Day: March 31, 2014

Guest Post | Hillie’s Date: In defense of our advocate and chief muckraker

Fellow Slabbed readers, lurkers, commenters, intrepid reporters and members of the Goat Herder Local #70001.

I have known Doug Handshoe and his wife for almost 35 years – my screen name on this site is from an inside joke from a Saturday night date when we were in our teens. As a frequent funder and consumer of the information that Slabbed.org is promoting, I am appealing to you all to act and hit the donate button early & often, it is important.

Please do not assume that these court battles are inconsequential little skirmishes that happen in a vacuum. They are spun in Doug’s signature humorous fashion, but I can assure you they are not simple, they are not easy and they are not cheap. Even when you have an attorney who believes in your cause, no protracted legal fight is ever cheap and they become even more expensive when you have a multi-state, multi-jurisdictional and even international conflict as a result of a childish, venue shopping opponent.

The people who seek to silence the voice of this community are not just interested in winning as they have so much beyond this fight at risk. Beating them only inspires them to try something even more outlandish. They have outlived their welcome in most polite legal circles. This hasn’t stopped them from employing their time tested strategy that revolves around home-cooking the legal system to wear out an opposing litigant, create conflicts for their attorneys and attempting to exhaust the target of their venom’s resources to the point that they just give up; pay up; settle. I’ve heard this dynamic referenced by another poster as “death by a thousand cuts,” which I think sums up their expectations. Doug does an admirable job of making a joke of their attempts, but the facts are that this kind of warfare is taxing on the persons who aren’t either crazy or obsessed.

It is my wish that the many of you dig deep and encourage others to do so – free speech ain’t free! Doug is the face of this fight and since it is really on all of our behalf, we should support him aggressively.

Hillie’s Date

Ninja lawyer front and center……

Attorney’s tactics aimed at ex-colleagues ~ Jeff Adelson

I’ll be honest and say after reading Adelson’s piece, which focused on USA v Howard, that I was left with conflicted emotions and thoughts. The bottom line is barring some sort of miracle the Advocate’s Gordon Russell and John Simerman will be testifying about their meetings with FBI agents.

To me, to understand Gibbens is to understand the snake pit that was the NOLA US Attorney’s office, which saw way more than its fair share of top shelf talent cycle through the doors for over a decade Gibbens being a prime example.  He’s hooked up with the right people to insure he remains at the epicenter of the high-end NOLA criminal defense scene.

Stay tuned.