A belated Happy New Year to our loyal LAL listeners! We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to each of you for the momentum our humble undertaking now enjoys. We look forward to a productive and content-rich 2022.

In that spirit, we begin the year with an in-house episode. Norm and Mike's conversation is anchored by a recent legal development in Mike's neck of the woods, Greensboro, North Carolina. As the title suggests, the legal development embodies a microcosmic view of what appears to be a larger trend the country over. 

Norm opens by floating his theory of what we can expect to see from state and federal leadership as the spell of the virus continues to break across the country. In short, Norm expects that climate change will ascend the mantle of the public health crisis du jour, mimicking the same strategy and playbook that has stifled exercise of civil liberties over the past two years. 

Mike offers his observations on the matter, while inadvertently reminding Norm of just how long in the tooth he is. 

The two transition to the topic at hand and Mike lays forth Greensboro City Council's recent ratification of a new standard operating procedure, called the "Safety Review Board", as an ominous legal development. 

If you're still curious as to whether Mike and Norm are opening a bar and restaurant together, we don't really know. The title of this episode, however, references Greensboro's implementation of an auxiliary body of appointed board members who are now charged with imposing "safety" procedures on Greensboro's bars and restaurants. 

The supposed reason for this so-called Safety Review Board? Greensboro's historic levels of violent crime are obviously and directly attributable to its hospitality community because those businesses sell and serve alcohol. We say "obviously" because, as you'll hear, the City Council has not bothered to provide any findings of fact to establish any nexus between the two. 

Still, left unabated, the establishment of this Safety Review Board lays the groundwork for troubling days ahead for an industry that has barely weathered the storm of COVID-era shutdowns and restrictions, and a city still not at one with itself behind economic contraction, the summer riots of 2020, and the political malpractice attendant to upcoming midterm elections. 

Listen. Share. Rate. Subscribe. And reach out to us. You can find us anywhere podcasts are hosted, or by using this gateway. Follow Norm (@PattisNorm) and Mike (@MichaelBoyer_) on Twitter. And become a patron on Patreon. 

A special thank you to Kevin Brien for developing the LAL sound bookending each episode. 

Today's episode is a constitutional deep dive into the uniquely American phenomenon that is the separation of powers. 

As LAL listeners well know, I represent Alex Jones in a number of matters including in his recently filed lawsuit against the U.S. House of Representative's Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol. 

We begin with a foundational blueprint for conceptualizing the constitutional separation of powers and its aim for inefficiency as a matter of founding design. Pointedly, just because someone wants something doesn't mean they get it. And, indeed, some things, such as the Bill of Rights, are 'off limits' to the government. 

We then explore the fundamental tension between natural law and a subjective construction of reality endemic to movements anchored in cultural marxism and/or identity politics, and thus how jurisprudence has become the battleground in a never-ending debate between what is and is not within the purview of government regulation.

Our legislature wields the plenary power to conduct investigations. Pursuant to the Speech and Debate clause, Congressionally issued subpoenas are immune from the judicial oversight otherwise reserved for our Article III courts. 

Query: If not comply, what is a private individual to do in the face of what reasonably appears to be an invalid exercise of the Congressional subpoena power?

What did we see in the case of Steve Bannon? How might one contrast that with Mark Meadow's current ongoings? 

While I find brilliance in the finer points of our separation of powers' construction, there are areas of extreme disappointment with respect to the J6 committee, including the media's treatment of it, its improper procedural foundations, and the obviousness of the pretext for its creation—impeachment of President Donald Trump by another means. 

An improperly formed Congressional committee does not wield the aforementioned legislative immunity. And that is the true significance of the Alex Jones lawsuit: the right to be free from arbitrarily exercised power. 

We close by discussing the little-known nuances of Congressional immunity, such as the power to overlook the judicially-created doctrine of attorney-client privilege. Keen listeners will recognize the hypothetical from our recent interview with Mark Dubois. Who will be the first lawyer to do federal time?

I sense a demagogue in our midst. 

Please like, share, subscribe, and rate us sixty-five stars. Join me and other fellow contrarians and free-thinkers on Patreon. 

