Stop Government Oppression

by Robert L. Vogel

In my last trial, there were several instances in which the government tried to misuse its power. I defend people accused of crimes because the government does this. They will come after you with all their power to crush you. There is a mandate, handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court that says that a prosecutor is to "Do Justice." They may strike with a heavy blow, but not an unfair one.

Yet, time and again, from the arrest and investigation, through the trial, there is an abuse of power. We NEED trial attorneys willing to step up and fight for individuals against the power of the State. We need trial attorneys who will defend the little guy, the guy who can't plunk down a years pay, attorneys who will work for the $40 per hour the State of Tennessee pays (they haven't raised the rate in over two decades, I believe), or the $125 per hour the Federal court's pay and still be willing to believe in their case and fight for them.

We need attorneys out there who are willing to take the government to the mat and say "PROVE IT", prove your case or let my client go. We need attorneys who are not going to compromise their clients because it is easier and expeditious to do so.

We see government abuses everyday. We see police who don't respect the 4th amendment. We see trial judges who won't suppress illegally obtained evidence. We see prosecutors and judges worrying about the electorate and the vote they will get next time instead of doing the right thing on a case by case basis. We see prosecutors rewarded by the number of cases prosecuted and sentenced.

Nobody is out there looking for justice. Who will do it. It must be the trial lawyers, the solo practitioner, the small firm, the guy who starts out taking appointments because he believes in helping people. We have to stand up to the machine that would grind us and our clients into the dirt they use to build more of their for profit prisons.

I'll leave you with a video of one of my personal heroes and one of the most respected trial attorneys in America.
Gerry Spence on Government Oppression

Robert Vogel may be contacted at his law firm in Knoxville, TN by calling 865-357-1949 or by emailing rlvogel@robertvogellaw.com

www.robertvogellaw.com

The Perfect Client for a Trial Attorney

Who is the perfect client?

Would he or she be like me? Are they rich or poor? Are they college grads or do they have GED's? What do they do for a living? Are they from an ethnic group different than mine? Are they male or female? Are they old or young? Are they sick or injured or healthy? Do they have a pet? kids? divorced or married? Where do they live?

Do the answers to any of these questions matter?

An affirmative YES! and, then, a resounding No! The answers matter, but not in the way you think. They matter after the attorney-client relationship has begun, not before. They matter when I am crafting the complaint or the defense. They matter when I draft or respond to discovery requests. They matter when I present your story to the jury.

What matters most is that the client has a story to tell.

If the client is injured, physically or financially, then I need to know who is the villain of the story -- is it a person, corporation, employer, police officer, jailer, or government that has injured the client through neglect or because they intended to? Who did it? I need to know if someone ran into him, or if a cop beat him during an arrest, or if he was ripped off by a business, or had his rights violated.

If the client has been arrested, then I need to know that the story demonstrates that the police or the prosecutor has violated my client's rights, or that my client affirms his innocence, or that he may be guilty of a crime, but not one as serious as the crime he is charged with. If he is appealing his case, then the story must talk about mistakes the judge made, or the prosecutor, or his trial attorney.

And, the stories must also talk about the client. Who she is. Where she is from. How things got to the way they are today. Why did it happen? The jury cares about these things. And, that is who we, my clients and I, care about.

So, the perfect client is a client who has a story to tell. And that story exists and can come to life for everyone who has been injured, neglected, abused, ripped off, falsely accused, bullied, discriminated against, or falsely imprisoned (to mention just a few). We are all unique. We all have a story. That story can be told in a way that compels people to listen. That story can be told in a way that demands justice. The perfect client's story can be told in a way that makes people care - makes the jury care!

My job is to tell that story. My job is to make sure that the jury sees you. That they feel your pain,  your outrage, your emotional distress, your fear, your hopelessness, your physical restrictions, your broken heart, your anger at being charged falsely, your panic about spending time in jail, your injured child or wife or husband, your depression because of your injury or because your rights were violated and you were abused. They must understand the bills that are piling up. They must see how this is affecting those you love and who love you.

I have to reach down inside of me and find the power to show them you - the perfect client. I will and do, all the time, show the jury how they can be the heroes in your life. They can save you. In fact, in most cases, the jury is your best and most powerful ally. If we can show them your story, honestly, openly and let them feel it with you, let them experience it with you, they will come along beside you and help you. You can trust them. I have seen it.

The perfect client is the client who gives me the gift of telling his story to the jury.

I hope that is you.

All the best,

Bob Vogel
Trial Attorney
The Vogel Law Firm
rlvogel@robertvogellaw.com
865-357-1949

A Trial Lawyer's Birthday Wish - by Bob Vogel

I wish you didn't need me. I wish I had to find other uses for my skills and training. I wish that people could sit down and air their differences and care about each other enough to work them out in love. I wish that our society truly believed in and applied the golden rule: do unto others as your would have them do unto you. I wish that love could rule the planet. That is my wish.

But, the world in which we live abides by a different motto: me first. In the cacophony of our commercial society, we can no longer hear one another. In the accelerating cascade of images, we have lost sight of each other. We become more and more alone. We are more and more vulnerable. We are more and more likely to grab onto anything that will make us feel part of the whole again. So we buy our way in, or don't, and feel left out.

Our culture is driven by the force of greed. Our self-worth is measured against how well we acquire wealth and material objects. What property we own is what matters. How much influence we have over others is considered the greatest power. To have much and to have a position of influence is considered the American Dream - and, by extension, the dream of most of Western Civilization.

From this derives all the ills of our society. The desperate, the disenfranchised, the isolated, the extremists, the zealots all explode from this nucleus of greed like a great, nuclear explosion. And from this explosion also appear the greedy, the exploiter, the soulless corporate overlord, the overreaching and grasping politician, the heartless prosecutor, the blind, devastating sentences in todays' courts, the tort reform that enslaves every individual and allows for more and more oppression. All derives from this.

As long as our society is driven by these things, you will need me. And I will be there. I will be there to say no to the prosecutor for you, to say let's see what 12 honest citizens will say about your unfounded, exaggerated accusations. I will be there to say no to the insurance company attorney, and point him, also, to the jury box, showing him the 12 honest citizens who don't care about his earnings per share but do care about other people and don't see them just as numbers on some actuaries tally sheet. I will be here to say no to anyone and any entity that wants to oppress you or I until they put me in the ground or until you don't need me anymore.

Truly, I wish for a society in which you don't need me, because that would be a wonderful place to live.

With love,

Bob Vogel
Trial Attorney
rlvogel@robertvogellaw.com