Bell County Agreed Motion for Continuance Form

Click here for the new Agreed Motion for Continuance Form used by the county criminal courts in Bell County.  If you start where the cause number(s) go, you can press the TAB key to progress throughout the form. 

There is a second line for additional cause numbers in case your client has more than two causes.

The line below where the State signs is to put the name of the prosecutor.

The check boxes can be clicked with a mouse or by pressing the SPACEBAR when the field is highlighted by the TAB key.

If you have any questions, please let me know.  Enjoy.

You don’t have to spend a ton of money on software

Any lawyer who practices in federal court knows that you need to electronically file all documents with the clerk in Portable Document Format (with the .pdf extension).  However, having just recently spent $400+ on yet another upgrade to Adobe Acrobat Professional, I understand that not everyone likes spending $400+ every year or two just to have the latest greatest version of such a bloated program.  If you are only a casual filer, it doesn’t make much sense to spend that much money for a program with limited usefulness to your practice.  Therefore, I would suggest one of the free, or lower cost, alternatives to Adobe’s package.  Which one, though? Lawyers ask me that all the time.

Well, now I have found a website that not only answers that question, but also the question of which products the experts recommend as alternatives to almost any other popular program.

The website is called alternativeto.net, and it lists alternatives for many of today’s most popular commercial programs.  From PDF creators, to video editors, to photo editors, to just about anything else that you can think of.  It just might be worth a check to see if there is an alternative to that high priced software suite before you plunk down some serious money first.

Federal CJA Rates Change

The federal CJA (Criminal Justice Act) rates for mileage changed effective January 1, 2009.  Therefore, I needed to update my rate and mileage charts.  In case you need a similar chart, feel free to print mine out and stick it somewhere:

Federal CJA Hourly Rates

$90 per hour: 5/1/02 to 12/31/05

$92 per hour: 1/1/06 to 5/19/07

$94 per hour: 5/20/07 to 12/31/07

$100 per hour: 1/1/08 to Today

Federal CJA Mileage Chart

36.5 cents per mile: 1/21/02 to 12/31/02

36.0 cents per mile: 1/1/03 to 12/31/03

37.5 cents per mile: 1/1/04 to 2/3/05

40.5 cents per mile: 2/4/05 to 8/31/05

48.5 cents per mile: 9/1/05 to 12/31/05

44.5 cents per mile: 1/1/06 to 1/31/07

48.5 cents per mile: 2/1/07 to 3/18/08

50.5 cents per mile: 3/19/08 to 7/31/08

58.5 cents per mile: 8/1/08 to 12/31/08

55.0 cents per mile: 1/1/09 to Today

Board Certified Criminal Law—Texas Board of Legal Specialization

That’s what only about 1% of the Texas Bar is able to advertise.  Board Certification in Criminal Law is something that only 833 lawyers could claim in 2008.  Now, those 833 have some company… me!  That’s right, I received my notice yesterday that I am now Board Certified in Criminal Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

According to the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, an attorney who is Board Certified in Criminal Law must have "experience in the preparation and trial of serious criminal matters.  The attorney must also have extensive knowledge of state and federal constitutional law, evidence, procedure and penal laws involved in the trial of these matters."

The qualifications for an attorney to become board certified are:

1. The attorney must have been licensed to practice law for at least five years;
2. The attorney must devote a required percentage of his or her practice to criminal law for at least the last three years;
3. The attorney must have handled a wide variety of criminal law matters which demonstrate his or her experience and involvement in criminal law;
4. The attorney must have attended criminal law continuing education seminars regularly to keep his or her legal training up to date;
5. The attorney must have been successfully evaluated by fellow lawyers and judges; and, most difficult of all,
6. The attorney must have passed a written examination demonstrating a thorough understanding of criminal law and procedure.

I am proud to announce that I have met each and every one of those qualifications, and I can now officially claim to be what I have long desired to be, a criminal law specialist in the State of Texas.  This has been a goal of mine ever since I took an interest in criminal law over twelve years ago while in law school.

I have long felt that if I was going to accept the responsibility of protecting the rights of my fellow citizens who have come to feel the power and force of their own government turning against them, then I must dedicate myself to learning everything that I can about the laws, rules and procedures which the government is going to use against my clients.  It is only by knowing the rules better than even the rule-makers themselves that I can truly protect those individuals who have put their trust in me to see them through a most difficult time.