And follow us across our social media. Mike is a dopamine-addicted millennial. He is fueled by notifications. 

Adam Schiff's book: "Midnight in Washington"

Read my 2/14/21 blog post of suggestions to the J6 Committee. And tell Kevin Brien how much you dig the LAL sounds.  

The true test of Mike's genius? Convincing you that our best performing episode #063 with Mark Richards pales in comparison to my interview here with Mark Dubois. 

Branding ethics as "heady" or "engaging" is indeed a tough task. But what former Chief Disciplinary Officer have you ever heard discuss the realistic prospects of psilocybin or invite your favorite criminal defense and civil rights attorney to an LSD trip in his post-practice life?

I didn't think so. But what else would you expect from us at this point?

Mark "the Accidental Lawyer" Dubois is a dear friend and one of the greats in Connecticut Bar history and the only person I've ever heard of to have retired six (6) times in one life. 

Like various of the other lawyers we've hosted on Law and Legitimacy, Mark thinks about law and has performed within the law in unique ways. He is the only lawyer we have hosted, however, to have washed dishes under the supervision of Justice Clarence Thomas while the two matriculated as undergrads at The College of the Holy Cross. 

So there—LSD, retirements aplenty, sudsy early dealings with a Supreme Court Justice. "Heady" and "engaging" are mere table stakes for legal ethics and lawyer discipline. 

In this interview, you'll learn about Mark's rather unique path through the field that culminated with his role as the Connecticut Supreme Court's very first Chief Disciplinary Officer. You'll also hear about Mark's prolific legal career prior thereto, which spanned the domains of civil litigation, personal injury, regulatory and administrative law, commercial and residential real estate, and more. 

And you'll be gripped as I was to learn about the true historical origin of model ethics code in America, the difference between Harvard and Columbia's respective philosophical approaches to teaching the law, and how what Mark regards as the great "demoralization" in the legal field created a robust demand for new methods in lawyer discipline. 

Of course, no episode would be complete without a Norm Pattis hypothetical or two. Does Congressional Privilege entitle Congress to hold me in contempt if I refuse to break attorney-client privilege at its command? Will Connecticut's new law attempting to regulate lawyer speech be the nail in my socially opprobrious coffin?

This is Mark Dubois. Listen. Rate. Share. And share again. We love you for that. 

Become a patron as I create a space for the free thinkers, contrarians, and the unafraid.

Find us on social media. Follow us. Share our stuff. Talk to us in the comments. We love you for that, too. 

You can find our producer, Michael Boyer, on Twitter and Instagram @michaelboyer_. And you can find the guy who created the LAL sound here. 

How fortunate we are to play host to Mr. Mark Richards, Kyle Rittenhouse's lead defense attorney in what many will believe to be the watershed moment in modern America's promise to each of us the due process of law. 

We are barely a couple of weeks removed from the jury verdict in State v. Rittenhouse, the widely publicized case that considered the events as they unfolded in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on August 25, 2020, amid the larger, burnished silhouette of a summer marked by widespread protests symbolic of the agitated republic America today remains.

Mark very generously agreed to sit with us for Law and Legitimacy to bring the attorney's voice to the forefront and to shed light on various aspects of his representation—some top-of-mind in the public consciousness, others that until now lay dormant. 

We began as we always do here by asking Mark to talk about his life before his engagement as Rittenhouse's attorney of record. Mark is Wisconsin born and bred. A graduate of both the University of Wisconsin and the University of Wisconsin Law School. To date, Mark has nearly 125 jury trials under his belt as a defense attorney. 

Mark and I talk about the nature of the law in Wisconsin. Some of you may find our discussion of the "trial tax" familiar from previous conversations and episodes. Mark talks about his inspiration in the law, I ask him to discuss the case that most broke his heart, and together we lay coordinates for our discussion of the Rittenhouse saga. 

Through our conversation you will learn not only how Mark became Rittenhouse's lead attorney, but why Mark was indeed the best man for the job. 

