Send us a text Storytelling is a key part of persuading in court. In this Beat the Prosecution episode, Fairfax criminal lawyer Jonathan Katz interviews one of his favorite storytellers, Danny Schnitzlein, who penned The Monster Who Ate My Peas, which was the centerpiece of hundreds of bedtime stories told to Jon's son. Danny gives a fascinating look at his storytelling process, the key elements to a great story, and his continued connection with his inner child that enables his a...

Send us a text Many times, Fairfax criminal defense lawyer Jon Katz has quoted this great passage from the Kung Fu television pilot with David Carradine (1972): “Perceive the way of nature and no force of man can harm you. Do not meet a wave head on: avoid it. You do not have to stop force: it is easier to redirect it. Learn more ways to preserve rather than destroy. Avoid rather than check. Check rather than hurt. Hurt rather than maim. Maim rather than kill. For all life is precious n...

Send us a text Psychodrama plays a major role at the Trial Lawyers College that Fairfax criminal defense lawyer Jonathan Katz attended for a full month in 1995. Psychodrama was founded by Jacob L Moreno and taught and pursued in depth by him and his wife Zerka. Jon Katz is delighted in this Beat the Prosecution episode to be joined by J.L. Moreno's son Jonathan, and Jon Katz's fellow criminal defense attorney Christopher Flohr, also a TLC alum and a proponent of psychodrama. Here,...

Send us a text Fairfax criminal lawyer Jonathan Katz's go-to lawyers for referrals for District of Columbia criminal defense are Michael Bruckheim and Sweta Patel at Bruckheim & Patel. Sweta and Mike regularly refer potential Virginia criminal and DWI defense clients to Jon Katz. Jon's confidence in Michael and Sweta arises from their consistently strong defense work, caring for their clients, and powerfully optimistic zeal. In this Beat the Prosecution podcast episode, you will hea...

Send us a text Fairfax criminal lawyer Jonathan Katz last month joined several hundred attendees at the Boone, NC, Ram Dass mountain legacy retreat. The experience was wonderful, with people connecting at the heart and soul level, in the beautiful mountains and clean air. Our last podcast episode features Raghu Markus, the executive director of the Ram Dass Love Serve Remember Foundation. Among those on stage at this Boone mountain retreat was Nina Rao, who with a beyond beautiful voice...

Send us a text After attending a great mid-August mountain retreat celebrating Ram Dass (born Richard Alpert) with several hundred people -- complete with kirtan with Krishna Das (lead singer of the precursor to Blue Oyster Cult), Nina Rao, David Nichtern (who wrote "Midnight at the Oasis", for starters) and more; talks by Robert Thurman and more; and a deep rapport with many -- Fairfax criminal defense lawyer Jonathan Katz returned from the mountains and found himself repeating old patterns ...

Send us a text When Fairfax criminal defense / DUI lawyer Jonathan Katz joined with Ramsey Clark in defending the Plowshares activists for their 2000 criminal jury trial for their depleted uranium action, one of the group's supporters suggested getting ideas from lawyer David Walsh-Little , who served as standby trial counsel to the Gods of Metal Plowshares Five in 1998. In the interim, Jon instead consulted with another lawyer who had defended a slew of political activists. Now, ...

Send us a text Fairfax, Virginia criminal defense lawyer Jonathan Katz's teacher Gerry Spence lived until 96 years, and transitioned from his body on August 13, 2025. Gerry has had a profound and lifelong impact on Jon Katz's personal and professional lives, as he has had on thousands of people's lives. Great public defender lawyer Shalev Ben-Avraham in this episode joins Jon Katz in diving deep in illustrating the great gifts from Gerry and in deeply thanking and bowing to him. N...

Send us a text Fairfax criminal lawyer Jonathan Katz started law school seeing the glass as more half empty than full when it came to protecting people's Constitutional rights and civil liberties. That situation began shifting as Jon Katz learned about the many people around him who not only were fighting like hell for the side of justice, but who refused to depart from their optimism. One of those lawyers is Gerald Zerkin. Jerry's name became more well known with his helping to get Ear...

Send us a text Fairfax criminal lawyer Jonathan Katz one day Googled for other lawyers practicing martial arts, and came upon David Kaufman of KarateLaw.com . Now, several years later, Jon Katz speaks to David (now retired from law practice and serving as an expert witness and business security consultant) about applying martial arts experience and knowledge to criminal defense and to the practice of law generally, benefitting from the regular practice of martial arts, and keeping our wits an...

