Who among us has not been entranced by the drama and intrigue of a legal trial? The annals of legal literature, both fictional and historical, have highlighted countless lawyers whose wit and brilliance has dazzled the public as well as the students and practitioners of law alike.
The creative arts have often explored and exploited the emotional odysseys of trial law, in the process critiquing many a social dogma or championing human rights, or even serving as social commentary for their times. In the trial of Antonio caused by Shylock, it was the delicate heroics of Portia that saved the hapless Merchant of Venice from a gruesome death through the exercise of sheer common sense. Atticus Finch defied the crushing pressure of bigotry to save the life of a man whose only crime was that he was not born Caucasian, in the process showing legions of lawyers what and who they should be. Perry Mason’s devious brilliance in and outside the courtroom helped him proclaim the innocence of his own clients by declaring the guilt of others. Tom Cruise’s character, Lieutenant Daniel Kafee in ‘A Few Good Men’ proved that not only could he handle the truth, he could squeeze it out of an enraged Colonel Nathan R. Jessup, impeccably played by Jack Nicholson. How many impassioned speeches, caustic quips and pointed stares has James Spader’s Alan Shore thrilled us with?
Then again, what do most lawyers whom we have loved to watch, listen to or read about, have in common? The answer is that they are typically preferred as criminal defense attorneys. From either a real-world or a creative perspective, the job of a prosecuting lawyer is hardly glamorous. Oddly enough, the stories of the suspected bad guys and their highly paid lawyers tend to foster far more artistic and literary expression than their victims. The exceptions, where the roles of the prosecutor have been given more prominence, are usually portrayed as the prosecuting lawyer finding his innate goodness or revulsion to all things evil, rather than as a laudatory acknowledgment of the State’s prosecutorial machinery in convicting dastardly deeds……
This article was initially published on Legally India. Readers can find the full post here: