Gerry Spence | |
---|---|
Occupation | Lawyer |
Wade never lost a case he tried personally, including the prosecution of Jack Ruby, who famously gunned down Lee Harvey Oswald following his assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963.
It appears therefore that Spence suffered 10 real losses at the hands of a jury in that criminal case alone, especially since, as Spence observed in The Making of a Country Lawyer, “With all the power prosecutors possess, they ought not lose cases.
So when Spence claims to have never lost a criminal case, either as a prosecutor or a defense attorney, maybe he’s only referring to the love shown him by juries, and not to the complications in his win-loss record introduced by those pesky judges (though the claim on his website doesn’t make that distinction). But even then, didn’t the jury in ...
“A real sworn-in jury of twelve Dallas citizens was flown to London, England, to sit in judgment of the man whom the Warren Commission (22 years earlier) had deemed guilty of killing President Kennedy and Dallas police officer J.D. Tippit on November 22, 1963.”
Clarence Darrow is considered one of the greatest trial lawyers in American history. While he was one of the first to raise the national alarm over consumer safety issues, Darrow actually got his start in law representing large corporations.
Legendary Trial Lawyer Gerry Spence is a legend among the trial bar as one of the greatest trial lawyers of our times. His civil practice and defense of those charged with crimes has gained him an international reputation for his high profile cases and record results for the poor, the injured and the damned.
He has never once lost a criminal case — either as a prosecutor or a defense attorney — and he hasn't lost a civil case since 1969. Spence is the founder of the nationally acclaimed Trial Lawyers College which established a revolutionary method for training lawyers for the people.
Defense lawyer Gerry Spence graduated from the University of Wyoming Law School and lives near Jackson.
Between 1956, the year he began practicing law, and 1968 he defended 163 clients accused of drunken driving and won every case, establishing one of the longest winning streaks in legal history. In the nearly 40 capital-punishment cases he handled, none of his clients were given the death penalty.
93Â years (January 8, 1929)Gerry Spence / Age
Gerald Leonard Spence (born January 8, 1929) is a semi-retired American trial lawyer. He is a member of the American Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame. Spence has never lost a criminal case either as a prosecutor or a defense attorney, and has not lost a civil case since 1969.
They're the lawyers to the stars – and there are many. The highest-profile legal eagles, like Mark Geragos and the late Johnnie Cochran, have become TV celebrities unto themselves. But some of the busiest celeb lawyers in town these days are non-household names.
(a chemist) and Esther Sophie (a homemaker; maiden name, Pfleeger) Spence; married Anna Wilson, June 20, 1947 (divorced, 1969); married LaNelle Hampton Peterson Hawks (a designer), November 18, 1969; children: (first marriage) Kip, Kerry Spence Suendermann, Kent, Katy; Christopher Peterson Hawks, Brents Jefferson Hawks ...
Imaging SpenceGerry Spence / Spouse
In the United States, the terms lawyer and attorney are often used interchangeably. For this reason, people in and out of the legal field often ask, “is an attorney and a lawyer the same thing?”. In colloquial speech, the specific requirements necessary to be considered a lawyer vs attorney aren't always considered.
Preview — How to Argue and Win Every Time by Gerry Spence. “I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief.” “The old saw that "sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never harm me" does not, in fact, hold true.”
When the jury retires, you want your clients to be able to say, “No matter how this comes out, I know you did everything you could for my case.” More important, you want it to be true. Nonetheless, if you lose, there is little comfort in the compliment or consolation because you didn’t make the facts. We write our history from our last verdict forward. The object of the exercise is to win.
Nine times out of 10, you will have saved a peremptory strike. Now comes the difficult, almost mystical process of striking jurors. Given the huge stakes involved, the judge tells you to take 15 minutes. You plead and get 20, grab an empty jury room, and begin talking with the trial team about each panelist.
You are the one who made promises to the jury. They look to you to deliver, no one else. Besides, you have waited a long time for this opportunity, so take advantage of it. Argue your case in the words the jury will read in the charge. Tell them, without apology, how much you want and why.
That means preparing each case as if it were going to trial, never clenching a fist without being prepared to throw it. Besides, word gets out fairly quickly on lawyers who won’t try a lawsuit. Inevitably, their clients pay more, get less, or go to jail for longer periods of time.
The judge rejects defense counsel’s sixth motion for continuance because America does not celebrate St. Swithin’s day. Finally, the panel shuffles silently into the courtroom. It is an awkward moment as you rise to address them, like a mass blind date.
The object of the exercise is still a very large, very dead fish. But better to do it sotto voce than bellowing; better to do it by aikido than by judo. During the past 30 years, I have tried cases from the austere courtrooms of South Texas to the marble-and-mahogany grandeur of the Eastern District of Virginia.