UPDATE: David's federal blog has an excerpt from Roy Black's commencement address to U of M law school. It's worth a read here and fits within the context of this post.
The motto of FACDL (other than the "dues! dues! dues!) is "Liberty's Last Champion."
The motto of FACDL (other than the "dues! dues! dues!) is "Liberty's Last Champion."
Defense attorneys defend the defenseless.
Our tradition is rooted in John Adams, who as a young attorney in Boston defended a group of British soldiers charged in the Boston Massacre with killing Boston citizens. Adams defense of the British soldiers was brilliant and it placed Adams' future (including his plans to run for office) in jeopardy. And yet, in the face of public condemnation and personal ruin, Adams vigorously defended his clients, winning most of the cases and setting the tradition for criminal defense lawyers in the United States. There is a John Adams award given annually to a criminal defense attorney who defends a client-usually a high-publicity case where the client engenders little sympathy.
Enter Harvard Law School dean Ronald Sullivan, who several months ago undertook the defense of the unpopular Harvey Weinstein. To say Weinstein has become a pariah in this country is an understatement. Weinstein has the wrong charges (sexual assault) the wrong accusations (using a position of power over women to sexually assault them) at the wrong time (#metoo).
It's a case that cries out for Rumpole.
But Weinstein did not hire your favourite blogger. Instead Weinstein settled for Harvard Law School Dean Ronald Sullivan, who we grudingly admit, was not a bad second choice.
Except the students at Harvard erupted. "How could defend such a person?" was the question repeatedly asked among the spoiled denizens of Harvard Square. Protests ensued. Students didn't want a Law School dean who would stoop to represent such a despicable character as Harvey Weinstein.
Yesterday Harvard caved, removing Ronald Sullivan as a dean of the law school in response to the criticism of his defense of Weinstein.
Let us repeat that slowly- Ronald Sullivan was removed as a dean of the law school because the people at Harvard did not approve of his client.
The spoiled Harvard brats, who know nothing, live in an Ivory Tower, and pay lip service to a constitutional system of justice where everyone is entitled to a defense and they are presumed innocent until proven guilty...unless they are charged with using a position of power to assault and abuse women. Then the students cup their hands over their open mouths in horror: "How could you defend such a person?"
So here is the system of justice according to Harvard- everyone is entitled to the presumption of innocence and counsel of their choice so long as the students of Har vahard, using their Brahmin sense of right and wrong, agree.
Put another way, the people at Harvard make us sick. They have no idea about the real world and their sense of outrage has no place at a law school. If they find Harvey Weinstein and allegations against him repulsive, then they need to find another area of study. Go to med school. Engineering school. Architeture- go design battered women shelters and provide beds for abused children and their mothers. It's the lord's work and a very worthy cause. But when it comes to criminal defense, stay out of our work. Leave it to the professionals. You don't want people who are accused of crimes you find offensive to be presumed innocent and have the right to the counsel of their choice.
So be it.
Go jump in the Charles River and clean it and make yourself feel good about being a doo-gooder.
Idiots. (Sorry DOM, no offense intended).