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Brandon Ball: a profile

January 14, 2016 Leave a Comment

brandonballBorn in Abilene, military brat Brandon Ball, has lived in numerous countries. He was a correctional officer for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) while attending Sam Houston State University before becoming a parole and probation officer for the city of Las Vegas. He is a graduate of the Thurgood Marshall School of Law.

 

Q: What was it like being a correctional officer at TDCJ?

A: It’s an institution. It wasn’t like I dreamed it was because it wasn’t about the rehabilitation. It was about running the numbers and getting the right number of people moving along. People there are trying to do their job and not make waves. People go along to get along. I saw a lot of things that I did not like there. It’s not like in the movies where it’s easy to do the right thing. It’s hard to be brave.

 

Q: What did your job as a parole and probation officer in Las Vegas teach you?

A: It’s not easy being on parole. When someone gets released, they would be rated on whether they would reoffend. My idea was that I wasn’t planning to send them back to prison. I was trying to help them and focus on the rehabilitation. But it’s not easy for them to integrate back (into society) because the resources are limited. They don’t come out with a job and they don’t come out with a vehicle. They don’t have that family support system that a lot of us have.

 

Q: How has your experience with the inmates and parolees helped you in your criminal defense work?

A: The only difference between you and them is they got caught and you didn’t. They were stupid and didn’t think and got drunk and made a mistake. Someone who’s a juvenile misses school and gets suspended and then they fall behind and get expelled. Then they can’t get into college and because they didn’t go to college, they can’t get a job. It becomes a cycle. The indigent defense system is set up for you to fail. You read about these lawyers who represent hundreds of defendants a year. There’s no way they spent any amount of time on those cases. Someone who gets a conviction on their record for an assault family member is going to spend the rest of their life being known as a criminal. People judge you and that judgment hinders them from future employment. It becomes a cycle.

 

Q: Why did you want to go to law school?

A: My mother always believed that if you spoke things aloud, it comes to existence. When I was little, my mother told me I would grow up to go to college and be a doctor, an engineer, or a lawyer. I wasn’t any good with math, so I couldn’t be a doctor or an engineer. Matlock was one of my favorite shows and people kept telling me I should go to law school because I loved to argue. I applied to 18 different law schools and didn’t get in the first time and was going to give up. Then my friend, Chaunte Sterling, encouraged me to reapply and I reapplied the next year and got accepted.

 

Q: Did you plan on becoming a criminal defense lawyer?

A: I didn’t plan for what I was going to study before law school and I didn’t plan after. I knew I had a background in criminal justice and I wanted to do something different. So I graduated and did some family law and heard about the FACT program (Future Appointed Counsel Training Program) and Gideon’s Promise and it changed my views. Before, I was scared to do criminal defense because I didn’t have a mentor coming out and didn’t want to send someone to prison for five years because I didn’t know what I was doing. The FACT program and Gideon’s Promise showed me that indigent defense is the new civil rights. The amount of people who don’t get adequate representation is astonishing. From that point on, my viewpoint on wanting to practice criminal defense changed and I’ve been focused on that area since.

 

Q: What do you wish the older and more experienced attorneys would know about your generation?

A: It’s different now for new lawyers coming out. Twenty-five to thirty years ago, it was easier to get cases and clients and take cases to trial. I wish they would be more patient with us and give us more of their time. It’s hard to be that young attorney that’s being annoying because they want a mentor. It’s not easy asking someone for help. To get a real mentor, you have to annoy the person: you’re asking them questions, you’re constantly calling them, sending emails. I wish they understood that it’s hard for the younger lawyer to want to be that annoying.

 

Q: What lessons do you live by as a young attorney?

A: All you have is your name and word. If you say you’re going to do something for a client or another attorney, and you don’t do it, they remember that. To that person, you’re going to be put into the category as someone that can’t be trusted. Once you lose their trust, that’s it. Read case law. It’s important to learn what the law is and the caselaw changes. As a young attorney, you don’t know anything and one place to start is to read caselaw. It helps you know and recognize what you don’t know. Never stop learning and never be afraid to learn. The law changes; the facts change. You forget things. Twenty years ago, DWI cases, DNA and eyewitness identification cases were not getting tried the same way as they are today. Social media wasn’t around. Society is always changing and we have to adapt and apply it to the courtroom.

 

Q: Do you think the criminal justice world treats black attorneys differently?

