Terrific biography of a complex and flawed man.
Many corporate lawyers I know dream of leaving behind the corporate world and becoming master trial lawyers. In today's era of specialized law practice that's probably a pipe dream. In 1894, after nearly 14 years as a railroad lawyer Clarence Darrow pulled off the switch. Darrow would in time become famous for participating in some of the most important (or more aptly, notorious) trials in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His road to fame began when he defended union leader Eugene Debs in the landmark Pullman Strike case and from there he went from one headline to the next including defending teenage thrill killers Leopold and Loeb in their trial for murdering 14-year-old Robert "Bobby" Franks (1924)—until he was nearly crushed by an indictment for bribing a jury. He redeemed himself in Dayton, Tennessee, defending schoolteacher John Scopes in the “Monkey Trial,” cementing his place in history.
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