Friday, December 02, 2016

THE NEW FEDERAL CRIMINAL PRACTICE BOOK FOR LAWYERS, DEFENDING A FEDERAL CRIMINAL CASE

I've gotten my greedy hands on the latest 2016 edition of Defending A Federal Criminal Case by the Federal Public Defenders of San Diego priced at $399.00 for three volumes. It is - as were the previous editions of this book - a definitive legal guide for federal defense lawyers and something every defense lawyer should have in that arsenal of last resort, the firm's legal library where the Jack Daniels whiskey is stored. 

It also makes for for some heavy lifting in lieu of your gym membership that lapsed some time ago should you heft them all together and throw them in your briefcase to say, fight some battle in federal court. I suggest carrying large helium balloons to help carry the load. Though I suppose the makers of this fine edition have solved that potential problem by also providing the book as a searchable PDF download. For a limited time certified CJA defense lawyers may get the books free of charge, after that you'll need to burglarize the Middle District of Florida Federal Defenders Office or try to buy mine page by page if it comes to that.

So why is this set of books so useful for Federal Criminal Defense Lawyers? It covers everything from that federal arrest, to federal indictment, to federal bond hearing arguments, to an analysis of every major federal criminal violation, to federal trial and finally to that federal appeal you were hoping you'd avoid before that fatal federal verdict. Although these books were created in California they cite the latest law from a variety of Federal Jurisdictions especially where there are inconsistencies. This allows the user to not only have some ground level working knowledge of the relevant legal arguments from his or her jurisdiction, but some ideas as to the best standard arguments from more progressive parts of the country, which as we all well know is any place not part of the Eleventh Circuit.

The books are clearly a labor of love for the Public Defenders of San Diego, Inc who offer their cumulative years on how the federal criminal law is changing for a better idea of how federal criminal law is in actual practice now. In the best way these books are what you'd hope they'd be, a definitive voice giving unbiased advice for every step in a criminal case with the goal of always finding the best possible result for every issue.


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