A: From the standpoint of potential clients, yes. If you put a black lawyer next to a white one, without knowing anything about either lawyer, the white lawyer will get picked more often than not. The same is true regardless of whether the client is black or white. It is the same for women versus men lawyers. That’s just how it is. As a black attorney, I understand I can’t afford to slip up like one of my white counterparts. Some folks don’t want to talk about that but I think it’s a healthy discussion.

interview by Thuy Le

 

Filed Under: Members Tagged With: brandon ball, member profile

Kent Schaffer: a profile

December 17, 2015 Leave a Comment

Kent Schaffer was a drama college major at the University of Texas when he saw Richard “Racehorse” Haynes cross-examine a Texas Ranger. For the next four days, Schaffer would skip his classes to attend the trial.   At the end of the trial, Haynes offered Schaffer a job. Schaffer showed up at the job the day after classes ended and for the next three summers he would continue working as an investigator for Haynes until he decided to be a lawyer. He graduated from the University of Houston Law School in 1981.

i-kentSchaffer has represented high profile clients such as Farrah Fawcett, Congressman Craig Washington, and R. Allen Stanford. He’s most recently been in the Tom Sizemore short film “Pieces” and was one of the producers of An Unreal Dream: The Michael Morton Story.

Q: It seemed like you enjoyed being an investigator for Haynes. Why law school?

A:    I was always in and out of trouble as kid. I’d often get in trouble for saying things that were on my mind. So it was always one of those ‘it takes one to know one…’ I always enjoyed trying to find out something about someone that they didn’t want me to find out.

 

Q: Did being a drama major in school help you with being a lawyer?

A: Being in trial is similar to a dramatic production. You have to get their attention and interest and you have to learn to make things interesting to someone. In drama you learn the tools to make people want to listen and pay attention. I don’t get stage fright. I enjoy the performance.

 

Q: How has going to trial changed from when you were first practicing?
A: Now, it’s a lot harder to take cases to trial. There’s not than many cases that get to trial. The federal sentencing guidelines are insanely high. When I first practiced, there was no talking to the police. Now a lot of people are snitches. A lot of people want to cooperate to get that probation or year instead of going to trial. The [State] threatens to hammer you if you go to trial so there aren’t a lot of lawyers willing to go to trial.

 

Q: How have you seen the jury system change over the years?

A: Now it’s an ADD generation. You can’t be too emotional and jurors have more mistrust of the lawyers. Jurors are more skeptical and conservative. They know the police lie, they know there’s an inherent racism in the system. They’ve seen CSI and in a case where there’s an absence of forensics, it can seem as though there’s no evidence. Lawyers need to be cognizant of their audience and pick members [of the jury] that are closer to the defendant. You have to adapt to a jury and I have to frame a case to that audience.

 

Q: How are judges different now than when you first started?

A: It seems a lot of people are in a hurry. You have to take the time to get your story out there; you can’t speed up the trial for the sake of brevity. Now we’re being told you have to speed things along. Judges compare the size of their docket as though that matters. Why does that make a quality judge? The quality of a judge is where justice is meted out and not how quickly they proceed through a case. Federal judges are different.

 

Q: What about the system itself. How has that changed?

A: There’s a lot of people who are in the criminal justice system who should not be there. We criminalize things we should not. When I went to St. John’s, I would get five pops for talking in class. Then when I got home, my parents would spank me for getting in trouble in school. I got spanked so much that I thought it was an S&M movie. We need more accountability from the family. In Aspen, the Sheriff recommends milder forms of marijuana. The deputies will protect the marijuana growers. The police there protect people unlike here where they’re kicking in the door to get a bag of weed. We will be the one of the last states to legalize marijuana. The electorate is not an intelligent group because we have a lot of people from West and East Texas.

 

Q: Is there a lawyer who you admire?

A: Gerry Goldstein. He enjoys life everyday. A lot of lawyers’ lives revolve around work. I don’t have a lot of passions but I enjoy photography, art, film, travel, and people. I’m not a good loner. Being a good lawyer is knowing people. You need a real appreciation for people.

 

Q: What advice do you have for the younger lawyers out there?

A: Always keep your word even though you don’t want to. People come to you and trust you. You made them that promise that you will give them a hundred percent of your time and talent. We’re like surgeons. People are on the table. You take the shortcut: that’s inexcusable because you want to go play golf. You can’t have it all. It’s hard to be all things to all people. When you have a profession instead of a job, you have to put in the time and keep your word. No shortcuts.

 

Q: You’ll be 60 years old on August 22. What would you be doing if you weren’t a lawyer?

A: I’m a Jew; we’ve always wandered the desert. If I’m not practicing law, I’d want to own the Bellagio.

