About Andrew Brandt
Andrew Brandt is an editor on Super Lawyers‘ staff. He serves as the editor for the Illinois, Northern California, Upstate New York, Missouri-Kansas, and Texas magazines, and he additionally writes, fact-checks and proofreads for numerous other Super Lawyers issues (and for the website). He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with degrees in English literature and environmental studies, and his byline has appeared in a variety of places, both online and in print.
Articles written by Andrew Brandt
Why Did I Get an Arrest Warrant Notice in the Mail?
You get an arrest warrant in the mail for a bench warrant because of your failure to appear for a missed court date or scheduled hearing. You can get a court summons for outstanding traffic tickets, unpaid fines, probation violations, misdemeanor charges, or grand jury indictments. Ignoring the notice to appear can result in a contempt of court charge, bail forfeiture, or an active arrest warrant. To respond to a bench warrant, you can voluntarily surrender to the court or retain legal counsel …
Third Time’s the Charm
Patrick Mulligan gives defendants another shot at a second chance“There are three main stages to the proceedings in a criminal case, and most people know of the first two stages: a trial and, if there’s a conviction, an appeal,” says Patrick Mulligan of Mulligan Breit in Denver. The third stage? Post-conviction litigation, in which a defendant can bring a separate challenge to a conviction after the appeal has concluded. If the defendant’s motion is deemed sufficient, the case comes back into trial. Mulligan took on his first post-conviction case …
Full-Court Press
Bruce S. Rosen expands rights in a field he used to work in: journalismDuring his senior year of high school, working as the editor for his school’s underground newspaper, Bruce S. Rosen printed a student’s letter claiming the true “dirty words” in our language weren’t the dime-a-dozen locker-room swears, but words like “war,” “napalm” and “kill.” “They asked our parents to come in and we were dismissed from school for the rest of the day,” says Rosen. “My father started talking about free speech. Having him stand up for me like …
Air Bud
Michael Louis Kelly pilots pups to safetyMichael Louis Kelly has been a lawyer since 1978, but it wasn’t until a year later, when he began representing parties in aviation crashes, that he discovered his primary passion: flight. “I became interested in airplanes and aeronautics, and the engineering aspect of how planes fly—and what makes them stop flying,” the El Segundo attorney says. “The more I hung around with pilots and flew in airplanes with them, the more I wanted to do it myself. It’s kind of a bug that, once it …
Started From The Bottom
Patrick Roberts’ path to the U.S., law and the top floorI came here at 4. I grew up in Savanna La Mar, Jamaica. We were poor, but everybody knew that if you could get an education in the U.S., it would open doors. My dad lived in New York. He’d come to the U.S. years before. After divorcing his first wife, he returned to Jamaica and married my mom, and brought us to East New York, Brooklyn. He was abusive; he was an alcoholic. I don’t know if we made it a year before my mom fled, even though we stayed in the same neighborhood. We didn’t have …
What If I'm Not Read My Miranda Rights?
If you have not been read your Miranda rights, it does not mean an automatic case dismissal because Miranda applies to questioning when in police custody. You have a Fifth Amendment right to silence against self-incrimination and the right to legal counsel. Your defense attorney can get a trial evidence exclusion for police errors and file a motion to suppress statements for questioning under arrest without your Miranda rights. Miranda protections do not apply to spontaneous statements, routine …
Motorcycle Man
Anthony Castelli tries to make the riding easier for Cincinnati ridersAnthony Castelli remembers the first time he got on a motorcycle. He was 21 and decided to try out his new bike—without the benefit of training. “I thought it would be a hell of a rush,” he recalls. “Within about 10 seconds, I laid the bike down, my head hit the ground, and the helmet I was wearing fell off. My sister was just rolling her eyes. But I got up on the bike and away I went.” For more than 35 years, Castelli has been representing Cincinnati-area bikers and drivers …
Tennessee Trademark Law: Steps To Register Brand
If you’re a budding music group in Nashville's music industry, it may be more beneficial to trademark your band’s name than set up a Facebook page. Karl Braun, an intellectual property attorney at Hall Booth Smith, advises his Tennessee-based entertainment industry clients to immediately register their trademark with Tennessee’s secretary of state. State vs. Federal Trademarking “Trademarking at the state level is very similar to the federal process, but it’s much cheaper,” says …
What Happens to My Inheritance in a Divorce?
Your inheritance remains your separate property in a divorce unless you have commingled funds with marital assets. Your family inheritance must remain a separate and traceable asset for you to retain sole ownership. If you put the money into a joint bank account with your ex-spouse or use it to buy shared property, you lose financial protection of your inheritance or gifted money. You can also avoid a property split during asset division if you include your inheritance in a prenuptial or …
How To Crowdfund Equity for a Business
In 2015, Anthony Zeoli, a Chicago attorney with Hinshaw & Culbertson, noticed that many of his neighboring states had intrastate equity crowdfunding laws while Illinois did not. Intrastate equity crowdfunding — similar to rewards crowdfunding — is a type of fundraising that allows potential investors to give businesses money in exchange for an ownership stake. Zeoli wrote Illinois’ bill, HB3429, and saw it get passed into law in 2016. The bill allows Illinois companies to raise up …
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