Send us a text Fairfax criminal defense lawyer Jonathan Katz daily practices the martial art of taijiquan / t'ai chi ch'uan Yang style short form, also known as Cheng Man Ch'ing (CMC) taijiquan form. This episode introduces our third taijiquan teacher, after previously introducing you to Jon Katz's vitally important teacher Julian Chu (a student of CMC senior student Benjamin Pang Jeng Lo, several of whose weekend training classes Jon has attended), and Len Kennedy, who is one of two lawyers ...

Send us a text Fairfax criminal defense lawyer Jonathan Katz knows that acquittals are great and often exhilarating, but trials can also bring risks. On this Beat the Prosecution episode, Jon Katz talks on his own about the art of obtaining favorable plea or settlement deals, which need to be backed up by the threat and strength of trial readiness. Settlements can only be earned, but are never owed to a criminal defendant. Many Virginia criminal and DUI defendants expect to be off...

Send us a text Fairfax criminal lawyer Jonathan Katz knows that it is not radical to protest, but instead is among our rights under the Bill of Rights. As an undergraduate alum of Tufts University, Jon Katz opened his eyes and ears all the more to the plight of Rümeysa Öztürk, who is not known to have written or said anything more radical than the decidedly non-radical op-ed she co-authored with three others in the Tufts Daily. Ms. Öztürk has a great team of lawyers -- including o...

Send us a text Fairfax criminal lawyer Jonathan Katz knows the importance of reducing not only conviction and sentencing risks in Virginia criminal court, but also to minimize adverse collateral consequences from court outcomes. Jon Katz has interviewed some immigration lawyers on our Beat the Prosecution podcast to address immigration risks from criminal case outcomes. This episode is the first one to have a lawyer tell about risks about traveling outside the United States with a criminal co...

Send us a text Fairfax criminal lawyer Jonathan Katz strongly dissents from the Trump administration's revoking of the Biden administration's policy of rarely making immigration arrests at courthouses other than for essentially exigent circumstances, lest undocumented people stay away from courthouses when criminal defendants, civil litigants, and witnesses. Separation of powers and federalism also favor no courthouse immigration arrests. "Nobody is above the law" oversimplifies this entire m...

Send us a text Fairfax criminal defense lawyer Jonathan Katz derives tremendous inspiration in his courtroom work from teacher Robert Thurman, for his humor, caring realness, great storytelling ability, and certainly his genius in conveying Buddhist, mindfulness and spiritual ideas in a way that draws in the audience. In this episode of Beat the Prosecution, Jon Katz goes beyond what has already been written about Bob, to find out what energizes and inspires him to be the great person a...

Send us a text Bethesda lawyer Carolyn Elefant is a trailblazing lawyer. Not being cut out to conform to law firm life, she decided thirty years ago to strike out on her own. For decades and counting, she has shared her pearls of wisdom and encouragement -- including in her book Solo By Choice -- for lawyers to consider becoming their own bosses, and to thrive as solo and small firm practitioners. At first, Carolyn's focus on energy law might sound establishmentarian, until you hear here abou...

Send us a text Fairfax criminal lawyer Jonathan Katz knows that we are at the moment of truth for standing up to Donald Trump's onslaught against non-United States citizens, lawyers and law firms, and higher education. If not, we will face the discomfort of younger generations in the future asking what we did to raise our voices to all this injustice flying from all directions in this period in American government. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) is among the groups...

Send us a text Fairfax criminal lawyer Jonathan Katz learned early in his trial career about the critical role of persuasive storytelling, executed throughout the trial, and not only in opening and closing. Jon Katz in this first Beat the Prosecution episode in a year without a guest, illustrates how he won an assault trial by supporting his client's alibi by illustrating the alleged assault's happening in Club Blah, where the defendant at the time was in Club Ah, and could not bring himself ...

Send us a text In 2015, Fairfax criminal lawyer Jonathan Katz finished court early enough to rush over to the Mindful Leadership conference in Arlington, eager to meet such great teachers as Roshi Joan Halifax, Jim Dethmer and Rhonda Magee. Sold out, said a front desk person. A woman overheard my asking what I could do about that, and she sold me her extra ticket. This conference was so good that it would have been worth flying coast-to-coast for such an experience. Learning application...