13 NY3d 332):The main issue raised on appeal is whether defendant's Sixth Amendment right to

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-52150409811707515942010-02-22T17:22:00.002-05:002010-02-22T17:27:33.885-05:00

I'm reading this new book, Tales from the Script, and I love it. It's about screenwriting and filmmaking, providing great insights from screenwriters, and also from other players in Hollywood. This is my friend Peter Hanson's baby. He used to write for Metroland, and has a lot of friends here in the Albany area. I was already a fan but now I'm a much bigger fan.You can buy Tales from the Script

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-62065969862763907102010-02-02T16:49:00.002-05:002010-02-02T16:52:57.972-05:00

The group Flex Your Rights has a new film. The premiere will be shown live on the web at: 10 Rules for Dealing with Police. I'm looking forward to it.Their previous film is on YouTube - Busted: A Citizen's Guide to Police Encounters.

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-3782308927021435772010-01-23T11:12:00.003-05:002010-01-23T11:25:50.928-05:00

Speeding tickets and other traffic infractions that happen in New York will show up on a NY driving record. First of all, it only shows up on your record after you've been convicted (if you plead guilty to something or if you lose at trial). Second, in my experience they seem to stay on a record for about three-and-a-half years. While researching something else today, I came across the definitive

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-72969463142289803692009-12-04T09:32:00.003-05:002009-12-04T20:08:16.223-05:00

The hot traffic court story of the week is Vikings running back Adrian Peterson ticketed for going 109 mph in a 55 zone. See the story on ESPN.My favorite quote from the story is this from Peterson: I need to be more aware of the speed I was going ....I should add this to my speeding ticket excuses post, because I've heard it before. "I didn't realize I was going that fast."Maybe this excuse

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-37320384614541216272009-12-02T11:43:00.012-05:002009-12-02T12:38:09.420-05:00

Do AdSense ads increase the bounce rate?I've heard concerns about AdSense making a site look spammy in the past, and saw the idea mentioned in this discussion about link building and advertising.The concern some in the SEO community have is that webmasters will not want to link to sites that have ads on them. There are varied reasons discussed in the above forum. One that stands out to me looks

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-18889761267886262842009-11-21T09:52:00.005-05:002009-11-21T10:26:03.173-05:00

Noticed an interesting set of statistics about our directory of traffic lawyers just now. The image below shows the number of visits to the various pages within the directory. Click on the image to enlarge it. The stats are for the last October 21 to November 20.Most interesting numbers:a. 11,424 total pageviews and 7737 unique pageviews. As a rough guess, it looks like maybe 5000 people a month

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-63738053515328470772009-11-18T10:59:00.004-05:002009-11-18T12:08:58.880-05:00

Searching the web for something else, we came across the image below. It describes the fine and point schedule for Texas traffic tickets. If you click on it, it should enlarge.Looks like on the high end, it's almost $500 for a very high speed in a work zone with workers present. On the low end, a low speed is $158.As for points, most violations appear to be either zero or two points. If you have

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-27644806150885552642009-11-18T08:25:00.005-05:002009-11-18T08:48:20.312-05:00

Prospective clients frequently ask how their NY ticket will affect them in their home state. Since it's next door, we get this question a lot from Massachusetts drivers. One of the best places to get the answer to this question is your state's DMV. In Massachusetts it is known as the RMV - Registry of Motor Vehicles. This post is about Massachusetts, but for a more general discussion, see my Do

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-1226513798696135832009-10-27T11:51:00.005-04:002009-10-28T15:40:50.291-04:00

We spoke recently with a NJ insurance agent. He had received a ticket in NY which was an 1110a. This was a "road-side writedown" where the cop was giving him a break from a speed. The agent told us that an 1110a would increase insurance rates by as much $900 per year for three years. He said he wished the cop had written him for a low speed because ...NJ insurance companies treat a first-time low

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-7946481605229670602009-10-22T18:52:00.009-04:002009-12-02T15:45:35.456-05:00