 

interview by Thuy Le

Filed Under: honor, Members Tagged With: kent schaffer, member profile

Tyrone Moncriffe: a profile

December 5, 2015 Leave a Comment

Moncriffe_TyroneTyrone Moncriffe was on the path to be a Worthing high school football star when a leg injury prevented him from finishing the season. Without football, Moncriffe was unsure about what he wanted to do with his life. When he was a sophomore at Texas Southern University, Moncriffe’s cousin was arrested. Going to court with his cousin got him interested in a career in law that would make him be known as a “story-teller” among his peers. It is his ability to tell the stories of his clients, many of whom have faced capital offenses, that makes him one of the most effective defense attorneys in Harris County.

Last year, Moncriffe was able to fulfill one of his lifelong dreams by lecturing to a group of Harvard Law School students. Earlier last month, Moncriffe defended a young man convicted of killing a Bellaire police officer.

 

Q: How did you end up going into law?

A: I was a sophomore in college and I get a phone call from my mother that my cousin had been arrested. We all went to the courthouse to support him and I see the defense attorneys talking to the prosecutors. I told my grandfather that night that I wanted to be a lawyer but didn’t know if I was eloquent enough or smart enough to go to law school. My grandfather told me to “never let your limitations hold you back.” He told me to seek someone that I admired and asked them how they got to where they are.

 

Q: Who did you contact?

A: One night, I’m watching tv and I heard the “golden voice” of Barbara Jordan. I called Jordan’s office to ask to speak to her. I wanted to ask her how I could be a better speaker and more eloquent. I wasn’t able to reach her that day so every day for the next two or three weeks I call her office trying to reach her. Her staff had to ask me to stop calling and that Ms. Jordan would call me back. A few weeks later, the phone rings at my mother’s house. On the other line is the “golden voice” of Barbara Jordan.

 

Q: What advice did Barbara Jordan give you?

A: Barbara Jordan told me to dream big. She told me to imagine I was a lawyer at Harvard talking to all these people. She told me that lawyers are the movers and shakers of the world and that they represent the Constitution. If I wanted to be a lawyer, I had to be the best.

At the end of the conversation, I asked if she would send me a letter so that my friends and family would believe me when I told them I spoke to Barbara Jordan. She sent me a letter a week later that is framed and hung on the wall near the entrance to my office.

 

Q: What would young Tyrone Moncriffe tell the first year lawyer Tyrone Moncriffe?

A: “It’s not all about you.” When I was young, everything was the Tyrone show.   I wasn’t able to connect to the jurors. As I became mature, I allowed the client’s story to connect with the jurors. I was too busy being a lawyer instead of a human being.

 

Q: How has that helped you with your cases?

A: Trials are about telling your client’s story. It’s a story within a story. There’s the story the prosecutor wants to tell the jurors and then there’s the client’s story. Lawyers have to be trained to understand that jurors are a combination of the logical and emotional. You have to acknowledge them, let them know you see them. Then they will want to help you. Jurors make decisions based on stories: who they should help, who are the good guys, who are the bad guys, what are the themes, what are the stories in this case. We have to help them see the humanity in the client.

 

Q: What advice would you give young and new lawyers starting out?

A: Robert Jones told me when I first started to take an acting class.   I took an acting class in 1984 and it transformed my ability to communicate with people. I was able to learn to respond to something the audience was doing. I learned to read a frown or a headshake and learned how to respond. I learned to say something and then wait for a response.

Also, all lawyers should go to the trial college training. I went to the training in 2000 in Wyoming and learned how to take off my mask. As lawyers, we have masks. We put them on and we take them off. We become “authentic” when we take off the masks. You become strong because you’re authentic.

We forget when we’re talking to jurors to look into their eyes because we’re too busy being a lawyer. I one time saw a juror tell a lawyer that his father had died. Instead of responding to the juror, the lawyer moved on and did not respond to the juror. That lawyer failed to see that juror as a human being. Jurors see things and know things. They want to connect with the human spirit. You have to try to get the jury to see the good in your client.

Finally, watch as many trials as you can. Ask a lawyer if you can sit with them when they’re in trial. Go to trial. You have to let the prosecutors know that you’re willing to go to trial or they won’t be afraid of you or respect you as a lawyer.

 

Q: How have you noticed the practice of law change from when you first started out?

