From bartending to helping clients avoid Operating While Intoxicated convictions, Christopher Ehrfurth has found success because of his ability to sympathize and communicate with people.

Jury instructions are a central part of any criminal trial.

Criminal defense attorney Anthony Cotton got a head start on law school.

Justice Antonin Scalia has been the target of considerable invective, largely because of his support for the death penalty.

In a rare unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled in Riley v. California that police must secure a warrant before searching a cellphone owned by a criminal suspect.

In the past decade, there have been a series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions interpreting the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits “cruel and unusual punishment,” as it applies to juvenile defendants.

A 12-year-old who allegedly stabbed another girl 19 times will be mentally evaluated to determine whether she is competent to proceed to trial, a Waukesha County Court commissioner ruled Wednesday.

Few motions in criminal cases cause more confusion than those based on a court’s inherent authority.

Criminal defense attorneys have few tools they can use to learn about the prosecution’s case.

There is a crisis in this country. Considerable numbers of otherwise good people have become addicted to opiates.

It didn’t exactly start like most 7th Circuit Court of Appeals opinions do. This one was written a little more, well, provocatively …

Some attorneys think they can’t afford to take vacations, but others argue they can’t afford not to.

A bill that seeks to add another charge prosecutors can use for co-sleeping deaths already is getting pushback for a lack of clarity.

Milwaukee recently saw its 11th co-sleeping death this year. In response, County Supervisor Mark Borkowski suggested state legislators enact new laws that would permit prosecutors to bring “manslaughter” charges against parents who cause the death of a child through co-sleeping.

In criminal prosecutions, defendants often feel as if they are fighting an impossible battle.

Despite a few recent cases in which a mental defense was raised, local judges, attorneys and court observers say there has been a decline in the frequency of the defense.

Defense attorney Frank Gimbel did not want to question his client John Spooner in court recently, but was forced to when the 76-year-old insisted upon taking the stand.

A Wisconsin Supreme Court decision issued Tuesday says DNA evidence collected during a criminal investigation can be used in a trial, even if the person who analyzed the evidence is not the one that testifies.

Most lawyers in criminal practice have heard a defendant utter the expression “real lawyer.”

More than half of all black men in Milwaukee County have spent time in prison, according to a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee study.

It is now only a matter of time before there is a federal takeover of the Milwaukee Police Department.

After two failed attempts, a state legislator will try again to reinstate jury trials for juveniles facing extended detention.

Twenty-six of Wisconsin’s best and brightest young attorneys were honored Aug. 31 at the Wisconsin Club during the Wisconsin Law Journal’s Up and Coming Lawyers event. More than 250 honorees and guests attended the event. Honorees were selected from more than 75 nominations in a wide range of practice areas – everything from criminal defense to trusts and estates to the city attorney’s office. For more photos from the event, see the Sept. 6 issue of the Wisconsin Law Journal.

While attending a recent Milwaukee Brewers game, attorney Anthony D. Cotton used his cell phone to record a police officer reprimanding an unruly fan outside the stadium.