About My Job: The Attorneys at Law

by Conor Friedersdorf

On death row:

I am a capital habeas lawyer; I represent people who have been sentenced to death.  People who have not done this work almost always fail to understand that my clients are human beings.  People chose to believe the myth that each of my clients is Hannibal Lecter--the devious mastermind who has no soul, no capacity to have feelings for other people--but I've been doing this a while and I've yet to meet that guy.  Instead, I've met human beings.

In the world...