We cover it all:

• The early involvement of attorneys John Pierce and Lin Wood;
• Kyle's extradition to Kenosha County jail;
• Mark's assessments of Judge Schrader and the prosecution;
• The role of the jury consultant and the three (3) mock juries utilized;
• The prosecution's challenge of Kyle's 5th amendment right to silence;
• Character and propensity evidence in the face of motion(s) in limine;
• Judge Schrader's courtroom policy and the "complaining witnesses" issue;
• The particulars of the firearms charge and its dismissal; 
• Obtaining the acquittal;
• The give-and-take of Tucker Carlson's support

Of course, I could not bring this interview to a close without asking Mark, "Is Kyle a white supremacist?"

We are humbled and honored to present this episode to the world, for Mr. Mark Richards is indeed a lawyer's lawyer. There is little to plug but his website. 

Thank you for sharing this episode with a friend, and thank you for rating us 63 stars and leaving a glowing review. Follow this link to access our socials and please follow and interact with us there. Mike is a millennial, so that sort of thing really gets him. Join me on Patreon and assimilate into the ranks of your fellow contrarians, free thinkers, and unafraid. 

Finally, we thank Kevin Brien for his work on the intro and outro music. Go give his catalogue a listen. 

"Even Hemingway would say, 'kill your darlings.'"

Our guest on this episode of Law and Legitimacy is the prolific, the widely-published, the beautiful and insightful bestselling novelist, Ms. Luanne Rice. 

Luanne has published a total of thirty-six (36) books, the most recent having debuted earlier in 2021, and her work has been translated into more than twenty (20) languages. 

Luanne and I have been planning this conversation for a while now and our respective schedules finally afforded the opportunity to blend the world of the lawyer with that of the novelist. 

Luanne regards her writing as a true calling. You will hear her describe her morning routines, how she reckons with the dreams of the night before, her conception of the human condition and the vagaries of personality. 

But her ideas for her novels come from somewhere. I inquired. 

We're all drawn to murder, in one way or another. For Luanne, the idea of something so terrible outside oneself has the capacity to remove fear. For me, that same idea tells us something about ourselves. 

To the big question: are each of us capable of murder? Do our shared stories of heartbreak mean that we're all potential killers?

As the world appears to continue rotating further off its axis, I draw nearer to what Saint Augustine refers to as the perpetual search. Luanne and I find common ground here, as lawyers can learn a tremendous amount from novelists, in the form of both the danger posed by a jury forcing the narrative for the sake of completion, and the opportunity for good lawyers, like good novelists, to follow the facts and connect the dots without the hazards of inference.

Luanne's story is gripping. And I am grateful to be able to share a bit of it with you here. Visit Luanne's website to find her many world-renowned works and to find the links to her social media accounts. 

Please also tell a friend about Law and Legitimacy. We love when you do that. And we can tell you have been. Our listenership is growing! Rate us twenty-leven stars on the platform on which you've found us. Become a Pateron supporter and attend to the business of helping Norm create a viable space for the contrarians, the free thinkers, and the unafraid. 

You may access the full suite of Law and Legitimacy social media here. Finally, tell Kevin Brien how much you're loving the intro and outro music he produced for us. 

Can the American republic survive without a religious reawakening? Are there visible signs of a third Great Awakening in America today? Who are our modern heroes?

Our esteemed guest this week is Mark Meckler. He is one of America's modern heroes. 

Mark co-founded the Tea Party in the late 2000's, invigorated politically by the Bush administration's abandonment of free market economics and by the Obama administration's failure to deliver on the material promises made in the domain of change. 

Today, Mark is the founder and President of Citizens for Self-Governance, a political nonprofit organization known widely for its Convention of States Action initiative. 

Mark is a licensed attorney, devoted husband, and loving father. And? He played high school football with John Elway. 

My encounter with Mark was one of complete chance, as we were seated alongside one another for a recent flight into Texas. Our conversation was one which nurtured my soul and which overlapped in a cosmic way with our central theme here on Law and Legitimacy. 

