By the Numbers: Clarkston Legal Production 2011

In my law practice, I drive from various courts across Michigan in a 2009 Ford Explorer.  That vehicle has 110,000 miles burned into it over the past 3-years.  That's a lot of court appearances.

Here are the numbers behind those miles for this past calendar year.


Michigan Court of Appeals.  Although I had not argued before the Court of Appeals in more than two years, I had 4 arguments before the intermediate appellate tribunal in 2011.  Also filed 25 briefs in that court; most of them applications for leave to appeal guilty pleas.  In the first week of 2012, I have two arguments.

Oakland County.  This is where we hold a "home field" advantage.  In 2011, I appeared in the circuit court, including the family court division, 118 times.  An additional 86 appearances were made in the Oakland County Probate Court.  Getting to know the judges pretty well over there.

Getting to know the Friend of the Court Referees as well with 30 trips to the FOC for early intervention conferences, or evidentiary hearings.

Macomb County.  Went "East Side" for 24 court appearances in 2011, all of them in the circuit or family courts; no East Side probate court appearances this year.  Many of these were for the Attorney General.

Wayne County.  In 2011, we made 20 court appearances in the "D"; fifteen were in the circuit and family courts, while the remaining 5 were all in the Wayne County Probate Court.

Genesee County.  Just to the North of our offices [we can be in Flint in less than a half hour], I made the dash to the Genesee County Circuit Court 10 times in 2011.  In addition, we made 4 trips to the Genesee Friend of the Court for hearings.

Livingston County.  Only five appearances in Livingston County Circuit Court this year; all on a single divorce case.

District Courts.  In 2011, we appeared in many of the various district courts placed throughout the counties in which we appear.  80 district court appearances to be precise; most of them for criminal matters.

Administrative Hearings.  Only three of these this year; for drivers license restorations and an implied consent refusal.

Keep in mind folks, these statistics are for but one attorney in the Karlstrom Cooney law firm; my partners have many other court appearances in these courts.  They do have, however, more "transactional" law practices than mine.  Along with Kay Caruso, Stuart Cooney, and Peter Keenan, we are the firm's litigators.

So these are my numbers for this year; it was a productive one.  We have our clients to thank for keeping us well engaged.

www.clarkstonlegal.com

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Disparate Sentences for NBA Stars' Drunk Driving Convictions in Oakland County

A well-respected blog on sentencing picked-up on the infamous NBA drunk driving cases coming out of the 48th District Court in Bloomfield Hills, MI. The blog noted the difference between Jalen Rose's straight-forward OWI conviction [he did 14-days in the OCJ]; and the weapons charge component to Big Ben Wallace's OWI charge, recently resolved in the Oakland County Circuit Court before Judge Shalina Kumar.

Here is what the blog had to say about the two cases:

On the surface, it would appear that Wallace committed a (much?) worse offense but ultimately got a (much?) lighter sentence than Rose.  Of course, maybe there are some specific differences in the cases not obvious on the surface that justify this seeming disparity.  And, perhaps more importantly, the mere fact that can be (and often is) a lot of "low-level" sentencing disparity in this arena does not, in an of itself, necessarily establish that the applicable sentencing law is either unjust or ineffective.

Reading this blog post and being a local criminal defense attorney, I could not resist posting the following comment:

Great blog, DAB. This comment is from a criminal defense attorney in Oakland County, MI, where this Ben Wallace and Jalen Rose stuff went down. First, it is a suburb of Detroit; not in the "D", as we say. Also, Bloomfield Hills, where the district court is seated for that area, is a posh tony burb. (i.e. there are NBA stars driving around partying).

This comment seeks to shed some light on the "disparity" in the sentencing for the two NBA stars. Rose had the misfortune of driving drunk within the jurisdiction of the 48th District Court and to have his case randomly assigned to Judge Kim Small. Judge Small has made national headlines over the years for her drunk driving sentences; they often involve some jail time, even for first offenders with no criminal history. Currently, a group of high-end defense lawyers have challenged Judge Small, seeking to have her disqualified from all drunk driving cases on the basis that she is not fair or impartial, and that her "one-size-fits-all" sentencing policy (i.e. jail for all offenders), violates the "individualized sentencing" mandated by Michigan statute.
This is why Jalen Rose went to jail last summer. 

In the case of Ben Wallace, the big fella was OWI while packing some loaded cold steel in his Cadillac, upping his game to the felony level, and thereby "just passing through" the 48th District Court. Fortunately for him, although he too was randomly assigned to Judge Small, his attorneys executed a "fast break", waiving the preliminary exam, and binding Wallace over to the trial court. Once there, probation was available all day long. Good bye Judge Small; hello Judge Shalina Kumar. 