The Supreme Court decided not to hear an appeal on a drunk driving case that was dismissed. Virginia's highest court threw out the conviction in Harris v. Commonwealth (a pdf file). It found that the stop was unconstitutional - based only on an anonymous tip.Chief Justice Roberts (and Justice Scalia) felt the Court should have reviewed the case. Below are some excerpts of Roberts' opinion). His

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-40278092836927831892009-10-18T08:12:00.009-04:002009-10-18T14:28:32.072-04:00

Most of our speeding ticket cases are straightforward. We get hired, get all the information in order, contact the court and prosecutor, negotiate a reduction to something less, and let the client know the result and what they need to do. There's more to it than that, but that's the essence.Every once in a while we get a client who needs a trial. This story is an example of that.I'll call her

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-4212318375632947442009-10-15T23:28:00.002-04:002009-10-15T23:28:50.115-04:00

Halloween is coming up, so it's time for a ghost story:

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-15249858065074395382009-10-09T09:14:00.009-04:002009-10-09T20:05:15.372-04:00

For a new kick, I'm starting a series of stories about past cases I've handled. This one's a DWI story, from a few years ago. As part of my pattern for stories about cases, some elements will be fictionalized mainly to protect the client. In this case there was a trial, so the truth is really a matter of public record, though practically it would be difficult to find the record if you don't know

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-46568256800320199152009-08-26T21:25:00.008-04:002009-08-26T23:17:57.265-04:00

Yes, the Albany Lawyer has a wedding photo story. This has been one of my favorite stories for the past six years, and I finally get to tell it. Some details have been changed to protect the innocent and perhaps the guilty too.Back in 2003 there was a wedding. A friend of mine was starting his photography business. The bride was an acquaintance and asked him to help. New to the business, he

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-22001058021130297682009-08-26T10:37:00.005-04:002009-08-26T11:39:46.479-04:00

I guess it had to happen after I turned 40 a few years ago. I'm really starting to notice the aging process.Examples: We attended an intern's "Kegs on a Deck" party. Some attendees did "keg stands". This is a handstand (supported by others) on top of a keg while drinking from the tap. I did not do a keg stand but I did eat three chili dogs - which is probably worse. They did taste really good

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-56083644922258754882009-08-23T20:39:00.007-04:002009-08-23T21:43:42.671-04:00

A conversation with a law student led to something coalescing in my mind about good lawyers. Experience matters when you hire a lawyer. I'm biased, but I think trial experience is critical. Of course it's most important when you need a trial lawyer. Even for other kinds of law, it can still matter. A good lawyer has to understand what happens when something goes to court.When a new case comes in,

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-28057324157384734752009-08-22T14:28:00.004-04:002009-08-22T14:32:03.306-04:00

Interesting website I happened upon - it's about a guy from South Dakota who ran for the US Senate: Joel Dykstra. Love the name - we were big Lenny Dykstra fans back in the 90s when he played for the Mets. The two are probably not related, though the name suggests they have Dutch ancestry. Lenny has had some issues recently but we're still rooting for him. Meanwhile, Joel Dykstra is apparently

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-80610610007637398532009-08-18T11:04:00.005-04:002009-12-04T21:11:15.022-05:00

Not sure why, but it seems like a lot of people are searching for the San Bernardino Superior Court. Maybe it's because of the corruption scandal in the Assessor's office: LA Times story. But we think they just write a lot of speeding tickets in the traffic court. Maybe that's a revenue measure?For more info on the topic, see California speeding tickets and California Traffic Courts.

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-85963864567126708952009-07-30T10:26:00.004-04:002009-07-30T11:42:17.092-04:00

It looks like NY DWI cases will become more interesting in light of Melendez-Diaz (129 S.Ct. 2527), which just came down from the Supreme Court in late June. That case follows on the 2004 Crawford (541 US 36, 124 S.Ct. 1354) decision on the Confrontation Clause in the Sixth Amendment.The defendant in a criminal case has the right to confront his accusers. Melendez-Diaz holds that lab technicians

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-76742748896332998602009-07-22T21:28:00.007-04:002010-08-31T12:53:18.503-04:00

If you have a ticket in New York, please check out our New York Traffic Lawyer page.This is one of the most common questions we get: Do points transfer? Or: "Will the points transfer to my home state?"The short and misleading answer is No. The points themselves do not transfer to other states.So what does happen? In most situations, the state where you got the ticket will report any conviction to

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-28662997118180805462009-07-01T13:56:00.002-04:002009-07-01T13:57:38.182-04:00

Making life easier for phone calls with clients. We registered a new domain name: rlaw1.com. It's quicker to tell them that than redlichlaw.com. And the rlaw1.com domain just redirects to our traffic page.

