In Which I Knock Clarence Darrow

The girlfriend gave me a calendar – one of those page-a-day things filled with little factoids. In this case, it’s all legal stuff – dumb crooks and lawsuits, excerpts from to-dumb-to-make-up transcripts, etc. The entry for today was a brief quote from Clarence Darrow. As a criminal defense attorney, Darrow is one of my heroes. He was a champion of the accused, the paradigm of the lone attorney standing between the power of the state and an individual (or two). His work with the ACLU doesn’t hurt, either.

That being said, I have to disagree with him on this:

The only real lawyers are trial lawyers, and trial lawyers try cases to juries.

There are two ways to read this. One is to assume that Darrow was addressing a group of trial attorneys and wanted to emphasize that a good trial attorney doesn’t look to settle a case or plea it out. S/he lives for the battle, the crossing of swords that happens during trial. He may or may not be right about that – sometimes a plea is the best thing for the client (whose best interest is the guiding light of counsel), but if your first instinct is to avoid trial, you’re not much of a trial lawyer.

The other reading, however, is what grinds my gears. If Darrow was directing this comment towards all lawyers (or a non-legal audience), it rather arrogantly dismisses a huge swath of the profession from the title of “real lawyer.” Most lawyers never see the inside of a courtroom, at least in the traditional sense. Jury trials are increasingly rare, in both criminal and civil cases, so there is less opportunity to engage in the kind of trial-by-combat in which Darrow thrived.

Even attorneys who litigate, in the broadest sense, don’t appear before juries. I’ve practiced since 1999 and never stepped in front of a jury. Plenty of judges, from state magistrates to family court judges to federal appellate judges. Jedi jawa’s practiced almost as long and has focused on administrative proceedings. And that doesn’t include the scores of lawyers who work outside of courtrooms of any sort, but provide invaluable assistance to clients big and small, public and private.

So, I guess what I’m saying, is that Darrow comes off arrogant and narrow-minded if he meant to elevate trial lawyers above the rest of the profession. I hope that wasn’t his intent.