Unlike Rose, however, Wallace will have a felony weapons conviction on his record. Last year, Wallace spoke of going to law school. This probably puts the kabosh on that notion.
Here is a link to our local blawg coverage of Big Ben.

Sometimes an accused's notoriety helps his cause; sometimes it hurts the case.

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The Dragon Suicides

This Tuesday, I will be heading to Detroit to present oral argument to a 3-judge panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals.  The appeal is from a summary disposition of my client's wrongful death claim against the parents of a Lake Orion High School senior.


The LOHS senior hosted an impromptu graduation party in May 2008 while his parents were out dining and socializing until nearly 1:00 am.  The parents returned to a teenage house party meltdown; students puking, passing out, the furious father of a drunk freshman girl on the phone demanding answers and threatening to call the police. 


Early the next morning, one of the good friends of the student that hosted the house party hung himself in the basement of the Lake Orion home.  The decedent's estate raised claims of negligence in the failure to supervise the LOHS students and wrongful death.  The defendants in the law suit, the homeowners, have been represented by a law firm hired through their homeowners insurance. 


The lawsuit was dismissed from the Oakland County Circuit Court; from this summary disposition, the decedent's parents have appealed to the Michigan Court of Appeals; oral arguments in the case are scheduled for Tuesday morning in Detroit.


My clients are the parents of the decedent, apparently one of 9 LOHS students or graduates to have killed himself within the last four years.  Two of the suicides occurred just last month.


This rash of LOHS-related suicides has led to the initiation of an on-line petition through Facebook sponsored by Lake Orion Reach Out.  The Reach Out group also seeks the formation of a suicide prevention class to be taught at the high school.


What is it about LOHS and the surrounding community that could be causing students to take their own lives?  Is there any connection between the cases?
  
One of the many comments to the Oakland Press article linked above suggests that bullying occurs at the school.  While there is a correlation between teen-age bullying and suicide, I doubt it can explain this Oakland County phenomena.

Nevertheless, to its credit, the Lake Orion Community Schools is implementing a district-wide bullying prevention program.

Here is a recent editorial on this sad subject from the Lake Orion Review, published following this post.


And here are some resources if you, a family member, or a friend or loved one is at risk for suicide:

Suicide crisis lines

• Common Ground: 24-hour crisis hotline 800-231-1127
• Oakland County Community Mental Health Authority Crisis Hotline: 248-456-1991
• Suicide Prevention Resource Center: 800-273-TALK (800-273-8255)

• Jason Foundation: 800-SUICIDE (800-784-2433)

Suicide prevention, education and treatment

• MINDS mental health awareness and education program 248-644-8003
• University of Michigan Depression Center: 800-475-MICH (800-475-6424)
• Joseph J. Laurencelle Memorial Foundation:  248-258-6693
• Oakland Schools: 248-209-2000
• Easter Seals: 800-75-SEALS (800-757-3257)
• Havenwyck Hospital: 800-401-2727
• Community Network Services: 800-273-0258 or 866-493-6797
• Training & Treatment Innovations: 800-741-1682
• Oakland County Suicide Prevention Coalition: e-mail administrator@ocspc.org.

Most often, people on the verge of committing suicide feel hopeless and depressed.  They need to be given the hope and the strength to hang on for another day.  

They need to understand that suicide is an irreversible decision.  We need to identify and assist those among us who are at risk, before they reach the point of no return.

http://www.clarkstonlegal.com/

info@clarkstonlegal.com

Oakland County Circuit Court Appoints Ombudsman

For the first time in its long history, the Oakland County Circuit Court has appointed an Attorney Ombudsman to serve as a liaison between the county's bench and the bar.  Southfield Attorney Joel Serlin has the distinction of being the first Ombudsman to the Oakland Circuit beginning December 1, 2011.

In announcing the appointment, Chief Judge Nanci Grant said:

Our bench is excited to participate in the inaugural ombudsman program.  We embrace the program, and the opportunity presented, as an illustration of the importance attached to the transparency and accountability of the bench and bar - to each other, of course, but more importantly to the administration of justice in Oakland County.

The role of this ombudsman will be to address the administrative and case management issues raised by the Oakland County bar.  The OCBA proposed the notion of appointing an ombudsman over a year ago. When the proposal was formally presented to the Oakland judges, it received overwhelming support.

The purpose underpinning the program will be to provide a discreet forum for attorneys practicing before the Oakland bench to address matters for which there is no other avenue in which to seek redress of their various concerns.  The ombudsman is independent of the judiciary and maintains confidentiality relative to the requests  made to his office.

This development is just another example of how practicing law in Oakland County is a distinct professional pleasure.  We welcome this development; kudos to the OCBA and all the Oakland County Circuit Judges.

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Underfunded Courts Will Erode Justice

This granite courthouse in the Bronx took a decade to
build (1905-1915) and has been abandoned since 1978.

Achieving justice in the United States is never a given.  There are many factors that affect an outcome in the courthouse: the relative skills of the attorneys; the time a matter takes to get to trial; the personality of the judge; the backlog of the judge's docket.

One factor becoming increasingly important in the determination of justice is the funding [or lack thereof] for the judiciary.

Here in Michigan, there are budget-conscious proposals to eliminate trial judges, court of appeals judges, and to shrink the Michigan Supreme Court from 7 to 5 justices.

Referred to as the weakest branch of government in the Federalist Papers due to its inability to control either sword or purse, the judiciary must now fight for its fiscal life here in America, both at the federal level, and on a state-by-state basis, as legislatures scramble to shrink all government budgets.

Here in Oakland County, the county executive, Brooks Patterson, runs a very tight fiscal ship.  He has demanded that the courthouse balance its budget; in turn, they have accounted for nearly every penny spent in the courthouse, saving wherever possible.

Patterson's plan has meant a slow attrition among the corps of judicial clerks and other court staff.  At the Oakland County Probate Court, this has translated to juggled counter hours and longer lines.  Overall, however, the Oakland County Circuit Court's service to the public has not suffered.  How long, we wonder, can this continue?

If you have not been to the Macomb County Circuit Court in a while, don't plan your business for the afternoon if it's a Tuesday or Thursday; the clerk's office will be closed.

Elsewhere, courts have not fared nearly so well.  In California, for example, $350 million has been cut from the county trial courts since 2009, with even more cuts due by the end of the year.  The Economist reported last week that up to 48% of California's county trial courts could be rendered insolvent by the state's budget crisis.

One result of the cuts to courts in California is lengthening the time an uncontested divorce takes to process through the court system; from 6 to 18 months.  Trained court staff is needed to process such cases without delay.

In New York, the judges, not having seen a legislated pay raise since the turn of the century, have sued the political branches of their state government.  In Ohio, the Morrow County Municipal Court went to a 4-day work week in 2009 and stopped taking new cases for filing because the county failed to requisition sufficient paper.

Some quick stats compiled by the American Bar Association regarding the state of the state judiciaries:

• 26 states have stopped filling judicial vacancies; 
• 34 states have stopped filling judicial clerkships; 
• 31 states have frozen judges' or clerks' salaries; 
• 14 states have closed courts during weekdays; and 
• 3200 courthouses have been characterized as "physically eroded" or "functionally deficient".

According to ABA, "the underfunding of the judicial system threatens the fundamental nature of our tripartite system of government."  To borrow a cliche that also captures the spirit of this problem: "justice delayed is justice denied."

www.clarkstonlegal.com

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Saved by the Gun

Ben Wallace

What a difference one-year makes.  Last year, our law firm's web site carried a tweet in our news feed about Big Ben attending law school.

Last weekend, any plans the big fella had of convincing a state bar to issue a law license in his name just became more complicated.  Wallace, recently retired from the Detroit Pistons, and a former Chicago Bull and Cleveland Cavalier, was arrested in Bloomfield Township on Saturday night.

News reports have Wallace failing field sobriety tests and submitting to a breath test allegedly resulting in a .14 blood alcohol content.  The legal limit in Michigan is .08; the year-old "SuperDrunk" threshold is .17.

An unloaded pistol allegedly was found in Wallace's Cadillac.  This could actually help him out.

Apparently, Wallace's case was randomly assigned to 48th District Judge Kim Small; known for her harsh sentences for first time offenders of Michigan's drunk driving laws.

Drunk driving is a misdemeanor if a first offense; misdemeanors stay in the district courts where they originate.  Carrying a concealed weapon, on the other hand, is a felony.  Felonies are bound over for trial, or resolution via plea, at the county circuit court.

Judge Small was all over the national headlines this summer when she sentenced former NBA star, Jalen Rose, to nearly a month in the Oakland County Jail.   Would Big Ben have received the same fate?  We'll never know now.

Wallace will most likely plead guilty to both the felony and the misdemeanor and get probation rather than any jail time.  Carrying the unlicensed pistol may have saved the big fella several weeks of sensory deprivation in the Oakland Hotel.

Update:
I was in the halls of the Oakland County Circuit Court on Tuesday when Big Ben was being sentenced by Judge Shalina Kumar.  As predicted, he received probation.

Here's a post to an outstanding criminal law blog that captures the perspective of these local NBA stars' convictions from the national level.

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Fab Five Continues to Disappoint UM Fans

For all their hype, the men behind the Fab Five continue to disappoint fans, supporters and alumni of the University of Michigan.

First it was Chris Webber's phantom time-out vs North Carolina in the 1993 Final Four game.  Then the premature abandonment of the University of Michigan Basketball Program by the headliners of the group, Webber and Jalen Rose.  Next, the final four banners were removed from Chrysler Arena due to the Ed Martin booster scandal.

This month, it's two criminal convictions right here in Oakland County; one for Jalen Rose, who's doing 20-days in the Oakland County Jail on a sentence from 48th District Judge Kim Small; the other is for charges of felony child support against Jimmy King.  According to the Michigan Attorney General, King owes nearly $18,000 in child support arrears.  He was arrested in Detroit.

Both men are currently detained in the OCJ.

Attorney General Bill Schuette was quoted in the Detroit Free Press as saying, "when it comes to child support, no matter who you are, you have to play by the rules."

It's a shame that these men have never played by the rules; it's a shame that they continue to cast a pall over the University of Michigan.

www.clarkstonlegal.com

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100th Post - Thank You Readers!

We here at the Law Blogger would like to thank the Oakland Press, and our readers for the opportunity to disseminate our posts on the developing legal issues of our day, as they occur.

On average, this blogs receives 75 daily page views.  Sometimes, readers are motivated to comment.  The comments tendered often provide a fresh look at the subject from a completely different point of view.  They also provide insight into how we've treated a subject.

We value your comments.  Please keep them coming.

Interestingly, in our two-year history of 100-posts, the one about Cooley Law School's sponsorship of the former Oldsmobile Stadium received the most comment from readers.  Although posted back in February, we still receive the occasional comment on that post.

This blog first posted on March 30, 2009.  The topic was a Michigan Court of Appeals decision to address a parenting dispute between a lesbian couple.  Since then, the blog has featured many posts on the same-sex marriage issue.  Other recurring themes have included the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, decisions of import (in our opinion) from the Michigan Supreme Court and SCOTUS, the Second Amendment, the Fourth Amendment's search and seizure case law over the past two years, family law issues, and many other topics we hope that you find useful, or at least interesting.

In the posts, which we try to keep relatively brief but of a varying length, we link to original documentation whenever possible.  Also, we make every effort to get out at least two posts each week; three posts if possible.  Some of your comments have expressed approval of this model.

There are a sea of blogs out there on every topic imaginable; particularly legal topics.  We hope that the fleeting time you have to spend checking your various news feeds throughout the day is worthwhile when you alight upon our blog.

With the lighting-fast pace of developments on the Internet, -newsfeeds, social media, aggregated search tools, mirco-blogs- some of the pundits now wonder if blogs have been relegated to the "old school".  Not so, says one of the premire law bloggers, Kevin O'Keefe.  His recent post emphasizes the importance and value of a good law blog.

Most law students and legal professionals now keep current with developments via subscriptions to various law blogs.

As always, if you have any suggestions or comments, we welcome you to post your ideas to this blog, or by contacting us electronically.

Above all, thanks again for taking a moment to read our posts.  Without you, the reader, this blog is nothing.

For our part, we aim to keep the fresh, relevant legal content posted to this blog.

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Oakland County Judge-Shuffle Shaping Up

Recently, President Obama appointed Oakland Circuit Judge Mark Goldsmith to the federal bench in Detroit. His appointment has been approved by the U.S. Senate and he is expected to assume his place at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan by year's end.

Goldsmith's appointment creates an opening on the general docket of the Oakland County Circuit Court.  Oakland Family Court Judge James M. Alexander has announced that he will vacate his place in the Family Court to assume Judge Goldsmith's docket.

Judge Alexander will be handling general civil cases, and a criminal docket.  This means that attorneys, and parties that had matters pending with Judge Alexander in the Oakland Family Court will have their matters re-assigned to another judge.

This also means that another judge will be appointed, perhaps by the end of the year, to fill Judge Alexander's spot on the family court in Oakland County.  Rumors are rampant relative to Governor Jennnifer Granholm's appointment for this seat.  Among a few others, we've heard that 51st District Chief Judge Phyllis McMillen is under active consideration.

McMillen would be well-suited for the family court appointment.  A judge's judge, McMillen brings plenty of judicial experience as well as a valuable even-handed judicial demeanor to fill this important vacancy.  Unfortunately, in our system of political judicial appointments, the right person does not always get the job.

Our system of judicial elections for at-large seats, and gubernatorial vacancy appointments makes for an ever-changing bench at the county and municipal levels.  Good judges help to instill in the general public the proper confidence in our judicial system.

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