It may not be the best procedure, but I can't think of anything off-hand that would be as effective (in court) as a signed Miranda waiver. Remember that in a motion to suppress for Miranda, the burden of proof is on the defense.

Every defense attorney has said something along these lines at one point or another, and every single time, the prosecutor said something along the lines of "I don't care". Prosecutor can change an offer/recommendation whenever he wants, for whatever reason he wants.

I can agree with this if on its face the document shows some semblance of waiver.

What I'm saying is that:
on it's face shows no semblance of waiver or understanding of the rights mentioned, as any response other than yes/no seems to simply be unresponsive to the questions posed. When you compound this with the fact that it is a form specifically for juveniles, there is a higher bar to ensure that any waiver is fully understood and I'm not sure that is accomplished by having the juvenile sign their name like this. If it just said "Yes, B.L.H." then I agree there is no problem.

The second piece (higher bar for juveniles) I have law on point for, but obv I need to and will do more research on facially invalid Miranda waivers because I have not seen anything on point as of yet.

I just wanted to gauge the general opinion to see if my thinking was off, because it seems pretty clear cut to me and has since I first saw the form. With experience comes wisdom though, and I have little of either so I'm willing to reconsider.

I think you are going in the right direction, but you are going to have to show more than that to show that it was not voluntary. The cop can just come in and say that he did seem to understand and the kid said he understood, and then what are you going to do? Judges, in general, are going to err on the side of the waiver being voluntary.

How old is the kid? There is some case law about age and voluntariness, but from what i remember, it is not just the fact that they are juveniles that is an issue, but also how old the kid actually was at the time.

Got rocked by the Con Law final today. T/F+explanations wasn't that bad, essay portion bent me over.

Also, today marked the first time I have ever made 100% attendance for the full semester in a class (Crim Pro II). Get a free grade raise (e.g. B- to B) over what I make on my final as a result.

ok legal conundrum: man gets in wreck, police report says its his fault but it isn't, he has two kids that are his in the back, and 2 other nephews.....Can I represent all of them Bonus: kids didn't have any seatbelts on!!!!!!

As someone who recently passed the MPRE, I would say there is no way you could represent all of them. Some obvious potential conflict of interest issues.

nephews are obvious, but kids are weird...they are his kids?? so who would bring the lawsuit on behalf of the kids? the mom against the dad i guess?

What is your state's rule on real party in interest?

lol I did not realize other schools actually did pie-eatiing contests. They are loud, though.

Job/Ethics question. I've talked with a few people about this but I figure I could use some more input.

Currently, I am participating in a school sponsored fellowship clerking for a judge in criminal court. It is scheduled to run out in March.

I just got a job offer with a mid-size firm, first job offer I have ever gotten. However, they have an odd sort of structure whereby they employ a 9 month probationary/evaluation period and which point they will let me know if they want to retain my services. The pay scale is like half market for the first two years, then a little bit above market after that if you stick it out.

I've never worked in a firm before and have heard some pretty terrible stuff from like 90% of my colleagues.

My only other options on the table right now are with DAs offices here in NY. I have had first interviews with all of them, and feel like I have a good mix of experience and connections in the field to have a solid shot at getting a position, and I actually really enjoy doing criminal justice related work. Those would start in the Fall, about 9 months from now.

SO - I think I have to take this offer, since I have massive debt and am living in squalor right now. Is there anything ethically questionable about continuing to interview with the DA places while I start working? Should I tell the firm that I am doing this? They told me they are hiring only one person right now. I have til early next week to accept, which I most likely will.

I think the firm will survive if you leave in the fall.

I lol'd irl how do these people live with themselves

I'm not in law school yet but this type of behaviour would not be acceptable anywhere else. These kids realize that their reputation matters in the adult world, no?

This is gold though A+++++

LSAT was brutal. Anyone else take today

Best of luck zugz, the wait is brutal. Stay away from TLS if you want to maintain sanity.

I postponed to feb last minute. best of luck.

Are you a junior or senior?

yeah im doing my best, its hard though. gotta find out which was experimental obv, and hear people weigh in on the difficult Qs, but need to remove it from bookmarks until scores come.

the LGs in the past year have gotten super annoying, not more difficult per se, but there is now always an "unconventional" game that no matter how much you practice are unprepared for.

graduated in May. enjoying a year off from the grind.

i found that it helped some to go to TLS and i'm super high-strung / paranoid about that **** (applying to schools right now and just cancelled all of my apps because i think i forgot a 'the')

you get to see the answers to all the harder questions and find out which was experimental, it generally puts you at ease until you get your scores ime.

lol TLS

Speaking of scores, ready to get my m'fin November MPRE scores in so I can know whether I'm going to have to take it again, or simply not practice in NY and whatever other states really think you need to be ethical.

I took the October LSAT and had the experimental 4th--first time that has ever happened. Pretty brutal that I was convinced that section was real and section 3 was the experimental. Prob cost me 2-3 points but w/e.

did they change the structure of the test or something over the last few years? i remember being able to identify which section was experimental by the time the test was finished.

if you poke around the internet enough you should be able to find a post-mortem discussion on LSAT, if ur into that sorta thing. i was able to predict my score within 1 or 2 points. these discussions were probably more common back in the day though when xoxohth was mostly comprised of law students/aspirants. TLS seems to be heavily moderated and not the kind of site that would allows LSAC rules to be broken.

+1 to LG being more difficult these days. when i was LSAT prepping i got to the point where i would get 100% on every LG, all the time. no exaggeration, i bet the last 200-300 LG questions i did were all correct. i was helping someone prep not too long ago and got like 22/25 on one section and i dont think it had anything to do with rush. maybe not "harder" but they have more wrinkles to them that'll slow you down enough to the point where time becomes an issue.

anyway, GL zz and diddy. i'm sure you passed the mpre diddy.

Yeah, the October test was the first time ever the experimental was 4th (for some people) but that's the only structural change lately I think. As far as LG go, they seem more or less the same to me. Outside of a few stupid mistakes on PTs (I took all the recent PTs and some older ones), I got all of them right and only missed 1 LG on the actual thing (misbubbled, sigh).

stark you took in oct or yesterday?

Disko,
You can only narrow it down to two sections on your own in identifying the experimental.