This was the best DUI Defense seminar I’ve ever been to. The seminar is held at Harvard Law School every summer and it’s known as the most advanced level DUI trial seminar in the world. It covered everything you need to know to win a DUI trial from Opening statement, jury selection, cross-examination, expert witnesses, closing argument, and all things in between. F. Lee Bailey was the featured speaker. He was one of the lawyers for the defense in the O. J. Simpson murder case. He also represented Pattie Hearst, and Sam Sheppard, (The Fugitive). Could here a pin drop in here when he spoke. I feel honored to have been been among these great DUI Defense warriors. Being with these people made me remember why I became a lawyer. My job is to find justice no matter how well she may hide herself. I have a chance to save the world one DUI case at a time.
George Bianchi has a mustache like the cowboys in Tombstone. He invited me for dinner at “The Harvest.” So I went. With him was the group that runs the show. The man, George Bianchi is a great DUI lawyer from Seattle, Washington. He is Dean of the National College of DUI Defense (NCDD). This man is one of the warmest people I’ve ever known. Two days later he gave what one DUI lawyer said was “the best new Dean welcoming speech I’ve been privileged to hear in 7 years at Harvard.” As I walked to my seat I see Roger Dodd sitting at the table. Roger Dodd is the best cross-examiner in the world, as far as I can tell. I use his enormous red book: Cross-Examination: Science and Techniques to prepare for every cross-examination I do. He was teaching us the next day all about how to cross-examine in a DUI case. This guy is amazing to listen to. I pity the folks who have to be crossed by him. Down the table was Tommy Kirk, a great gentleman from Montgomery, Alabama. Tommy Kirk is a master closer (in closing argument) in a DUI case. He tells a story so good that I could listen to him all day long. Across from Tommy was Steve Oberman, DUI lawyer from Knoxville, Tennessee. Mr. Oberman is the author of DUI: The Crimes & Consequences in Tennessee; and the co-author of Drunk Driving Defense with Lawrence Taylor, DUI lawyer of Long Beach, California. Both texts are widely relied upon by judges, prosecutors and defense lawyers. Steve is the man whose book and DVD I use to sharpen my cross of the field sobriety test. He is a great lawyer and a teacher. Across from me was Mike Hawkins, a top DUI lawyer in Atlanta, Georgia. Mike has taught at several seminars I’ve attended. I know who he is mainly because of Anthony Palacios, who is a top expert on DUI field sobriety testing and training. The next day I’d be in front of Mike doing cross-examination and he would be critiquing me. I’d be learning at the feet of the master. Right next to me was Paul Burglin, one of the best DUI lawyers in San Francisco, California. He is co-author of “California Drunk Driving Law”, a two-volume treatise commonly referred to as “the Bible of DUI Defense.” Paul is awesome.