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-36044285397303893102009-06-28T08:18:00.003-04:002009-06-28T08:39:20.621-04:00

We had a garage party last night. With all the DWI cases I handle where people had a few drinks and then drove home, this idea came to me. Wouldn't it be nice if you could go somewhere, have a few drinks, and not worry about driving home?There's more to this. First, one of the motivators was that we now have a refrigerator in our garage. We bought new appliances. While we got rid of the others,

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-15403821896581019992009-06-24T17:34:00.001-04:002009-06-24T17:36:14.207-04:00

Happy to have a guest blogger on our blog. My associate David Cooper is now contributing. His first blog post is on suspended licenses.

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-71816931386367188492009-06-23T14:28:00.003-04:002009-06-24T22:57:00.339-04:00

Why should you care? If you are driving in New York State and you have forgotten to answer a ticket or never heard back from the court you may be suspended. If your license or privilege to drive (for out-of-state drivers) in New York is suspended and you are stopped while driving in New York, there is a very good chance you will be charged with a crime, known as Aggravated Unlicensed Operation in

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00633104398713552700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-67552081313725607872009-06-11T14:14:00.004-04:002009-06-11T14:53:55.912-04:00

Saw something on the web that got me laughing. Back in '05 I did a post about lawyer marketing on the web. I critiqued some websites that claimed to help people with their tickets.Well, someone from speedticketbeaters -dot- com tried to post a comment on that old blog post. I don't allow these sites to promote themselves through my blog. But it was funny. The comment asserted, among other things,

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-71790997699862277082009-06-11T08:27:00.002-04:002009-06-11T08:54:17.858-04:00

Two good articles in the Wall Street Journal this week.Yesterday there was a discussion of drunk driver data by The Numbers Guy - Carl Bialik. It talks about statistics on the risks of driving at varying blood-alcohol content (BAC) levels. Bialik briefly mentions flaws in breath testing. Hopefully he'll do a more complete discussion in the future. The day before there was an article, Drunk

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-27991983683245662482009-06-09T09:54:00.004-04:002009-06-09T10:04:15.028-04:00

A new milestone for our court directory - we now have 6000 courts in our database - see below.There's about 1500 in NY; 240 in CA; about 200 in the New England states (MA, CT, RI, VT and NH - we haven't done Maine yet); 600 in NJ; 168 in FL; GA has 500 and we're still adding more; 132 in Illinois; nearly 300 between MD, VA and DC; 220 in NC; roughly 600 apiece in Ohio and PA; and there's

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-33776568528254149292009-06-07T23:11:00.003-04:002009-06-07T23:13:36.145-04:00

We added a new page to our website with a breakdown of a typical New York speeding ticket. Please post any comments or suggestions on this blog post.

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-36985058512573886492009-06-05T08:19:00.005-04:002009-06-07T08:43:56.356-04:00

I was just looking at a lawyer website and it had some animated graphics. Below is an image I clipped from the animation.Maybe it's just me, but I think clients are a bit less likely to hire a lawyer who spells poorly. Click on the image below and it should enlarge a bit and be easier to read. The key words should be "traffic" and "rights".

