I went to law school for a lot of reasons. But one of the reasons was because I was impressed with the career of an American criminal lawyer, Clarence Darrow. He was born in the middle of the nineteenth century and died before world war two. He was born in Ohio. And went to law school at Michigan University but did not graduate.

In that time people did not have to finish law school or even go to law school to sit for the bar exam. If I am not wrong Abraham Lincoln who was a lawyer did not graduate from law school. Clarence Darrow however was born to go into law. His summations in front of the jury were reported to elicit tears even from judges. He possessed several showman tricks to accompany his stirring arguments.

One trick he played was with his pocket watch. He had loosened the main spring of his watch so it would not break when he wound it… He could not over wind it. He would stand before the jury as if he was trying to collect his thoughts. He would wind and wind and wind his watch. Just when the jury thought his watch would break… He started winding it again and again and again. When the jury was about to snap he would continue his argument as the jury was ready to listen with baited breath to his next thought.

In the early 1920′s he helped two confessed murderers avoid the death penalty. These were the killers Loeb and Leopold. These two men who grew up with rich families and lived a privileged life. They killed a young boy because they were bored and they wanted to see if they could get away with the crime.

The families hired the best criminal lawyer they could find, Clarence Darrow. The lawyer surprised all when he had Loeb and Leopold plead guilty to the crime. There was certainly enough evidence to convict them and Darrow did not want to subject them to a hateful jury. He instead pleaded for their lives. He was an opponent of the death penalty his entire career.

He got the boys a sentence of 99 year and they avoided the death penalty. Clarence Darrow also is famous or infamous for defending the teacher in the South who was charged with teaching evolution to his class during a time when in that area only creationism could be taught.

The only teaching of how life began was to be taken from the Bible account of how life came into being. There was even a movie made about the trial. Spencer Tracy portrays Clarence Darrow.

He was a great attorney; a great advocate; a great showman. Clarence Darrow had to have all those characteristics in order to establish his legacy in American law. I did graduated from law school and I passed the bar exam. But I do not practice law. I have the education and the degree in law but I certainly do not have the showmanship or the legal greatness of the man who did not graduate from law school.

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