Quote of the Day - Steven Hawking

"However bad life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. While there's life, there is hope.” 

Steven Hawking

Make sure to see the beautiful, wonderful, Academy-Award-winning film about Hawking's life (so far): The Theory of Everything.

Real Trials Online

People v. OJ Simpson

• Defense Closing Part 2 and Part 4 by Johnny Cochran
• Prosecution Rebuttal Closing by Christopher Darden
• Defense Cross-Examination of Det. Mark Fuhrman (F. Lee Bailey)
• Excerpt of Bailey's Cross Examination of Fuhrman (9 min)

Nuremburg Trials: Justice Robert Jackson's Closing

Lee Harvey Oswald "mock trial" Closing by V. Bugliosi

 

 

Trial Transcripts: OPENING STATEMENTS

• Lizzie Borden: Defense Opening Statement

Trial Transcripts: CLOSING ARGUMENT/SUMMATION

• Clay Shaw Trial (JFK): Closing by Irvin Dymond (1969)
• Chicago Seven Trial: W. Kunstler's Closing (1970)
• People v. Ossian Sweet: C. Darrow's Closing (1925)
• Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Trial: Defense Closing by Max D. Steuer (1911)
• People v. Henry Sweet: Defense Closing by C. Darrow (1926)
• People v. Charles Manson: Prosecution Closing by V. Bugliosi (1971)
• John Allen Muhammad murder trial: Defense Closing by P. Greenspun (2003)

 

 Complete Criminal Trial Transcripts and Case Summaries

• Crime in New York 1850-1950

• Cameron Todd Willingham Trial Transcripts (Innocence Project)

• Commonwealth v. Gerald Sandusky

• The Baldwinsville Homicide (1875)

   

• O.J. Simpson Trial Transcripts (Criminal and Civil Trials)

   

• Triangle Factory Fire Trial Transcript

   

• Lizzie Borden Trial Transcripts

Case Information

Nuremburg Trials

Good thing I like being single

Why do guys think that they have to have aspirations of becoming lawyers in order to impress me? When I meet a guy that I like, that tends to mean that I like him the way that he is. For instance, I met this artist at a wedding awhile back and he seemed really interesting. As soon as he found out that I was an attorney, however, the conversation shifted from music to LSAT scores. Turns out, he's "studying" for the LSAT and hoping to get a better score this time around. From there on out, all he wanted to talk about was law school, which happens to be the last thing I'm interested in discussing with this guy. If there's anything worse than lawyers, it's wannabe lawyers. The worst part is that I think, most of the time, guys are just saying this for my benefit, as if its some kind of prerequisite to flirting with me.

Then there are the guys that don't seem the slightest bit interested in me until they find out that I'm an attorney. At first, I thought it was a money thing, like they assumed that meant I was rich or something (wrong), but I've since decided that it's something different. I think these guys think that my profession means that I have my shit together (also wrong), and that my ambition will somehow rub off on them.

I think I'm just going to start telling people I meet that I work at the Gap.

This can only mean one thing

I'm passing the bar exam.

Well, I suppose it could also be a sale at Urban Outfitters, but I think I'm going to rely on the former.

Found it.

I recently finished a summer internship as a legal clerk in the Domestic Violence Prosecution Unit of the Office of the District Attorney General. The internship was an amazing experience, and has certainly shaped my future career. Prior to working at the DA’s office, my exposure to the criminal justice system was limited to television and movies. After a quick introduction to prosecutorial life, the seven prosecutors in my assigned unit threw me right into the fast lane. I followed them to court appearances, negotiations with defense attorneys, interviews with victims, and even a visit to a crime scene in the projects. Prosecutorial work is very fast-paced and exciting. There is never a dull moment down in the courtrooms or behind-the-scenes.

From my limited exposure to prosecutors on television, I expected the fast pace and quick thinking; that is what drew me to the job initially. I will be twenty-six years old when I graduate law school. At this point in my life, I cannot imagine sitting behind a desk in a law firm waiting for the chance to step in a courtroom. I want to be in the middle of the action now, while I’m young. Money and fancy offices can wait. Most of the prosecutors I’ve met have a lot in common. They are young, energetic, overworked, underpaid, and the happiest group of lawyers I’ve ever met. They find fulfillment in their work and happiness in the time they have to themselves – a rarity in the legal profession.

After the first week or two at the DA’s office, the job seemed manageable. There weren’t a lot of particularly difficult legal issues to deal with, and minimal research and writing. The hardest aspect of working in domestic violence seemed to be getting victims to come to court or to testify once they got there. So many victims are terrified of their abusers, or too compassionate to prosecute, making the prosecutor’s job difficult, if not impossible.

As I got more involved with the cases that the attorneys in my office handled, I started to realize that the hardest parts of prosecutorial work had to do, not with the legal aspect of the cases, but with the ethical and moral dilemmas attached to every case. As I watched how the attorneys handled suppressing their emotional responses in order to follow the law, my respect for them grew exponentially.

This is what I want to do.