We will be on the road today, en route to New York and the spring meeting and continuing legal education seminar of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL).

If you are a defense lawyer or law student and want to attend, registration is accepted at the door. It's being held at the New York Marriott Marquis. The program is "Trial Techiniques and Stategies: From the Masters." We're speaking Friday at 8:00 am. Our talk is titled "Oh, the Places You'll Go: Using the Internet for Legal Research and Investigation" and is based on our sister site, CrimeLynx, which we created in 1996 to bring criminal defense practitioners the best, not the most, of the law-related sites on the web.

Lynne Stewart and her attorney, renowned criminal defense attorney Michael Tigar (lead attorney for Terry Nichols in the OKC bombing case, former Dean of the University of Texas Law School, now Dean of American University Law School) will speak on "Claiming Justice for Your Client."

Gerry Goldstein of San Antonio, Past President of NACDL, and one of the highest ranked speakers in the nation, will speak on "The Legacy of 9/11: Giving Up Freedom to Protect Our Freedom."

Harvard Law Professor Charles Ogletree will speak on "Trickle Down: How the Supreme Court Impacts Our Work in Defending Our Clients." Renowned New York defense lawyer Benjamin Braufman (Sean Puffy Combs acquittal) will speak on "Summations That Beat All." Miami defense giant Albert Krieger (John Gotti's trial lawyer) will talk on "Story Telling From the Master."

Our favorite will probably be the panel Rikki Klieman is leading on "Must the Lawyer Broach Cooperation With the Client?" Rikki is one of the preeminent women defense lawyers in the country from Boston, who for the past several years has been an anchor at Court TV as well as an Adjunct Professor at Columbia Law School. She is leaving Court TV in June to move to LA to be with her husband, Bill Bratton, who became Los Angeles Police Chief last October (she has commuted every weekend since.) Her book, sure to be a best seller, "When Fairy Tales Come True: How a Driven Woman Changed Her Destiny," published by Judith Ragen books, will hit the stores May 8. We're in the process of writing a book review on her excellent memoir, and will be appearing as a guest on her Court TV show Thursday, May 1 at 1:00 p.m.

There are many more speakers and programs, and the NACDL board of directors meeting, open to the public, is on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. These meetings are filled with lively debate, sometimes friendly, sometimes not so friendly, proving that even defense attorneys are not always of the same mind. But the entire four days, being surrounded by other defenders we know and trust, who work in the trenches at home like we do (the bowels of the courtrooms aand jails) results in all of us having our batteries re-charged so that when we return home, it's with that fighting spirit.

On a more personal level, we will be moving "Talkleft, Jr." from his dorm at NYU to his first apartment in New York, as he completes his final exams for graduation and waits on pins and needles to see if he is accepted into law school for the fall. He has decided that he wants to be a public defender. If he doesn't get in, his fallback plan is his music (he plays lead guitar.) And to get a job. So if you know an employer who could use his kind of skills, let us know. He is one terrific kid. He was a member of the McVeigh defense team his junior year in high school and caught the bug. He spent this, his senior year at NYU, interning at Barry Scheck's Innocence Project at Cardozo Law School, and the bug grew into a frog and he now has the passion.

It will be a busy few days, but we will be blogging throughout, so please stop by TalkLeft for updates, and if you have the time and an interest in criminal defense, stop by the Marriott Marquis.