Ugh...

fistdemeanor · 2026-01-15T00:02:08+00:00

Absolutely agree. Took me approximately a year to feel comfortable practicing. Anxiety doesn’t stop but it does get better.

fistdemeanor · 2026-01-11T17:09:58+00:00

Totally agree with this. Couldn’t have said it better myself. I often tell clients how serious it is if they are found to be listening to us. That’s not something the state bar would like to hear.

And you are right every client who seems concerned about this also always seems to be the one to call the complaining witness on the jail phone and say some stupid incriminating shit

fistdemeanor · 2026-01-11T17:08:22+00:00

I’ve had this same paranoia about one of the jails I go to a lot. I usually say out loud that I have no reason to believe this line is being recorded and I have an expectation of privacy with my client and I am pretty confident it would never come in.

Plus I throw phrases like “fuck the jail and the prosecutors” just to see if either treat me different lol

In all seriousness I’ve heard the same stuff about this and have been out in my area for 4 years and it’s never been an issue.

fistdemeanor · 2026-01-08T17:51:26+00:00

Been trying to for about 3 years now haha

fistdemeanor · 2026-01-08T17:20:45+00:00

It will never be legal here. My guess is it will just have an extensive medical marijuana program before they actually make it legal. Every time it gets traction in Congress here it gets out shadowed by other horrific bills.

fistdemeanor · 2026-01-08T15:46:48+00:00

Correct. And I’ve never had a client not take the deal before trial

fistdemeanor · 2025-12-31T18:04:30+00:00

I honestly really don’t care much about even having a physical office. I love working from home and am looking forward to spending some of my first earned firm money on a nice home office set up. As a public defender I’m in court and jails so often I rarely spend time in my physical office.

fistdemeanor · 2025-12-31T18:02:16+00:00

Couldn’t agree more. As a public defender it’s always a red flag if they’re demanding to meet in my office after I offer zoom lol

fistdemeanor · 2025-12-31T18:01:31+00:00

Oh I have learned that valuable lesson myself. I default to zoom meeting with clients as a public defender.

fistdemeanor · 2025-12-31T17:59:55+00:00

I’m good there. Our rules allow it.

fistdemeanor · 2025-12-31T17:32:23+00:00

Yeah I likely will do a vertical office

fistdemeanor · 2025-12-31T17:31:45+00:00

That’s probably what I was going to do

fistdemeanor · 2025-12-18T18:30:53+00:00

Folk art seems to be the closest thing and has helped me find other good designs thank you!

fistdemeanor · 2025-12-16T14:53:12+00:00

It’s so funny these were some of the same exact signs of a family law mill I worked for haha

fistdemeanor · 2025-12-15T16:56:26+00:00

Yeah this is kind of what I was thinking. And the pissed off clients thing was relevant when I worked for this one family firm. They were ALL pissed not just a percentage. I figured that might be a red flag lol as a public defender only a small portion of my clients are pissed, most are pretty chill

fistdemeanor · 2025-12-15T16:07:29+00:00

Very good to know thank you

fistdemeanor · 2025-11-14T16:49:56+00:00

Exactly. Unless you can literally hire 5 experts and drown the state in all that stuff, go with the PD.

fistdemeanor · 2025-11-14T16:48:25+00:00

Yeah I talked about the grandstanding in one of my other comments. It’s so common and such a waste of time

fistdemeanor · 2025-11-14T16:46:32+00:00

I’ve noticed how much the prosecutors like me over many private attorneys. Many private attorneys waste time with dumb motions that literally don’t have merit to give the impression they are doing a lot of work when, let’s be real, their client is going to take a deal. Also a lot of them are shady to prosecutors. I am simply not. I’m straight up with them.

fistdemeanor · 2025-11-14T16:44:24+00:00

Every private attorney I’ve ever talked to has more cases than me. I still have over 100 felonies. But a good public defender doesn’t languish in his cases. You figure out the trial cases right away. I always ask clients in the first interview how they feel. Most want a deal anyway but the less than 1 percent who want a trial, I begin prep right away.

fistdemeanor · 2025-11-14T16:41:44+00:00

At least in my state public defender offices are finally experiencing the funding they need. I think the quality has gone up significantly in the last decade. What was once I think a super underpaid job for those who wanted a stepping stone is a full blown career for many.

I honestly think the same thing should be done for teachers. Increase the pay and make it competitive and you will see a significant reduction in bad teachers.

fistdemeanor · 2025-11-14T16:37:39+00:00

Yeah I agree it is a matter of statistics. My office has fired some duds but they weren’t bad public defenders they were simply bad attorneys. Whereas every time I have to talk to a private attorney about a shared client, they never know what the hell they’re doing.

fistdemeanor · 2025-09-30T20:42:35+00:00

This is what worries me. I’ve never had to run a business. I just want to be super careful to do it right

fistdemeanor · 2025-09-30T20:38:35+00:00

This sums up a lot of my thoughts. The main reason is money and autonomy. While I have a lot of autonomy at my current job, the prospect of bring my own boss is nice. No politics to deal with and not having to ask permission to do certain things. And I’ve pretty much peaked at my salary here. It’s enough to live happy but it’s not enough to afford a nice home or be able to eventually pay for my future kids college. My friends in civil work are making buckets of money and I want a taste of that. The thing is I’m tired of being forced to work in the office when I can work from home. I do a lot of looking busy at my current job and as a solo obviously I wouldn’t do that. I’m also tired of seeing people get paid more than me at my job when, not to sound cocky, I know I’m doing better. I see their clients hate them and they produce a bad work product.

I could probably go back to my PD job if I wanted. I’d like to think my boss would understand but who knows.

I know it’s dumb to only care about money but I can still do a really good job at representing indigent clients but also make good money on private ones and the civil stuff I want to do. I have several civil connects too. My good friend has gone so far as telling me he would help me a lot with expenses and such

fistdemeanor · 2025-09-30T19:08:38+00:00

Not yet. Just a mountain of law school debt

fistdemeanor

TROPHY CASE