Synopses & Reviews
How Can You Represent Those People? is the first-ever collection of essays offering a response to the "Cocktail Party Question" asked of every criminal lawyer: how do you represent guilty criminals?
The contributors are a diverse group of prominent lawyers and rising stars, each offering a different—and often very personal— perspective on "the Question." Many share stories—comic and tragic, stirring and heartbreaking—about how it feels to defend people accused of crimes ranging from the "ordinary" to the horrific. This fascinating collection is a must-read for anyone interested in crime, punishment, race, poverty, and the motivations of criminal lawyers.
Review
"When I was a criminal defense lawyer I was asked 'The Question' so many times I got sick of it. It takes an essay to fully answer, and this book has fifteen brilliant ones. Some of the essays are laugh-out-loud funny, others deeply moving. Read them all and you'll understand why everyone - guilty or innocent, you or me - is entitled to a good lawyer." - John Grisham, author of The Runaway Jury
'How Can You Represent Those People? is a marvel of different and worthwhile insights that make this volume an important one to anyone with the slightest interest in criminal law.' - Marc Bookman, Director of the Atlantic Center for Capital Representation
Synopsis
How Can You Represent Those People? is the first-ever collection of essays offering a response to the 'Cocktail Party Question' asked of every criminal lawyer. A must-read for anyone interested in race, poverty, crime, punishment, and what makes lawyers tick.
About the Author
Abbe Smith is Professor of Law, Director of the Criminal Defense & Prisoner Advocacy Clinic, and Co-Director of the E. Barrett Prettyman Fellowship Program at Georgetown Law School. She began her career as public defender in Philadelphia and continues to be actively engaged in criminal law practice.
Monroe H. Freedman is Professor of Law at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University. For 30 years he lectured on lawyers' ethics at Harvard Law School, and from 2007-2012 he was a visiting professor at Georgetown Law. He has practiced criminal law throughout his career.
Table of Contents
Preface
1. 'Defending the Guilty' after 30 Years; Barbara Babcock
2. How Can You Prosecute Those People?; Paul Butler
3. How Can You Defend Those People?; Tucker Carrington
4. There but for the Grace of God Go I; Angela J. Davis
5. Why I Defend the Guilty and Innocent Alike; Alan M. Dershowitz
6. Why It's Essential to Represent 'Those People; Monroe H. Freedman
7. Defending Civil Rights; Vida B. Johnson
8. Ruminations on Us and Them; Joseph Margulies
9. Wrecking Life: When the State Seeks to Kill; William R. Montross, Jr. and Meghan Shapiro
10. 'Those People' Are Us; Ann Roan
11. Representing Sex Offenders; David A. Singleton
12. How Can You Not Defend Those People?; Abbe Smith
13. Fair Play; Robin Steinberg
14. Defending . . . Still; Michael E. Tigar
15. Not Only in America: The Necessity of Representing 'Those People' in a Free and Democratic Society; Alice Woolley