Osler's Razor

I love it when my former students do well, and even more when they do well while doing good. One of the former students I most admire is David Corbett, who has sought and achieved success as a public defender in Mohave County, Arizona. As a student, he was one of those who really came into his own during third year, and excelled in trial-related exercises. Those talents are now the source of his success as an attorney.

Still, it is often a struggle as a public defender. Their role is vitally important, but undervalued. I have never been a defender, but as a prosecutor one of the best parts of my job was the vigorous and excellent job done by Miriam Siefer's staff at the federal defender's office in Detroit. Sadly, not every office has the resources that Ms. Siefer's people enjoyed (and even that was sometimes endangered). David recently reflected on the challenges to his own office in this excellent essay.