Guns Don't Kill People Single Parent Homes Do!

Rick Santorum: Guns Don't Kill People, Single Parent Homes Do

What if you get pregnant, your partner has abandoned you, and you happen to live in Missouri where there is ONE clinic which provides abortions? What if you're also financially or geographically unable to exercise that particular option? The Republicans have made sure that you must birth that baby, welcome to single-parenthood! According to GOP Presidential 'hopeful' Rick Santorum, you will be the leading cause of gun violence. You thought things were bleak and hopeless before, now you're carrying the weight of this country's gun violence problem squarely on your expectant shoulders.

Don't Duke it Out With the Rude and Abrasive Judge!!

Suggestions for Interacting With Family Court Judges

• Rule #1: Be Prepared

Judges have little patience with attorneys, and self-represented litigants, who aren't prepared when they enter the courtroom. Many litigants don't seem to know what they are asking the court to do, why they are asking for it, and what the best legal or factual grounds are for the orders requested. Courts everywhere, but particularly here in California with the passage of Family Code section 217 (which requires live testimony hearings upon request) , are overburdened. Judicial resources are not sufficient to meet demand in these budgetary times, and this places a premium on directness and efficiency. Economic limitations also makes judges a lot crankier than if they had more resources to manage their caseload and calendars.

Depending on County size, wealth and population, California Family Law Judges typically have between 20 and 35 or more matters on their morning calendars. In the afternoons they are often holding evidentiary hearings and trials. If they are to move through these calendars by the end of the morning, brevity and efficiency becomes exceedingly important.

Therefore, one of the biggest mistakes that agitates judges is parties or lawyers who aren't prepared and so can't present their cases with clarity. If a lawyer doesn't appear to care overmuch about their client's case, then why should a judge? Lack of preparation, especially for lawyers, is a cardinal sin.

• Rule #2: Be Prepared For This Particular Judge

In jurisdictions with direct calendar assignments, where a judge is assigned to a case for all purposes or for all purposes possibly until the case is reassigned for trial, learn about the particular bench officer(s) who presides over your case. Information allows you to make useful assumptions about a particular judge's attitudes and policies.

As Judges Curtis and Zisman note, the best judicial officers are predictable and consistent in their rulings. "A judge's value to the public as a judge is in direct proportion to the ability of the lawyers who frequent the court to predict how the judge will deal with a particular issue." I find this to be so true in my personal experience. Lawyers who know how judges tend to rule on a given issue can set their client's expectations realistically. Armed with such knowledge, both sides are in a better position to have productive settlement discussions that avoid a "crapshoot" and the associated risks and expense. They don't potentially infuriate bench officers with weak arguments that, it is known, such judges may rarely accept.

Lawyers who are practitioners in any given court usually have good insights into local judge's attitudes. They may also be aware of information about a judge that is not generally available to the public, like their expertise, practice focus, and reputation before they took the bench. Knowing that while a lawyer your judge participated in a case that generated a published appellate decision on a move-away case, for instance, could provide you a wealth of ideas on how to tailor your presentation. Likewise, knowing whether a judge has been reversed is useful for making sensitive presentations.

Pro per litigants should consider observing a judge going through her calendar over the course of one or more days. You will learn tons about their judicial attitude from watching them in open court, and you may witness other parties get scolded or reprimanded for missteps and so avoid the same mistakes. A simple but classic example is the family court litigant who brings a small retinue of family members who are there to provide familial support, some of whom cannot sit still without gasping, shaking their heads violently, or sobbing.

• Rule #3: Notify the Court If the Case Will Be Continued the Day Before

Sometimes one or both attorneys or parties intend to seek a continuance of a hearing, possibly because they want to discuss settlement but often because one or both are not ready to proceed or have late papers to submit.

Judges have very different attitudes towards continuances, particularly where they have already read the materials and then are faced with a continuance request. Lawyers who know that a case will not proceed are well advised to contact the courtroom clerk at least a day in advance to give a head's up - otherwise, they may wind up with a judge who justifiably feels "put out". Some allow self-represented parties to give advance notice of agreed upon continuances, but the other side will need to confirm it. Often messages must be left on the clerk's answering machine, and you may not know that number or whether messages were received or acted upon.

Where both sides have attorneys and a particular judge is known to permit it, counsel should always let the court know one or even two days in advance that the hearing is not expected to proceed that day.

• Rule #4: Look At the Local Court Rules, If Any, and the California Rules of Court

Some counties or individual courts have local rules; many do not. Most judges have their own rules and styles, often never to be found in written form. It never hurts to ask the Court clerk, when the judge is off the bench, whether that courtroom follows any specific preferences, customs, or rules of procedures.

