Lawyer Quotes

“It is not, what a lawyer tells me I may do; but what humanity, reason, and justice, tell me I ought to do.”
― Edmund Burke, Speech on Conciliation with America

“Lawyer: one who protects us against robbery by taking away the temptation.”
― H. L. Mencken

“Jen and I were accustomed to our father's last-will-and-testament diction, and were at times free to interrupt Atticus for a translation when it was beyond our understanding.”
― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

“I’m seventeen years old, my name is Juan García Madero, and I’m in my first semester of law school. I wanted to study literature, not law, but my uncle insisted, and in the end I gave in. I’m an orphan, and someday I’ll be a lawyer. That’s what I told my aunt and uncle, and then I shut myself in my room and cried all night.”
― Roberto Bolaño, The Savage Detectives

“That made love—not grace—the magic ingredient. Then a
new thought hit her. Perhaps love was grace. A shiver went
up her spine. What did that make anger? The antithesis of
grace?”
― Penelope Marzec, A Rush of Light

“A good lawyer, just like a good poker player, must always keep his cards close to his chest.”
― Mallika Nawal, I'm a Woman & I'm on SALE

“I remember when I was twenty-five,” he said. “No client comes to you when you’re twenty-five. It’s like when you are looking for a doctor. You don’t want the new one that just graduated. You don’t want the very old one, the one shaking, the one twenty years past his prime. You want the seasoned one who has done it so many times he can do it in his sleep though. Same thing with attorneys.”
― Daniel Amory, Minor Snobs

“During the years of struggling to make partner, he had sometimes entertained the comical notion that making partner would imbue him with new powers, like a budding superhero who had been bitten by a radioactive spider. It appeared that any superpowers he had gained did not include the ability to pick up women in bars.”
― Reece Hirsch, The Insider

“The facts were strongly behind his client. But the legal battle could be drawn out for months; no one stood to gain except the lawyers. Ghandi was not interested in making a profit out of legal briefs and empty arguments. He was determined to serve the best interests of both sides. Dada Abdulla and his opponent were blood relations, and every day the case dragged on only drove in deeper the wedge that was splitting their family in two. With much talking Ghandi persuaded both sides to submit to arbitration and settle out of court. Even more talking was necessary to get Dada Abdulla to agree on terms which would not bankrupt the loser, but in the end both sides were satisfied. Ghandi was ecstatic. "I had learnt," he exclaimed, "the true practice of law. I had learnt to find out the better side of human nature and to enter men's hearts. I realized that the true function of a lawyer was to unite parties riven asunder.”
― Ghandi Palanithurai

“Is it really 'pro bono' if a lawyer takes your case in exchange for explosives?
-Captain Hartung”
― Howard Tayler, Emperor Pius Dei

“The sun don't shine on the same dog's tail all the time; either the sun moves or the dog moves!”
― Murray M. Silver

“I cross-examined him and he double-crossed me but that's fine; I'll prosecute him one day and he'll be sentenced to life without parole…with me.”
― Natalya Vorobyova, Better to be able to love than to be loveable

“Forget the garden rake. Remember that time you dived over the desk at that guy in moot court? Had him by the throat in two seconds flat, that's what I heard."
"You heard wrong."
"And they suspended you for how long?" Antonia innocently asked.
"A day. And I apologized. Actually I crawled like a slug and ate dirt," Bree said ruefully. "But that was years ago, and have I pulled a stunt like that again? No, I have not.”
― Mary Stanton, Defending Angels

“You know, sometimes I think this is just not it,” he said, his glasses flashing from the early night’s light.
He turned toward me in a thoughtful pause.
“You know what I mean, Tom?” he asked. “It’s just not.”
― Daniel Amory, Minor Snobs

“He aimed at the lawyer's heart but missed it. It was a mistrial.”
― Natalya Vorobyova, Better to be able to love than to be loveable

“In court, defense lawyers do this properly by mentioning everything their client is accused of, and all the weaknesses of their case, in the opening statement. They call this technique “taking the sting out.”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

“Effective advocacy is about confronting the weaknesses in your case and overcoming them, which involves a combination of humility and rigour.”
― Marie Henein, Nothing But the Truth

“When I pass the bar, you'll be barred from bars but put behind them.”
― Natalya Vorobyova, Better to be able to love than to be loveable

“No, really. Are you a lawyer? Can I sue somebody in jail?" "You can. It wouldn't be worth much."