Journey with us as we unpack Mark's early life in sunny southern California, his decision to focus on more important things in college than veterinary medicine, the early gravity of real estate development in his legal career, and the macro events that catalyzed Mark's emergence as a modern force of principled political activism. 

You'll hear why Mark left his own organization in 2012, the inspiration George Mason plays for Mark, especially through Convention of the States' objective to restrike the elements of our United States Constitution, and you may even walk away having assigned yourself a bit of homework. I certainly did. 

It only took us 61 episodes, but we finally punctuate our existential crisis talk on a note of optimism. Find Mark on social media: @MarkMeckler on Twitter; @realmarkmeckler on Instagram; @markmecklerofficial on Facebook. 

Visit Citizens for Self-Governance and Convention of States Action to get involved. 

Follow Law and Legitimacy everywhere we are. Subscribe to Norm's Patreon. And rate us 6 stars on whatever platform you're using to listen. 

Music created by Kevin Brien. Find Kevin @fkbs_iso on Twitter. 

While you're vibing to our new intro music, rate Law and Legitimacy sixty stars in honor of our 60th episode in 7 months. We're on fire and we're just getting started. 

Michael Boyer, Producer of Law and Legitimacy, joins Norm this week to discuss recent developments in the sphere of reparations and to share his observations after attending a free legal symposium hosted by a local law school aimed at making the legal case for reparations. 

The conversation begins with an assessment of High Point, North Carolina's, very recent move to establish a commission to study the basis for race-based transfer payments. Norm quizzes Michael on the details of the City Council's vote to establish such a commission and the bases and findings upon which the Council anchored its vote. 

Norm and Michael then move into a discussion of the legal symposium Michael attended and attempt to analyze both the alleged scholarly basis for race-based transfer payments as well as the legal arguments being forged in their name. 

This episode is capped with a long-form dialogue between the two, including Michael's assessment that local towns and small municipalities occupy roles as laboratories for reparations proponents, what reparations proponents say of the potential consequences for successful implementation of race-based transfer payments—both economically and socially—and a callback to Norm's suggestion in LAL #005 that an Article V Convention of the States is perhaps an appropriate mechanism to explore as Americans continue to become aware of such widespread efforts to subvert federal standards of equal protection and the tenth amendment's guarantee of state sovereignty. 

Norm ties this conversation into a perfect bow by reasserting that there is indeed a fight going on for the heart and soul of the United States, and reminds us that the heart and soul of the United States rightly pits power against power, person against person to guard against the type of tyrannical impulse at the core of the reparations movement. 

Become a Patreon subscriber, and follow Law and Legitimacy on social media. Search the name and you'll find us. Lastly, share Law and Legitimacy with a family member, a friend, or even a stranger. You, the listener, are the heartbeat of our success. 

Fresh off of a Michigan Wolverines loss and a last-minute schedule change, Norm calls an audible to provide an update and assessment of the latest developments in the State of Wisconsin v. Rittenhouse criminal proceedings, with jury selection set to begin Monday, November 1, 2021. 

During last week's hearing, Judge Bruce Schroeder ruled that the prosecution will be prohibited from referring to the decedents as "victims" during the course of the trial. 

Norm takes this opportunity to unpack the premise underlying Judge Schroeder's ruling and to illustrate that, "calling names is not proof."

Norm lays out the relevant legal standards attendant to the charges against Rittenhouse and also explains the nature of the self-defense legal burden and where that burden properly resides at trial. 

Of course, this discussion would not be complete without an analysis of jury selection, what seasoned defense attorneys are looking for, and what Norm means when he says he looks for "bounce" in determining who is the best fit to sit on a jury. 

Rate Law and Legitimacy six buckeyes on your chosen platform. And follow Law and Legitimacy on social media:

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Join Norm on Patreon and support his continued journey. Thank you as always for listening and sharing with a friend. 

This hour-and-some-change will go at warp speed, which is a fitting pace for a conversation that takes aim at the world of digital payment rails and frictionless nostro-vostro bank accounts. 