The state-wide source for procedural rules impacting California Family Law (and Juvenile cases) are the California Rules of Court, beginning with Rule 5.100. Rule 5.111 is one of the immediately most important, since it deals with initiating common OSC and Motion requests for custody, support, etc. These rules apply to all family law matters in all California courtrooms.

The Riverside County Local Rules pertaining to Family Law cases can be found here. Start with Title 5. I discuss these in more detail below. The Los Angeles Family Court Rules can be accessed here. Basically you ought to go to the County website where your case is filed and look for the local rules for that are applied.

• Rule #5: Talk to the Judge, Not the Other Party or Lawyer

The time to discuss your case or argue with the other side is before you enter the courtroom. It drives judges nuts when two lawyers, two pro se parties, or any combination of them begin to argue at counsel table as though the judge was not present. Keep your focus on the judge, and generally avoid looking at the other party except for emphasis. Never address the other party directly.

If you bring witnesses or support people in the courtroom, tell them in advance to keep control of themselves. This means no interruptions, no head shaking or head nodding, no gasps, and no agitated movements. It is natural that such people have an emotional investment in the outcome. However, if they act in an uncontrolled fashion, that may affect the court's evaluation of you. I don't have many times I told family members this, only to watch them go utterly vacant and stupid because their emotions get out of hand!

Family Law Lawyers Screened For Empathy

Prominent L.A. Attorney Says Future Lawyers Should Be Screened and Trained for Empathy

Increasingly we are entering an era where future lawyers should be screened and trained for empathy!

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Baer, an award-winning attorney and mediator in practice since 1991, notes, "Those who tend to be attracted to law school in the first place tend to be logical thinkers (rule oriented) and have low EQ levels. Moreover, the research indicates that the training students receive in law school also causes an 'erosion of empathy.' Furthermore, the more empathic students tend to drop out of law school at a much higher rate. 

Moreover, lawyers with 'higher level of resilience, empathy, initiative and sociability' are more likely to leave law practice than those with lower levels of those traits."

Baer claims this root problem is causing significant problems for society.

"Law schools must begin recognizing the damage that is being caused to interpersonal relationships and our overall society, due to the low EQ levels of those involved in the field of law and make a concerted effort to address this extremely serious problem. Law schools might learn a thing or two from the changes taking place in the education of future physicians," said Baer.

He then showed how a quote written about changes under consideration with regard to the medical field could apply equally well to the legal field with a few minor changes. The quote with his changes in brackets is as follows: It would benefit everyone if "leaders [in the legal field began] exploring ways to infuse more empathy into the [legal] field. That includes re-evaluating the criteria for who should get admitted to [law] school in the first place, and what they should learn while they're there. Their reforms [should] raise questions about what constitutes quality [legal] care, how (and whether) it can be trained, and how much change is even possible in the American [legal] system today."

To speak with Mark Baer,

Please contact: Aurora DeRose (310) 396-6090 – Aurora411@TimeWire.net.

Prominent L.A. Attorney Says Future Lawyers Should Be Screened and Trained for... -- LOS ANGELES, Sept. 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Effects of Trauma and Family Court Cases Seminar at 11th Judicial Circuit Family Courthouse in Miami-Dade County

Post by Stop Mental Child Abuse.

LEGAL ABUSE SYNDROME

PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) Worksheets | Psychology Tools

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) worksheets, handouts, self-help and other resources for clients and therapists....

PSYCHOLOGY.TOOLS

Lawson E. Thomas Courthouse Center, Miami, Florida
Family Court Services Lunch & Learn September 2013

fcslunchandlearnsept2013.eventbri

Effects of Trauma on Family Court Cases:

What is Trauma and Why We Must Address It?

By Linda FieldstoneSupervisor Family Court Services 11th Jud. Cir. ~

Although prevalence estimates vary, there is consensus that high percentages of justice-involved women and men have experienced serious trauma throughout their lifetime. The reverberating effect of trauma experiences can challenge a person’s capacity for recovery and pose significant barriers to maintaining healthy relationships, adjusting to life transitions and accessing services, often resulting in an increased risk of coming into contact with the criminal justice system and affecting their family court cases. Cindy A. Schwartz, MS, MBA, Consultant to SAMSHA’s National Center for Trauma Informed Care, will offer insights into how to interact with people in ways that help to engage them in services, keep them out of the criminal justice system, ease processing through the system, and avoid re-traumatizing. Justin Volpe, Certified Peer Specialist Consultant, will demonstrate how the application of effective practices can divert a trauma victim from self-destructive behavior to actions that can promote more productive responses when involved in family court actions.

at Lawson E. Thomas Courthouse.

