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

“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

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

“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

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

“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

“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

“It was during my explanation to my young daughter that I finally realized why I had been drawn to this particular practice of law. Yes, some of my clients were just gaming the system. They were charlatans no better than the banks they were taking on. But some of mu clients were downtrodden and disadvantaged. They were true underdogs in society and I wanted to stand for them and keep them in their homes for as long as I possibly could.”
― Michael Connelly, The Fifth Witness

“Disability and Workers Compensation pits a very sick person against a lawyer. Can you guess who most frequently loses?”
― Steven Magee

“A preliminary hearing is a routine step on the way to a trial. It is one hundred percent the prosecution's show. The state is charged with presenting its case to the court and the judge then rules on whether there is sufficient evidence to take it forward to a jury trial. This isn't the reasonable doubt threshold. Not even close. The judge only has to decide if a preponderance of evidence supports the charges. If so, then the next stop is a full-blown trial.”
― Michael Connelly, The Fifth Witness

“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

“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

“Of course you can pull every dirty lawyer trick to deny my Disability and Workers Compensation benefits...but there will be payback for you at a later time.”
― Steven Magee

“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

“Anyone can bend a judge's or jury's will with bravado, but to do it on paper--in black and white--that takes a particular kind of artistry. It's truth in poetry.”
― Rebecca Serle, In Five Years

“You can’t die, Roy.”
“Why?”
“I’ve got a pretty good feeling I’m going to need one kick-ass lawyer, and you’re the only one I know.”
― David Baldacci, True Blue

“He's a lawyer, he's a priest. This does not compute. - Harry Dresden”
― Jim Butcher, Proven Guilty

“My workday begins at eight-thirty a.m.
Turn on computer, get coffee, log on to JEMS.
Read my emails, and respond to some.
Turn on the radio, and begin to hum…
…to the Captain on Ocean 89
Any type of music soothes this my mind.
By 9am the Magistrates begin to come
Wor. Wolffe, Warner, Tokunbo, Chin and Anderson…
…ready to give fairness, decisions, reasons and some.
I then go thru my spreadsheet of outstanding Appeals
My job to prepare them is quite a big deal.
Appeals are then sent to Chief Justice Kawaley.
Each case is met with consideration and commentary.
By 10am I attend to Plea Court
New cases range from speeders, DUI’s and all sorts…
Defendants are called by name, charges read out and defined
“Not guilty” or “guilty”…”just give me my fine”…
…then 10 minutes later Bernews reports cases online.
Never 2 days the same, in the lower Courts.
I don’t complain, I enjoy it, I’m there to support.
16 years in total in this line of work…
I love my job as a Magistrates’ Court Clerk!! ❤️”
― Nicole Hassell

“Love a Lawyer - It's totally legal.”
― Amardeep Tiwana

“He was also working the phone at the bar association’s free legal line. It was win-win. Poor folks have some of the same questions rich folks do. The more situations he had to contemplate, the better prepared he would be for whatever was coming. Besides, he began to understand that sometimes the best thing lawyers can do for people is to let them know they aren’t alone when faced with navigating the slippery slopes of the legal system. Even a rocket scientist couldn’t do it alone.”
― Marc Grossberg, The Best People: A Tale of Trials and Errors

“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

“He who utters falsehoods to the [lawyer] is a fool who will tell the truth to the judge.”
― Alessandro Manzoni, The Betrothed

“While common men grow ignorantly old,
The lawyer's brief is like the surgeon's knife,
Dissecting the whole inside of a question,
And with it all the process of digestion.”
― Lord Byron, Don Juan

“Win or lose, she’d still have the same billable earnings, same house, same family, whereas for Elizabeth, the trial’s outcome meant the difference between suburbia and death row.”
― Angie Kim

“The lawyer who sees the advantages in the fluidity of the story and is willing to work to find the truth beneath the surface of the story has the high ground in the battle of stories.”
― Francis P. Karam, The Truth Engine: Cross-Examination Outside the Box