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-31717477086554020242009-05-26T10:48:00.004-04:002009-05-26T11:00:47.213-04:00

We've been using an Advanta MasterCard for our business for several years now. So today I get an e-mail that they're canceling all their credit card accounts - in four days. Thanks for giving me time to get a new card.Apparently we have not been like their typical customer. We paid our bills on time consistently. This article in Consumerist says that they had a 20% default rate. Hmm ... maybe we

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-42501809571187393602009-05-22T09:10:00.007-04:002009-05-22T09:20:15.400-04:00

If you don't find this funny, you don't get SEO.And if that doesn't persuade you, this is from one of their sites:Apparently optimizing for misspellings. Or Mineloa is an fff'ing long Hawaiian island.On the bright side, the lawyer probably ended up paying them $19.99.Seriously, today's keyword is proofreading!

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-90776121926640307402009-05-21T16:09:00.005-04:002009-05-21T16:17:58.635-04:00

New milestones for our traffic court website. As shown below, over 150K visits in the last 31 days, and over 130K unique visitors.For those unfamiliar with our stats, the peaks are Mondays and the valleys are weekends.Moreno Valley Court in California is the busiest on the site, with over 1400 pageviews in that 31-day stretch. They must write a lot of tickets out there.I just looked back and we

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-42732599582503335192009-05-20T00:07:00.004-04:002009-05-20T00:32:04.364-04:00

Great decision by the New York Court of Appeals, in the case of People v. Weaver. Police, without a warrant, placed a GPS tracking device on the underside of the defendant's car - for 65 days. They later used the GPS evidence against him in a criminal trial where he was convicted.The Court of Appeals, in a 4-3 decision, reversed the conviction and held:Under our State Constitution, in the absence

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-61215939304523121752009-05-12T12:16:00.005-04:002009-05-12T12:34:34.642-04:00

Here's a picture for ya!I'm kidding about the "some other guy" in the title. That's Peter King, a congressman thought to be a candidate for US Senate in 2010.The Rudy thing is funny. I have been critical in the past of him: Rudy Giuliani and Ron Paul. I've never quite figured out why he's a hero for 9/11. He showed up and made a speech or two.If he had recognized that the buildings were unstable

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-29852737998147382682009-05-07T00:35:00.005-04:002009-05-07T01:41:33.935-04:00

Just stumbled on an article by Andrew Fischer on LewRockwell.com. It's one of those "hate lawyers" stories. Normally I like what I see on that site, and I'd probably agree with a lot of Fischer's other articles, but I have to rip this one apart. Quotes from the article are in italics.I had three college chums who ... decided to become lawyers simply because it was a way to "make a good living."

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-64203977784678858282009-05-06T07:38:00.005-04:002009-05-06T08:44:11.647-04:00

Great story on Capital News 9 last night. The NY State Assembly has a bill (A-7196) that would require ignition interlock devices for everyone convicted of DWI. Specifics from the bill are below.In the News 9 story, Laura Dean-Mooney of MADD said: "If there are detectable levels of alcohol, their car simply will not start." So in other words, if you have any alcohol on your breath whatsoever,

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-37334355708092836272009-05-01T09:30:00.004-04:002009-05-01T09:36:18.433-04:00

There's some kind of irony or poetic justice in this. I got rear-ended yesterday. Stopped at a traffic light, and an SUV behind me bumped my car. Even though my kids were in the car, it's easy to laugh about it because the damage seems so minimal. There's a crack in the top of the rear bumper. That's the only visible damage.I'm going to get it checked out. Bumpers have something inside to absorb

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-69693588210642317872009-04-28T19:52:00.002-04:002009-04-28T19:55:10.664-04:00

For those who are interested in following lawyers on the cutting edge of technology, Nicole Black is it. In addition to being a well respected criminal defense lawyer, she is a whiz at various technology issues. Her main website is Nicole Black, Esq., and she is also one of the most followed lawyers on Twitter: Niki Black - Twitter. On top of that she has at least a couple blogs. All recommended

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-45107653319266114522009-04-27T22:38:00.003-04:002009-04-27T23:52:29.082-04:00

So here's the latest with our directory of traffic courts. For starters, the directory now covers all or part of 19 states, the District of Columbia, and even a few in Toronto. We've completed Illinois and North Carolina, and are almost done with Maryland and Georgia. We're making progress on Texas again (it's a really big state). We're now over 140,000 visits and 125K unique users a month. The

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-37594125290517396852009-04-22T09:04:00.003-04:002009-04-22T09:11:09.358-04:00

Saw Google Similar Images mentioned on Twitter. Was goofing around. Disappointed that there were none for my images. But here's the link to what happens with an Andrew Cuomo photo. Image below in case the results change.And while I'm disappointed that I'm not famous enough to merit similar image treatment, neither does Kirsten Gillibrand, and she's a US Senator.