Post by End Parental Alienation.

Family Court Services and their presenters from SAMSHA failed to address how Family Court can cause a person severe emotional distress that LEADS to the Trauma (Physical and Psychological Injury). They did discuss how trauma leads to mental and physical illness. The big question of the afternoon: “Which came first the chicken or the egg?

Who said that?

	What I learned in law school was that I definitely didn't want to be a lawyer.

Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress

The first case to recognize a non-custodial parent’s cause of action based on the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress was Sheltra V. Smith, 392 A. 2d 431 (Vt. 1978). In this case, the non-custodial parent brought suit for damages alleging that:

“defendant willfully, maliciously, intentionally, and outrageously inflicted extreme mental suffering and acute mental distress on the plaintiff, by willfully, maliciously, and outrageously rendering it impossible for any personal contact or other communication to take place between the (plaintiff and child).”

Id. at 433.

The Superior Court, Caledonia County, dismissed the complaint for failure to state of cause of action on which relief could be granted. The Supreme Court of Vermont, however, found that the plaintiff stated a prima facie case for outrageous conduct causing severe... 

Post Traumatic Stress (PTSD) causes a victim to re-experience the trauma–usually after they are triggered by a specific reminder. Not only does the trauma play in their mind but their body chemically responds, also going back to that place of trauma. The reminders can happen in the day during vivid flashbacks or, at night with nightmares or panic attacks. PTSD has a variety of symptoms including (but not limited to): feeling numb, becoming extra sensitive to stimuli (hyper arousal), outbursts of anger, avoiding the places or reminders of trauma, losing interest in things you once enjoyed, exaggerated startle response, feeling disconnected and depression.



Post by Citizens for a Healthy Miami-Dade.

Registry of Prosecutorial Misconduct

An excerpt from the article by Michael Kiefer ~

Registry records prosecutorial misconduct
Jan 12, 2014

The Republic | azcentral.com

The Center for Prosecutor Integrity’s registry comprises 201 federal cases dating back to 1997 in which prosecutorial misconduct was found by a federal trial court or appeals court. It lists the type of case and the nature of the misconduct, from withholding evidence to perjury. The registry also includes any sanctions imposed by the court.

The information is intended to educate the public and provide a research tool for attorneys.

According to the center, the Registry of Prosecutorial Misconduct was created to provide hard data that could lead to accountability by prosecutors.

“We expect many groups will use it,” said E. Everett Bartlett, Center for Prosecutor Integrity president. Among those, Bartlett included lawmakers, criminal-justice programs, forward-looking prosecutor organizations, and advocacy groups such as the Innocence Project.

On its website, the Center for Prosecutor Integrity defines itself as an organization dedicated “to preserve the presumption of innocence, assure equal treatment under the law, and end wrongful convictions.” It defines prosecutorial misconduct as “a violation of a code of professional ethics or pertinent law, or other conduct that prejudices the administration of justice, whether intentional or inadvertent.”

Bartlett expects to expand the database, and his center has calculated that there have been at least 15,000 instances of prosecutorial misconduct in the U.S. since 1970 in all state and federal courts.

Bartlett said the registry was created following several articles about the issue of prosecutor conduct, including stories in USA Today andThe Arizona Republic.

FIRST OF ITS KIND!!

The CPI Registry of Prosecutorial Misconduct

Press Release about the Registry

Prosecutorial integrity: Lawyer errors can mean prison for the innocent"we’re really talking about tens of thousands...
Posted by Center for Prosecutor Integrity on Friday, July 4, 2014

Post by SAVE for Falsely Accused.

Posted by Dysfunctional Judges on Saturday, November 15, 2014

Center for Prosecutorial Integrity Launches “BRING A PROSECUTOR TO JUSTICE” Campaign…...
Posted by Camille Tilley on Thursday, July 31, 2014

Posted by Dysfunctional Judges on Monday, August 18, 2014

My name is Lorraine A. Mogus and I did not seen my Mother Helen A. Mogus in the last five years of her life due to a...
Posted by Annette E. Blankenship on Saturday, December 27, 2014

Bronx Prosecutor Barred from CourtroomThe prosecutorial faux pas has raised questions about the integrity of the Bronx District Attorney’s office.See: http://nydn.us/1Bord1Q
Posted by Center for Prosecutor Integrity on Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Recent Proof of Prosecutorial Misconduct Mirrors OCDA's Bad Old DaysInside the Orange County district attorney's...
Posted by Center for Prosecutor Integrity on Friday, May 8, 2015

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