Word: lawyering
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...popularly elected. More accurately, they are chosen by the political party in power and then automatically voted in by apathetic voters. They are selected, says District Attorney Edward G. Rendell, not for integrity, legal ability or judicial temperament. "Instead," says Rendell, "these questions are asked: What has the lawyer done for the political party nominating him? What has he contributed to the party in time and money?" The result, say Philadelphia's lawyers, is "a sad bench...
...Legionnaire and a booster of a boys' club. He is also, he says, a "lifelong Democrat" who managed to be elected to the state legislature in the Eisenhower landslide. Redistricted out of his seat in 1954, he decided to go to law school and become a criminal defense lawyer. All the while, he stayed active in Democratic ward politics, and his loyalty was rewarded when he was backed for a judgeship by Congressman Raymond F. Lederer, whom White describes as "a close personal friend...
White is vexed only by interruptions in his schedule. He is clearly irritated one morning when a defense lawyer brings along eight witnesses to testify in a purse-snatching case. The judge complains that it will take him all day to try the case. "All day" turns out to be five hours. After hearing the witnesses, White says he cannot be sure whether the defendant is guilty or innocent, so he has to find him not guilty, using the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard. The prosecutor says he has witnesses ready for another trial, but White curtly rebuffs...
...travels the five counties of Nebraska's 16th judicial district in a battered 1972 Plymouth with 140,000 miles on it (his 1960 model died at 240,000). His tools are two loose-leaf binders with summaries of his case docket and a black bag stuffed with lawyer's briefs. His territory is his state's western panhandle. It is sparse ranch and farm country, though railroads hauling low-sulfur coal have made the local junction, Alliance (pop. 10,000), a boom town. The mean Midwest weather that Judge Moran encounters has not changed since Lawyer Abraham...
...regular golf game with an Alliance lawyer ended when he had to rule on a close case in his friend's favor...