The 2009 Induction Ceremony honoring all of the 2008 Newly Board Certified Attorneys will take place on Thursday, February 5, 2009 at 3:00 p.m., at the Texas Law Center in Austin, Texas.  At that time, members of the Supreme Court of Texas will preside over the presentation of Certificates of Special Competence which will be given to each of the new inductees.

How to start a law practice in one easy lesson

Many people have asked me to explain what equipment I use in my practice.  Here is what I believe you would need to start and run your own criminal law practice without hurting or killing anyone in the process:

1. You have got to have a way to keep up with your clients and their cases.  My solution is Time Matters.  I am using the Enterprise version 9.0 and I bought a server just for that purpose.  You can get by with the Professional Version until you add employees, but once other people need to access your client-matter database, you’ll want the reliability and security that only a server can offer you.  I love the ability to access everything about a client’s case on my BlackBerry.  Plus, the automatic document creation is worth the price of admission just by itself!  I cannot calculate the amount of time I save each day having routine documents spit out automatically for me.  Get your hands on some forms, and don’t waste money on ProDoc. 
2. Speaking of which, I have a Blackberry.  I like the Blackberry with the full keyboard because it is easier to type on.  With software that you can add, you can chat with your office staff even when in court.  That’s convenient.  I also have an Apple iPhone (and I give clients that phone number to reach me after hours), but that phone is mainly for entertainment purposes.  It’s much harder to type on, and the business software is sorely lacking.  Go with the Blackberry and wait for the iPhone to more fully develop.
3. A combination copier/fax/printer/scanner can save you a ton of money. 
   

   Especially if you lease it and sign a maintenance contract with the supplier company.  I have a Xerox 5030 and I love it!  I pay a flat rate each month to lease the copier, and then about a penny a page that I print.  The penny a page is the maintenance fee and it covers any and all repairs and adjustments that need to be made, and the cost of toner.  This thing scans like a champ, too!  If you want a paper-less office, you need a scanner like this one.  It’s difficult to setup, but once you’ve got it fine-tuned it’s alright.  Xerox could stand to improve their support, though.  None of their guys could figure out how to set it up and I found myself studying lots of Xerox manuals to get this working properly.

4. You’ll need a decent computer, and I built my own because I’m a nerd.  However, when my assistant’s computer conked out on me a few weeks ago, I just went with Dell.  The price is just as cheap as I could have built it myself, but the Dell comes with a warranty.
5. You won’t need a server to start, but Dell makes great servers, too.  I went with the Dell PowerEdge 840 and I even sprang for the best service and support plan they had.  I’m told that if anything ever goes wrong I can call for free North American technical support at any time.  I can’t confirm that, though, because nothing has ever gone wrong.
6. For software, you’ll need Microsoft Office (it’s the most compatible now – sorry, WordPerfect).  And you’ll need a PDF converter if you’re going to work in federal court (electronic filing mandates PDF files).  I use Adobe Acrobat Professional 9.0.  There are free ones, though, that will work until you feel the need for more advanced features.  The best free one is probably CutePDF.  The best free office substitute has got to be Open Office. 
7. You will need financial software, too.  I have tried them all, and they are all lacking and over-priced.  I currently use QuickBooks Premier for Professional Services.  I use QuickBooks payroll to pay employees (well worth the monthly fee to not have to fool with tax payments and withholding, etc.).  I also use QuickBooks as my credit card processor.  They have reasonable rates, and they were certainly convenient.  I will tell you, though, I am intrigued by this new QuickBooks Online version.  I may end up switching to that. 
8. I have a subscription to West research online.  I wish I had gone with Lexis (for the integration with Time Matters which is now owned by Lexis).  I suspect I will switch when my three year contract ends.  West is awful expensive, too.  Because I do a lot of appeals, I need access to lots of databases, and West loves sticking it to me since I have no other choice.  I also am annoyed by West because they now own ProDoc (which in spite of me bad mouthing it above, I still subscribe to).  I am going to drop it any day now, though I have been telling myself this for years.  Whatever you choose, you must have a way to research the law.  If not, just turn in your bar license now. 

There ya go.  That’s what I use and recommend.