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-89583855745888190482009-04-20T12:01:00.006-04:002009-04-22T15:01:14.155-04:00

--Update: New letter at the bottom--I got a letter from Phil Steck. An image is below and I think if you click on it you get a bigger version.I love this line: "Please cease and desist from using philsteck.com without my permission."Mr. Steck - I don't need your permission. You let your own domain name lapse. I'm just recycling your waste. And you had plenty of notice of this kind of thing: All

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-60832258152456400462009-04-14T07:14:00.003-04:002009-04-14T07:31:58.687-04:00

Something caught my eye yesterday in the Wall Street Journal. It was an ad for Fidelity's HR/Payroll service. We use an online payroll service now. I'm happy with it, but I've always liked Fidelity and figured it might be a better option because of the potential linkage with retirement accounts.The ad referenced a website: http://www.fidelitypayroll.com/thinkIt's an attractive website, but it

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-65129648624202106872009-04-09T07:59:00.004-04:002009-04-09T08:42:18.011-04:00

Troubling story from London:So often today police are offered as the solution to this problem or the other. Could be drugs, DWI, prostitution or the latest - sexting. We need to remember that police are far from perfect. This video is a reminder.With drugs, we keep arresting more and more people, and stuffing our prisons, despite overwhelming evidence that treatment is more effective. Not to

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-84526840578104341772009-04-02T08:07:00.003-04:002009-04-02T08:18:29.951-04:00

In a previous post I mentioned that New York was set to add speed cameras to our highways. That has apparently disappeared from the budget.The budget does have a substantial increase in red light cameras. They say it's not for the revenue but rather for safety. Right. Check out this Corpus Christi article on red light cameras. The National Motorists Association has a great page on it too.It's not

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-33707342520106861112009-03-31T08:50:00.006-04:002009-04-01T20:31:37.274-04:00

Saw these great breath test videos on YouTube. I mentioned them on my other blog recently, but thought they deserved their own post. For those who believe in the Breathalyzer, these videos will give you something to think about.The first video demonstrates the problem of mouth alcohol. I've seen this myself at a seminar. The individual swigs something with alcohol in his mouth (like Scope, or in

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-41907971469839801972009-03-29T10:26:00.004-04:002009-03-29T10:35:06.721-04:00

The two images below show web traffic to our county court site and to my Albany restaurant review blog. They come from Google Analytics. Very helpful for monitoring our websites.What stands out about this is the difference in traffic by day of the week. The usage of our court site has a clear pattern with Monday as the big day, with a gradual decline to Friday, and then significantly lower

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-2287219635196862612009-03-29T08:44:00.003-04:002009-03-29T08:53:19.231-04:00

DWI lawyers frequently get clients who just want the case over with. We lawyers can usually get the charge reduced to DWAI. Then everything's hunky-dory, right?Here's a sobering lesson from a client who took a DWAI:is there ANY WAY to get this charge changed to something else?? i cross the canadian border A LOT for work, and every time i cross i have to pay $200 canadian, and risk not getting in

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-41662210479472534762009-03-24T11:25:00.003-04:002009-03-24T11:28:50.267-04:00

This New York Times article about a school strip-searching a 13-year-old girl pretty much says it all. The Supreme Court will decide soon on it. This does not sound like the America I was raised to believe in. Would you want your school to do this to your kid?

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583005.post-55608703066125831162009-03-20T19:26:00.003-04:002009-03-20T19:30:41.053-04:00

Thanks to Liz Bishop for interviewing me about DWI and DWAI cases. The video is here.You can also read my blog post about it on my other blog: Stop Wasting Money on DWI.

Albany Lawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16942422727278141113noreply@blogger.com0