I suppose this is one way to make a point about racism...

CassandraW · Mar 21, 2015

robeiae said:
This dumbass is a serial killer in the making.

ETA: The lawyer guy in Austin, not Cass.

robo, you say the sweetest things to me.

robeiae · Mar 21, 2015

Just covering my bases. Didn't want to be the next one on your list...

CassandraW · Mar 21, 2015

too late. I made the list some time ago.

CassandraW · Mar 21, 2015

I found Adam Reposa's website, and it is a goddamn treat. Really, truly, you want to check this out. Would I lie to you?

I really can't decide what I like best about it. Is it the domain name "dwibadass.com"? Is it the string of quotes he provides -- all quoting himself? Is it the cartoon icon? The video? The fact he talks more about losing cases than about winning them? There's just so much to love.

Enjoy.

http://dwibadass.com/index.html#OnLoadVariable=&CSUM=1

ETA:

Quick advice to fledgling lawyers: do not set up a website like this.

ETA:

Also, do not make a video like this one. (Video totally worth all 39 seconds it will take you to watch it, I promise.)

MarkEsq · Mar 21, 2015

I know Adam quite well, and he's actually a really effective criminal defense attorney. He's extremely smart, too. I never quite understood why he felt the need to take the batshit-crazy approach because he's good enough at his job without it.

I could say a great deal more, but I probably shouldn't....

CassandraW · Mar 21, 2015

So. Is he single?

ETA:

By the way, would I be correct in guessing that the second video is in fact supposed to be an advertisement for his legal services?

ETA:

And here's Adam sounding sort of.... sane. And, well, kind of...reasonably competent. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkC3W7pjVP4

On the other hand, I understand that the impetus for making this video was that he made a masturbatory gesture at a judge. (Quick advice to fledgling attorneys: don't do that.)

ETA:

Practicing law in Austin sounds way more fun than practicing in New York. Mark, have any openings in your office?

CassandraW · Mar 21, 2015

Oh. My.

Adam did an interview for Playboy magazine.

(I hope you AWers appreciate the precious time I've sacrificed this afternoon sorting through Adam Reposa information online so that I could provide you with the very best links. )

Mark, if I get down to Austin, can we grab a beer, and invite this dude? Someone this crazy, I need to meet. I'm not kidding.

ETA:

I have to give a snippet from the Playboy article:

Judge Carlos H. Barrera, before whom Reposa has argued several cases, is more circumspect. “I don’t think the show hurts him a lot except with his reputation among traditional lawyers and judges.” The soft-spoken judge and I are chatting in his chambers, and this last remark pulls me up short. Isn’t Texas chockablock with traditional lawyers and judges?

Barrera allows a chuckle. “You probably have a greater number of defense attorneys who think he’s okay than do judges and prosecutors. I say probably, overall, two thirds of all people who work in the courthouse think he goes too far.”

<snip>

“He’ll make comments that are unnecessary,” Barrera says, “although they might be true. He can’t refrain. They make him look bad.”

Like badgering the state’s expert witness about the level of pain a blood-engorged penis jammed up her butt would cause.

TWO DAYS EARLIER

“Oh, man, I was so fuckin’ right about that penis thing. The jerk-off sign? Same trial. Okay, wrong on that. Not wrong-wrong, you know, but wrong to, like, do it. I apologized. Took my jail time. Told you I came out with four clients? Took the home confinement with the ankle monitor, paid the $3,000 fine. Took the work release picking up trash on the side of the road. The three-year probation, up next March.”

And though I rarely do this, I'm actually going to apply the clean reader to this next bit, because, while I'm not offended, I'm just not sure whether it's gonna fly on AW otherwise.

The case hinged, as per the Austin defense attorney I spoke to earlier, on the Adam Reposa show. Back-and-forth with the state’s expert medical witness about the level of pain caused by anal penetration.

“She’s like, ‘Well, I don’t know how to answer that question.’

“So I said, ‘Well, let me ask, if you get smacked in the head full-swing with a golf club, is that gonna hurt?’

“‘Yes.’

“‘Well, if you get hit in the a------ with a f------ d---, is that gonna hurt?’”

Well, I sure don’t believe that. You said “a------” and “f------ d---” in court?

Sheepish pause. More margaritas. “No, I did not. I said something like ‘So you would also agree then, the first time you get anally penetrated by a penis it is going to cause pain?’”

The expert witness waffled, he says. “So I respond, ‘Well, are you personally familiar with the phenomenon?’

“The state objected. The judge sustained it. All hell breaks loose. I’m like, ‘Is anal sex embarrassing? You’re a doctor. Does the subject of anal sex embarrass you, Doctor?’ Jesus.

“That’s what I got nailed on. The prosecutor filed a grievance with the state bar. The law says that if you ask a question that’s just intended to embarrass a witness and not have any substantial purpose, that’s grievable. My purpose was obviously to find out, What’s the basis of your opinion? Have you ever been penetrated? If her answer is yes, then my next question is, ‘Did it hurt?’

