June 29, 2011

An honest lawyer


We've all heard the jokes about dishonest lawyers. (Have sympathy for the honest attorney who gets "tarred with the same brush" as the shysters...) Well, here's a brutally honest quote from one of our country's most famous barristers, Clarence Darrow:

I undertook to serve this company... believing they had an ordinance procured by the aid of boodle. I am satisfied that judged by the higher law... I am practically a thief. I am taking money that I did not earn, which comes to me from men who did not earn it, but who get it because they have the chance to get it. I take it without performing any useful service to the world, and I take a thousand times as much as my serices are worth even assuming they were useful and honest.

I copied that quote from a book I'll gladly recommend to anyone who enjoys biographies or history. I didn't know much at all about Clarence Darrow until I picked up this book after hearing an interview with the author. The interview was fascinating and gave me the impetus to purchase the book. I'm so glad I did - Darrow is a fascinating character! The book is Clarence Darrow: Attorney for the Damned by John A. Farrell
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