Fictional lawyers in the movies have generally had a better run than real lawyers on entertainment television. But consider the iconic Atticus Finch in ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’: He violated client confidences when he told his children to pity their belligerent, invalid, bigot of a neighbor, Miss Dubose, who was addicted to morphine. This chapter […]
When George Mastin rolled into town with his “Unparalleled Exhibition of Oil Paintings”, it was a sensational event by late 19th Century standards – enough to bring out the whole community. Broadsides on barn doors and tavern walls announced the happening, including historical and religious lectures. The Erin Twin Brothers would be there to clog dance. […]
What most people don’t understand – and most lawyers don’t want to talk about – is that jury selection is more DEselection. Everyone thinks they have no prejudices (they do) and can be fair in every case (they can’t). There’s a famous story about President George Herbert Walker Bush withdrawing as a judge in […]
Cain and Abel, Albrecht Durer. We aren’t ready to talk about Nancy Grace quite yet. To get that right, more background is required. But first, some ancient political philosophy. For all judges, sovereign and subordinate, if they refuse to hear proof, refuse to do justice: for though the sentence be just, yet the Judges that […]
The Jury consequently invests the people … with the direction of society. Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America This series is about jury trials. Conflict has been used to resolve disputes for centuries – perhaps as long as time itself. Before trials, opposing sides would meet on a field for a battle or […]
My father prepared clients for deposition with me. Getting ready for a deposition in a serious personal injury case is no small feat. The prospect of being under oath is something any person would take seriously. But when the subject is painful and embarrassing, as serious health problems often are, it can shake even the […]
Reed wrote me a letter me on June 7, 1984, after I graduated from college at Washington and Lee. He wanted to walk me through how to think about law school and a career in the law. He wrote that letter more than 130 years after Lincoln’s notes on a law lecture (see, the previous blog […]
Abraham Lincoln’s notes for a law lecture (discussed in the previous post here) are the subject of a ‘Professionalism Movement’ in the legal profession: the idea is that real change toward a better (more ethical) practice is caused not by changes to Model Rules but by freely acting agents – lawyers who voluntarily aspire for […]
Early in his career, lawyer Abraham Lincoln was a voracious reader of everything from poetry to newspapers. In 1837, his attention was fixed on a wave of violence and economic turmoil sweeping the country. He was convinced that America’s Founding principles demanded a renewed focus on respect for laws and a conscious turning away […]