“And how’s she gonna answer? ‘Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the first time it happened to me it didn’t hurt.’ She loses all her credibility. Or she says, ‘No, I have no idea.’ Well, everybody on this jury knows that you know it hurts. I’ve got them, and I’m never gonna lose them.

“Criminal case? I won. Not guilty on every count. And then after I got the contempt I did go kind of postal, because that’s when I really wanted to show the world how terrible the lawyers are in Austin.”

It does strike me that taunting rival attorneys in the newspaper with foul plays on their names—“Betty Butthole,” “Prick McGuire”—qualifies as going postal.

I've never seen anything like this happen in a courtroom. And I feel like I'm missing out.

Monkey · Mar 21, 2015

That video, though!

"I AM A LAWYER!" LOL

Interesting to come back and see that my brother was right and it was a protest against gentrification. Just for the record, I never said I supported this particular method of protest; I think it implies that the lines are being drawn on race rather than on income level, which is not really what's happening (although, in some neighborhoods, that distinction can be almost entirely academic, sadly.)

But seriously, the best part of reading up on this thread again was that commercial. I wouldn't want to hire him based on it, but I did show the commercial to various people today, and one of them yelled out, "I want THAT dude for my lawyer!"

CassandraW · Mar 22, 2015

Yes, I love the video. I've sent it to a few lawyer friends.

I am not kidding that I would like to meet this guy. He has twice defied my contemptuous attempts to file him in a little stereotyped box and slap a label on him. Anyone who manages to do that twice in a day gains my admiration.

Sure he's completely insane -- but also apparently extremely smart and damn good at his job. And he gets away with his insanity, in a profession where (I know all too well) eccentricity (even personality) is not exactly encouraged.

In a world of homogenized banality, false fronts, and insincere televised apologies, this guy stands out like an mastodon in Times Square. Yes. This is a person I must someday meet.

Also, he sounds like a lot of fun at a party. Provided it is not at my house.

I still hate the damn stickers, though. That was just stupid.

c.e.lawson · Mar 22, 2015

He scares me.

CassandraW · Mar 22, 2015

Pfft. Wimp. Haskins scares you. And he's a love.

Lillith1991 · Mar 22, 2015

Monkey said:
Interesting to come back and see that my brother was right and it was a protest against gentrification. Just for the record, I never said I supported this particular method of protest; I think it implies that the lines are being drawn on race rather than on income level, which is not really what's happening (although, in some neighborhoods, that distinction can be almost entirely academic, sadly.)

Actually, considering how few minority families are likely to remain once gentrification is complete. I would say that it is a race thing. Far more often than not in this country, Black people and other POC aren't the ones with the money to live in these type of neighborhoods. So they end up getting pushed out as more and more middle class white people move in. The reasons for this are varried, but they do tend to be based on the little acknowledged thing known as institutional racism. Minority neighborhoods tend to have lower taxes, which means less money to support their schools, which means the kids do worse when it comes to testing. And of course that means the school get even less money the next year. It's a vicious cycle based on race.

CassandraW · Mar 22, 2015

I do think that's a real issue, Lillith. But IMO the stickers were not a good way to address that issue.

William Haskins · Mar 22, 2015

Lillith1991 said:
Minority neighborhoods tend to have lower taxes, which means less money to support their schools, which means the kids do worse when it comes to testing. And of course that means the school get even less money the next year. It's a vicious cycle based on race.

AISD is considered "property wealthy" under the state's "recapture" law, which requires the district to send a projected $135.6 million to the state for distribution to property poor school districts in FY2014. Since FY2002, AISD has paid the state more than $1.5 billion in recapture payments, all of which comes from tax dollars generated in Austin. AISD is the single largest payer of recapture representing nearly 12 percent of the recapture revenue that the State collects.

https://www.austinisd.org/legislature/school-funding

CassandraW · Mar 22, 2015

That sounds like it might be a more effective approach than stickers.

Eta:

Public response to a couple of reps I've received: I didn't say I wanted to date him -- I just would like to meet him. For the record, I prefer to date men whose individuality is more quietly and sanely expressed. Also men without major substance abuse problems.

But I do enjoy interesting. And despite my initial impulses to label him a simple exhibitionist buffoon -- which he also is, I think -- the guy is interesting. Also probably high out of his skull much of the time. And crazy. And lacking in impulse control. And far too prone to serious lapses in judgment. But interesting. Actually does give a damn. Will go way out on a limb for a client or a principle (albeit sometimes in ways I find ridiculous). And bizarrely enough, apparently intelligent and very effective in a courtroom, which I would never expect. That's interesting.

ETA:

And after reading the playboy article and a pm exchange with Mark, I have an odd sense I might actually rather like him (though probably in small doses).

robeiae · Mar 22, 2015

c.e.lawson said:
He scares me.

Again, serial killer in the making. Mark my words.

CassandraW · Mar 22, 2015

robeiae said:
Again, serial killer in the making. Mark my words.