"Right. So are you listening? I can't sue my boyfriend, I gotta sue my landlord."
"Because your boyfriend threw you out the window?"
"Because there weren't any screens on the window.”
― Scott Turow, Personal Injuries

“You testified that your son was drafted for the NFL," Zara said, the tone of her voice changing from demanding to conversational. "Did he get his love of the sport from you?"
"I played in college," the witness said. "Wide receiver. I was a lock for a top-ten draft selection until I tore a ligament and that was the end for me."
"You must have caught some good ones in your time." Now her voice was all warmth and sympathy, tinged with awe.
The witness's eyes grew misty. "I miss those days."
Plaintiff's counsel objected on the basis of irrelevance, and the judge sustained. Zara walked back to her table and consulted her notes.
Was that it? He'd been expecting some theatrics, a smoking gun, or even a witness reduced to tears. Even without any legal training, he could see her cross-examination hadn't elicited any particularly useful information, and yet she didn't seem perturbed.
Zara bent down to grab something from her bag. "Hut!" She spun around and threw a foam football at the plaintiff, her shout echoing through the courtroom, freezing everyone in place.
The plaintiff shot out of his seat and took two steps to the side, hands in the air. "I got it. I got it." With a jump he grabbed the football and held it up, victorious. His smile faded as he stared at the stunned crowd, clearly realizing what he'd just done.
"Objection." Plaintiff's counsel glared at Zara. "What was that?"
"I believe it's called a Hail Mary pass." Zara smiled at the judge. "No further questions.”
― Sara Desai, The Singles Table

“Sometimes there's an implicit need to use the law, taking legal action and involving oneself with social action projects to bring about positive changes in society. This is one of the reasons why I love the law.”
― Monty Lord

“Don’t talk to anyone. Don’t say anything about this to anyone other than your lawyer. (By the end of the day, I had hired three lawyers: One to deal with the criminal case and a divorce lawyer. And a third lawyer for John.) Don’t answer any questions. It’s going to be difficult, but you have to resist the urge to talk to anyone.
The irony of these words would’ve been funny if it wasn’t so devastating. Not talking to anyone was a tall order for someone who has made a living encouraging others (and myself) to be more vulnerable, connected, and present in all relationships. Someone whose life’s work, and true passion, lies in talking with others about things that matter. And now, at the very moment I needed to connect with people, I was told I couldn’t talk to anyone.
I’ve never felt so alone, so shattered, and so scared for the future.”
― Darcy Luoma, Thoughtfully Fit: Your Training Plan for Life and Business Success

“I could have volunteered everything I had discovered during the course of The Case of the Dancing Jews at any point during the eight hours he kept me in a cold police cell without access to a lawyer or Twix...”
― Colin Bateman, Mystery Man

“The brain is like a good lawyer: given any set of interests to defend, it sets about convincing the world of their moral and logical worth, regardless of whether they in fact have any either. Like a lawyer, the human brain wants victory, not truth; and, like a lawyer, it is sometimes more admirable for skill than for virtue.”
― Robert Wright, The Moral Animal: Why We Are the Way We Are - The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology

“The true purpose of the articling process is a lesson in humility, something not normally associated with twenty-somethings. The first five years of any lawyer's career after articling are focused on breaking down the novice and building up a real lawyer in their place. You cannot start learning how to practise law until you've come to terms with how little you know.”
― Marie Henein, Nothing But the Truth

“In a nutshell, cross-examination, this great engine of truth, is the ability to ask questions and to control the wording and order of those questions. That is all. The theory is that through cross-examination, the truth will be magically revealed.”
― Marie Henein, Nothing But the Truth

“My so-called career strategy is based on my temperament, my personality, and the things that I prioritize. I will do numerous things I dislike over and over if I believe that the result will be worth the effort, but if I don't buy it, then I can't get behind it. And I didn't buy the trite play-it-safe, don't-be-yourself, appeal-to-everyone business-lunching wisdom of the blue-suit crowd. I didn't think the result was worth it, so I gave up whatever small attempt I'd made at trying to be someone I was not. That was not how I wanted to build my career or my firm.”
― Marie Henein, Nothing But the Truth

“Everything was just as he had expected; everything was done just as it always is. The doctor’s pretentious self-importance was familiar—he had seen the same in himself at court —and the sounding, and listening, the needless questions with obvious answers, and a heavy look that seemed to say, Listen, just leave it to us, we’ll take care of everything—we know precisely how to
make the arrangements, it’s the same for anybody. It was exactly the same as at court.”
― Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilych

“In my long life, I have seen many changes. Changes for the better. The most important is that we are not using the talent of all the people, not just half of them.”
― Jeffrey Rosen, Conversations with RBG: Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Life, Love, Liberty, and Law

“After many years of couples therapy, it emerged my girlfriend was using the sessions to document my illnesses so she could obtain full custody of our child. Her lawyer had advised her to do so.”
― Steven Magee