This episode's guest is the mergers and acquisitions juggernaut, elite securities designer, and best digital plumber in the western hemisphere, Mr. Jimmy Vallee. Jimmy has parlayed an illustrious and decorated legal career in the American energy sector into his current role as the Managing Director of Valhil Capital. 

Valhil Capital is as unique as it is ambitious. In addition to managing the balance sheet for holdings in the construction, fitness, and energy sectors, Valhil Capital has a specific investment thesis in the realm of cryptocurrency: sovereign governments and thus global finance will soon embrace the Central Bank Digital Currency ("CBDC") model in the effort to remove friction from the movement of value. 

More than that, Valhil Capital is on the bleeding edge of locating and developing "use cases" for the Ripple ecosystem and is raising the bridge asset flag for the XRP community as it does so. 

Jimmy and I start small. You'll hear about Jimmy's beginnings in the practice of law, his innate desire for a career in the world of high finance, and the unlikely opportunity he seized as a first-year associate in a firm of more than 400 lawyers to become the name to know in the post-shale revolution Texas energy acquisitions market. 

We crescendo into the lesser known realities of the global digital asset market and what American citizens should expect out of its government with respect thereto by the end of 2021. 

It is safe to say this is but Part I in a series of insightful talks to come. And I trust you'll enjoy listening as much as I did recording. This is Jimmy Vallee, the Managing Director of Valhil Capital. Find Jimmy, Valhil, and more about the digital asset frontier at JimmyVallee.com, ValhilCapital.com, and AstroLightMediaGroup.com. 

Rate Law and Legitimacy fifty-one stars on the platform from which we've been brought to you. Join Norm Pattis's growing contrarian camp on Patreon and support the mission of this podcast. Until next time . . . 

We've officially transitioned to our new podcast platform! And we're eager to begin elevating the Law and Legitimacy experience for each of you who continue to download, listen, rate, and reach out to share your feedback. We are endlessly grateful for your continued support for LAL and we encourage you to tell someone about us!

Episode 057 is an interview with J. Daniel Hull of Hull McGuire PC, a D.C.-based muscle boutique law firm.

Dan is a true renaissance man. He is an international corporate and business law attorney, elite-level problem solver, an encyclopedia of American history and culture, quick-witted Twitter Bad Boy, and the progenitor of the world class and widely renown What About Clients?/What About Paris? blog dating to the early days of legal blogging in the mid-2000s.

And? Dan is the sole reason that producer Michael Boyer and I made acquaintance earlier in 2021. That's right. Michael begged Dan to tell me he "wasn't an idiot" as Michael postured to take on obligations as producer for LAL. Query: who is more skilled in persuasion: Michael, for successfully lobbying Dan to make the pitch, or Dan, for successfully convincing me to give Michael a call?

Anyway, this episode is an important one. It is sort of like staring at a Thomas Cole painting. Dan has a way of distilling the essence of American beauty that demands examination and is framed to inspire. Indeed, I submit to you that inspiration abounds herein.

Take, for example, the Twelve Rules of Client Service. For young lawyers, this is the How-To Guide for building an enduring legacy within the legal profession. As Michael will tell you, the Twelve Rules draw upon a devotion and an ambition that exists only in those who really want to train themselves and thrive in a world that requires something more of its inhabitants than being "nice" and "smart."

We're humbled by the timing of this episode's release. Some of you may know, but many of you will come to learn through this interview, of Dan's ongoing representation of a prominent J6 defendant, and member of the Proud Boys. Just this week, new footage has made its way into the public consciousness that supports Dan's account of the January 6th events at the Capitol, the lack of any cognizable overthrow plan, and Dan's conclusion that Americans simply "don't know each other anymore."

We admire Dan, for more than his soul and wit; he is a man of great courage and wisdom. And who else do you know that had the late Alex Haley as a professor in undergrad?

This is Law and Legitimacy with the Little-Bit-Alpha-Little-Bit-Pain-In-The-Ass Dan Hull. Rate us ninety-nine and three-quarters stars on whatever platform from which you're listening.

Norm is live every weekday from 12pm ET to 2pm ET on WICC 600AM/107.3FM. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter.