collegeattorney has questions!

[collegeattorney]

Please forgive me. I do not understand why I have received such rude and mocking responses. I have never attacked you or the other members in anyway, shape or form. I admit my spelling is deplorable, but I beleive the internet is as conversational as a visit in the park. I am not soliciting business in anyway. I do not want to offer services for payment from groups or from members. I am offering my time and experinece. I would like to come to wherever (any state, not just Texas) to explain and illustrate the constitutional rights of students. I regret not being informed early on in college how awful things can get when you are suspected of a crime or when you are with a friend suspected of a crime. Clearly the other law students and attorneys in this group know the importance of knowing your rights the first time you encounter an officer. I do not believe most college kids are aware of what their rights are. I am curious why a 3L and 2 current lawyers are so angered by an attorney offering to speak to civic organizations. Clearly an atty at the level of appearring before the Supreme Court (please provide a cite) would spend a large amount of time speaking on behalf of her firm at civic causes.

I am not sure why a 3L would find that being a criminal attorney is funny. There is nothing comical about making sure the police and the d.a. do thier job correctly before a jury passes judgment on a person. For the other lawyer in the group, if you would please go the State Bar of Texas website, you would see that Texas offers a certification program for specific areas of the law. If a licensed atty passes an additional test and demonstrates a certain skill area in the given area of the law, the Texas Board of Legal Specialization confers this benefit on the lawyer. While I currently work for the District Attorney as his trial counsel, I am leaving the office to pursue another position in the private sector. After nine years of practice and over 75 felony jury trials, I feel I can explain what the officers are looking for and how individuals can speak with the officers to avoid making costly mistakes.

My offering to speak in any state is not forbidden, nor is it solicitation. I do not want these individuals to hire me or anyone in particular if they need an atty. I believe that by coming to speak to groups about these issues, I might prevent a troubled student from making a decision that could jeopardize his or her career choices. I AM A PIKE. I do not know what a GLO is. I apologize for not knowing the rules of this forum. I felt that this was a central location that would allow me to reach students all over. The attorneys in this thread really suprise me. I am not sure why you would construe this as unethical or why you think my employer would be upset. I am not sure how civic organizations are going to be aware of anyone offering to speak with them, if they do not promote what they can offer. Please accept my apology and I have learned a valuable lesson about the adult greek life world. Thanks for the time and you have my email and cell if you would like to discuss anything further. I am always available. Thank You.

[33girl]

A GLO is shorthand for a Greek Letter Organization.

Poor spelling and poor grammar greatly damage your credibility. You want to be treated like a professional, conduct yourself like one, no matter the venue. I'm sure you wouldn't submit a brief in "real" life that contained multiple spelling and grammar errors.

If you are serious about wanting to offer your services to college students across the country, I suggest you contact campusspeak.com and ask if you can assist in existing or create new programs. Most college students would be leery of asking someone they know nothing about to speak unless they're backed up by a reputable national organization.

[skylark]

Attorneys on this site are defensive and angry at you because your less than professional conduct reflects badly on all of us. FYI: I think you would benefit from reading (or possibly re-reading) the model rules of professional conduct. Since this medium of communication is person-to-person and not a newspaper, this is definitely skirting the line of solicitation. Furthermore, your "board certification" as a "criminal attorney" is still improperly described. You need to specify which ABA-approved organization gave you such certification when you make a specialty claim in an advertisement.

And yes, this board is very conversational and casual, and I'm sure that you are not the first attorney to misspell something on this site. However, we aren't trying to offer our professional services to anyone, either, so maybe you could have at least clicked the spell-check button (if not in your first message, maybe the ones that followed... e.g. "beleive").

To any fraternity or sorority who might be thinking that calling Mr. Ex-DA about speaking to them, please call up your own state's bar association first. There are a lot of ex-greek attorneys in every state who are probably willing to talk to your chapter for free. They will be familiar with your own state's law and will probably also be better prepared, judging by collegeattorney's (lack of) commitment to accuracy displayed on this site.

[Kevin]

collegeattorney,

Let the record reflect that I already closed down one thread when someone started skirting the boundaries of posting your personal information. My intention was to stop that thread before it got out of hand (as threads often do here). This is a can of worms which you probably don't really want to open. You're obviously not an unintelligent person, surely you could see what would happen when you reopened this subject. Accordingly, I'll allow you to experience the tongue lashing you've invited from the Greekchat legal community.

As for finding the "criminal attorney" thing funny, I guess the first time I read it, I saw it as more of a hyphenate -- a "criminal-attorney," i.e., an attorney who is a criminal. Please excuse my odd sense of humor, I have great respect for (some of) the criminal bar.

I'm not threatening you, but I can't speak for anyone else -- giving people the ability to identify you while committing acts which arguably run contrary to the MRPC is just bad joo-joo.

That said, I admire your willingness to help these kids out. Were I you, I'd pursue a word-of-mouth campaign. Contact a few local PKA chapters to see if they'd want you as a guest speaker. Most chapters of most organizations have mandatory risk reduction meetings each year. A speaker who knows his stuff might be welcome.

[GeekyPenguin]

Originally Posted by collegeattorney

Clearly an atty at the level of appearring before the Supreme Court (please provide a cite) would spend a large amount of time speaking on behalf of her firm at civic causes.

The "atty" you are speaking of (MysticCat) is a man. Additionally, many attorneys who appear before the Supreme Court (like my boss!) aren't with a firm. If you'd like a cite for her, you can start with Carhart I&II or Ayotte or Lawrence v. Texas...just for starters.

I love criminal attorneys. My boyfriend is one and I will be one shortly. I have interned at two different DA's offices and I am absolutely shocked that someone with the level of intelligence it takes to be a career prosecutor cannot express himself more eloquently.

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Let the record reflect that I already closed down one thread when someone started skirting the boundaries of posting your personal information.

I am going on record as saying that posting what college he went to, using the info he posted, doesn't even come near his personal phone number, which he posted himself as well. It was my way of saying "You're not anonymous, stop being an asshat". I guess I'll go about it a different way this time.

You're not anonymous, stop being an asshat.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by collegeattorney

I am offering my time and experinece. I would like to come to wherever (any state, not just Texas) to explain and illustrate the constitutional rights of students.

This is my major problem with what you've offered to do. Do you have any experience in any state other than Texas? Are you licensed in any state other than Texas?

If not, then you have no business coming to any state other than Texas to offer any kind of advice. Yes, the United States Constitution applies everywhere, but the laws in every state differ, and the interplay between state laws and the US Constitution can differ as well.

You also need to understand that in many states, what you are proposing to do may well be considered the unauthorized practice of law. It doesn't matter whether you are charging a fee or not.

33girl is right -- while often the conversation around here is casual, you came here asking to be viewed as a professional. When that's the case, you need to write like a professional, or at least like someone with minimal competence.

And the suggestions that she and Kevin have made are good ones -- if you really want to help, contact campusspeak.com, local speakers' bureaus, local Pike chapters or the Greek offices of nearby colleges and universities. That would be much more effective than the posts you've offered here so far.

[REE1993]

Originally Posted by collegeattorney

Thanks for the time and you have my email and cell if you would like to discuss anything further. I am always available. Thank You.

I never heard of a lawyer pushing his wares using gmail. It doesn't look too professional pushing your wares on a message board. If someone were to need to "fight a dwi" or whatever the charges may be, do you think that they would use an anonymous lawyer they found on a message board for Greeks?

I also find it funny that you targeted fraternity and sorority members (and alumni) as your prospective market. What do statistics say about crimes committed by college-aged students, and their affilation to a GLO? I would love to see how your thought process brought you to this site.

Lastly, I would really edit out your email. As Kevin said, you can easily find personal information if you wanted to. The internet is NOT anonymous, and you really don't want to get into any hairy ethical messes that may occur as a result of your posts.

You will not be taken seriously here. I suggest you delete your posts and move on.