A: Back when I first started out, the judges, the prosecutors, and state all talked. They tried to resolve things. Now, there’s not that much talking between the parties going on. There are many that come into the district attorney’s office with no life experience. The defense lawyers are different, too. Now, the lawyers want to make a lot of money and drive a certain car. Back then, the defense lawyers tried to challenge the fourth amendment. We had a zeal back then. Now it seems like there’s this attitude that we can’t fight them (the State). Let’s move our cases as quick as possible to make money.   There’s a trend of lawyers going after money instead of honing their craft.

 

Interview with Tyrone Moncriffe as told to Thuy Le. Thuy Le is a former Galveston and Harris County prosecutor. She has been licensed since November 2007 and is a graduate of Syracuse University College of Law.

Filed Under: honor, Members Tagged With: member profile, tyrone moncriffe

Stanley Schneider: a profile

October 11, 2015 Leave a Comment

stanley

Stanley Schneider, Houston Lawyer, and 2015 Lifetime Achievement Recipient

Where are you from?

Schenectady, NY, born and raised. I went to undergraduate at Alfred, University which is about 70 miles south of Rochester, NY. I left the state of New York in the summer 1971 to attend law school at St. Mary’s School of Law in San Antonio.

What brought you to San Antonio from the East Coast?

I only applied to four law schools in the fall of 1970. Albany, American, Notre Dame, and Syracuse. All four schools rejected me. My advisor told me about St. Mary’s and that they were looking to diversify their program with some Yankees, so I applied and was accepted. I packed my bags and moved to Texas.

When you started law school did you know you wanted to practice criminal defense?

No. I had no idea what I wanted to do. But, in the spring of 1972, I went to the courthouse and watched Warren Burnett, one of the greatest lawyers in the history of Texas, try a murder case. It was fascinating. I hung on his every word; so did the jury. He was the center of attention. It was his courtroom. He commanded respect. The client’s name was Kincaid, who coincidently enough, I represented on a separate matter about 15 years later.

What was your first job out of law school and how did it come about?

I took a course in law school on civil rights law or something like that. It was taught by Judge Cadena out of San Antonio. I wrote a paper on the due process rights of prisoners during prison disciplinary proceedings. Procunier v. Martinez had just come down from the Supreme Court. I was told by Jerry Gibson that if I was interested in prisoner’s rights I should contact this guy he went to law school with who was in Huntsville working at the Texas Department of Corrections as Staff Council for Inmates. I sent in my resume and got the job.

The first day of work my boss, Harry Walsh, told me I had a brief due in the 5th Circuit the next week. My first question to him was “what’s the 5th Circuit?” The issue in the case had to do with a defendant being tried in front of the jury in jail clothes. While my case was pending in the 5th Circuit, the Supreme Court granted certiorari and addressed that very issue. I was licensed in October of 1974 and argued my case in the 5th Circuit in March of 1975.

Over the 39 months I worked as staff council, I had six arguments in the 5th Circuit, one argument in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, and appellate cases in state and federal courts all over Texas.

Why do you say 39 months instead of three years?

Because that was my sentence: I spent 39 months in prison.

Why did you choose to start a practice in Houston?

I felt Houston was more open. There was more things happening here than in Dallas or San Antonio. The community was more vibrant and active.

What attorneys did you attach yourself to when you first moved to Houston?

I associated with Mark Vela and Terry Collins. I followed them around. I tried my first capital murder case with Terry Collins in 1978.

How did you go about first getting cases when you opened your practice?

Various ways. I received a felony court appointment everyday. Anything that Mark or Terry didn’t want, they gave to me. I had a whole bunch of prostitution cases and was representing various modeling studios. I was trying at least two cases a month. Back then whenever someone was going to trial the newspaper would write a small blurb about it. So folks would see the cases I was trying and would contact me.

You just mentioned the fact that you were getting appointed to felony cases as a young attorney. You don’t see that in the criminal defense bar in Houston area as much these days. Do you think that it’s a good thing that young attorneys aren’t being appointed to felony cases straight out of law school?

I don’t think young attorneys should be trying felony cases. I did mainly appellate work my first three years after law school. So I was able to see the good and the bad from all of the records I had read. I knew what not to do, but I just wasn’t sure how to do it. It took me a while to learn how to transfer from reading a record to doing it in the courtroom.

There is a distinct difference between trying a case for a not guilty verdict and trying a case to preserve error or create error. I didn’t realize that until I starting reading Dick DeGuerin’s records in the early 1980s. Dick has a great way of presenting the evidence while simultaneously telling the story of his case.

What are some of the major changes you have noticed in criminal law in Texas since you began your career?

