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Who is generally recognized as the greatest of all time criminal defense lawyer? (lemmy.world)

submitted 15 hours ago by cheese_greater@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

9 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Nationality/time period doesnt matter

top 9 comments

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[–] guy_threepwood@lemmy.world 4 points 2 hours ago

Phoenix Wright?

[–] BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz 9 points 9 hours ago

Why do you want to know ? DOESN'T MATTER ! JUST CALL SAUL GOODMAN RIGHT NOW !

[–] Blisterexe@lemmy.zip 8 points 13 hours ago

the duality of man

[–] Bonesince1997@lemmy.world 9 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Saul Goodman

[–] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 2 points 13 hours ago

Goddamn if he ain't slick

[–] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 8 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

The two that immediately come to mind are Clarence Darrow and Cicero.

[–] stiephelando@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 13 hours ago

Cicero would've been my pick, too

[–] suburban_hillbilly@lemmy.ml 7 points 15 hours ago

Probably, the only defense lawyer most people could name off the top of their head is Johnnie Cochran.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

I have a feeling, just based on how law works, that this will be highly subjective. I interpret your question as being about skill. If that's not what you mean please correct me. (Sorry for the non-answer)

Even within criminal law, things like acquittal rate would very with the exact kind of practice - a guy that specialises in complex white-collar crime and takes easy cases might get a really good one without too much skill. Someone who takes anybody who will pay upfront will probably have a cruddy one. This could get even more extreme if you look at non-Western or historical systems where the result is almost guaranteed in advance. So, that's not in the spirit of the question.

I seem to remember an XKCD What If where Randall Munroe mentions the highest paid (criminal?) attorney in the US, but there again, it was someone who sounded highly connected. Does that correspond to skill? (Edit: The late Ted Olson, who does appear to have defended criminal cases)

Somebody that actually knows a lot of names and legal history might be able to tell you something more useful, but just take it with a grain of salt.