I have to disagree with you, robo. Reposa might well be capable of killing someone. But if he did, I think he'd do it in front of an audience, in the most flamboyant way possible, and then, if he had time before he was arrested, he'd do a youtube video providing his rationale for why the guy had it coming.

So he'd never get to "serial."

c.e.lawson · Mar 22, 2015

CassandraW said:
That sounds like it might be a more effective approach than stickers.

Eta:

Public response to a couple of reps I've received: I didn't say I wanted to date him -- I just would like to meet him. For the record, I prefer to date men whose individuality is more quietly and sanely expressed. Also men without major substance abuse problems.

But I do enjoy interesting. And despite my initial impulses to label him a simple exhibitionist buffoon -- which he also is, I think -- the guy is interesting. Also probably high out of his skull much of the time. And crazy. And lacking in impulse control. And far too prone to serious lapses in judgment. But interesting. Actually does give a damn. Will go way out on a limb for a client or a principal (albeit sometimes in ways I find ridiculous). And bizarrely enough, apparently intelligent and very effective in a courtroom, which I would never expect. That's interesting.

ETA:

And after reading the playboy article and a pm exchange with Mark, I have an odd sense I might actually rather like him (though probably in small doses).

As one of those guilty of sending the above referenced reps, I have to say I'm...relieved. Carry on.

CassandraW · Mar 22, 2015

c.e.lawson said:
As one of those guilty of sending the above referenced reps, I have to say I'm...relieved. Carry on.

Silly c.e. Surely you know my heart belongs to Haggis. (And, of course, my hollowed-out corpse belongs to Haskins.)

Robert Dawson · Mar 22, 2015

This area of town is turning into white’s only,” Reposa said in the clip.

I guess we can't blame him for the greengrocer's apostrophe. I listened to the clip, and to his credit he did not say "for white apostrophe ess only." That painful punctuation appears to be purely the fault of the TV station.

Wonder if any criminal proceedings are in the pipeline? Wouldn't want vandalism laws to be applied only to poor folks, with lawyers and suchlike given a free pass. That would be discriminatory.

CassandraW · Mar 22, 2015

There's also the issue of unauthorized use of the city's logo.

Certainly, Mr. Reposa could be in some trouble here. Hey Austinites -- y'all keep us posted on any updates, won't you?

CassandraW · Mar 22, 2015

Another video in which Adam Reposa does some 'splainin' about the stickers. Only he talks about it like someone else did it, and he's just telling us what it was all about.

Oh, he's wearing boxer shorts, by the way, and sitting in his bedroom. Petting his cat.

Yeah, he's batshit crazy. No getting around it.

ETA:

I like him better when he's ramming trucks into things and kicking in car windows.

ETA:

Oh goody! He did another commercial!

This second commercial for Adam Reposa, by filmmaker Bob Ray, was rejected by Adam Reposa, criminal defense lawyer and hero of liberty, on the grounds that it is too "avant garde," "snobby," and "cinematography," and that is "does not properly convey Mr. Reposa's intended message."

It's also batshit crazy, but as we know, that's OK by him.

ETA:

Another version, which I personally prefer. Apparently, Adam did, too, so we're on the same page.

The first attempt at this commercial (ADAM REPOSA: Hero of Liberty [N.B. -- the one I posted just above] with the intended message of rebuking the new ban on Big Gulps and other large sodas in NYC, was rejected by Mr. Reposa. Mr. Reposa stated that it did not "properly convey his intended message" of "freedom to drink large sodas."

Mr. Reposa suggested some unwanted and unsolicited changes: "make it more patriotic by adding the Star Spangled Banner," "do more choppy editing, like the first one," "make it less snobby and avant garde," "less cinematography," etc. Bob Ray thought these ideas sucked. But, being the total pro he is, Bob Ray re-edited the commercial.

Here is the revised version of the commercial.

benbradley · Mar 22, 2015

CassandraW said:
There's also the issue of unauthorized use of the city's logo.

I wonder if Mr. Cartooney would claim fair use as parody.

Celia Cyanide · Mar 22, 2015

CassandraW said:
I do think that's a real issue, Lillith. But IMO the stickers were not a good way to address that issue.

I agree. I don't see how anyone could get that message from the stickers. And it makes me feel bad for the business. I am not surprised that the employee said she was hurt by it.

I suppose this is one way to make a point about racism...

CassandraW

robeiae

Touch and go

CassandraW

CassandraW

MarkEsq

Clever title pending.

CassandraW

CassandraW

Monkey

Is me.

CassandraW

c.e.lawson

CassandraW

Lillith1991

The Hobbit-Vulcan hybrid

CassandraW

William Haskins

poet

CassandraW

robeiae

Touch and go

CassandraW

c.e.lawson

CassandraW

Robert Dawson

Getting The Hang Of It

CassandraW

CassandraW

benbradley

It's a doggy dog world

Celia Cyanide

Joker Groupie