Back in the early 80s the Court of Criminal Appeals was really a different court: the judges on the court were lawyers who really cared about criminal law; who really cared about defendants; who really cared about justice and fairness. Hon. Sam Houston Clinton was a scholar. Hon. Marvin Teague was a great lawyer. Hon. John Onion, Jr., the presiding judge, was very conservative, but if he thought something was unfair he stood up for what he believed.

What advice would you give a young Texas criminal defense attorney who is just starting out?

Read the law. That consists of reading the slip opinions that come down from the various courts of appeals and the Court of Criminal Appeals. Be better prepared than everyone else. By everyone else I mean the judge, the district attorneys, etc. I still read slip opinions weekly. If I still read the law, a young attorney should be reading the law.

I will give you an example. Today (May 20, 2015) a case came out, Ex Parte Keller, where relief was granted because false testimony was presented at trial. I did a supplemental authority memorandum for a case that has been pending in the Court of Criminal Appeals citing the Court’s ruling in Keller as support for an issue in a case I have pending in the Court. So the day the opinion is out I am filing something citing the Keller opinion as authority. This was only possible because I still read the law. So to all of the young attorneys out there: read the law.

Would you consider arguing in front of the United States Supreme Court and winning the highlight of your legal career?

In many ways, yes. It was the most intellectually challenging thing I have ever done. It was extremely difficult. The fear of failure was with me throughout. Anyone and everyone can listen to the argument and can criticize you for how you are presenting your argument. You could fall flat on your face during the argument if you are not prepared so it’s a very difficult thing to do. I couldn’t have done the argument without the help of Buck Files, Casie Gotro, and Romy Kaplan. It was a true team effort.

Discuss what it was like to find out your team had won in the Supreme Court?

I was in district court in Angleton, Brazoria County, Texas. David Ryan handed me his cell phone and said “Congrats, you won.” I said, “Won what?” He replied, “The Supreme Court,” and handed me his cell phone. I looked at it and ran out of the courtroom. I saw it was as 5-4 decision and I was pissed. I knew Justice Sotomayor was not on my side, but I had hoped I had Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Scalia. After reading the opinion, it was really an 8-1 decision because the issue Roberts dissented on was an issue in our favor. Once I saw that I felt better.

Are there any cases out there that keep you motivated to wake up and continue doing what you do?

I think a great deal about my first visit to death row. Meeting Fred Durrough. Shaking his hand and being told by the guard that if I ever shake a death row inmate’s hand again I will be fired from my job as staff council. Over the years I’ve thought about a number of my clients who have been executed. Joe Cannon and Gerald Mitchell: both of them were 17 when they committed the crimes for which they were executed. In both of those cases the courts rejected our arguments that they couldn’t be executed because they were 17 at the time the crimes were committed. If Roper v. Simmons had been decided earlier, they would still be alive. I think about the five or six others who possibly would have been alive today if the law on mitigation evidence had been around 25 years earlier.

What do you think about this trend of attorneys only practicing certain areas of law such as criminal defense or personal injury? Do you think it is a good or bad thing for the legal field?

I think it is a great thing. You started seeing it around the mid-80s I think. As things got more difficult, there was a trend toward specialization. The Texas Board of Legal Specialization began in 1974 and there was a trend from there. As the rules became more technical you couldn’t keep up with all the rules. So lawyers became criminal trial lawyers or civil trial lawyers and so on.

What has you nervous about the future of criminal defense in Texas?

Growing up as a lawyer I watched Warren Burnett in trial. I became a Racehorse groupie. I had co-defendants with Percy Foreman. In the 80s, I worked alongside and watched some of the greatest criminal defense lawyers that ever lived, on a daily basis. Since then I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Mike Ramsey, Dick DeGuerin, Kent Schaffer, Randy Schaffer, Dan Cogdell, Jack Zimmermann and Jim Lavine. These guys are amazing lawyers. I think Kent and Dan may be the youngest of the group, and they are in their late 50s. I don’t see the next generation; the people who are in their 40s that are like Dick and Dan when they were in their 40s. I don’t see those people. I don’t see those leaders in the criminal defense bar. That’s a concern.

Do you have any advice for young attorneys?

The way you dress is important. If the courthouse is open I am in my uniform which is a suit and tie. Regardless of whether you have court that day or not. Who knows, you may be called to court.

What is something some people may not know about you?

I love listening to baseball on the radio. It goes back to 1957. I grew up listening to the Yankees on the radio. Listening to Mel Allen, Phil Rizzuto, and Jerry Coleman call the games. I’m an Astros fan now. I became one about 15 years ago when I started going to their games.

Interview by Brandon Ball

 

Filed Under: honor, Members Tagged With: member profile, stanley schneider

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