12 True Legal Heroes Law Students Should Look To

We’ve all heard the classic lawyer jokes that paint all lawyers as con-artists, wheedlers, and weasels who are only in the game for the money. While this stereotype undoubtedly applies to some in the legal profession (and to pretty much any other profession out there as well), it is neither fair nor truthful to regard all lawyers in this manner. Throughout history, there have been many lawyers who have been champions of justice, fought for human rights, and set precedents that would shape the justice system for generations to come. And they haven’t been alone. Judges, law clerks, and even common citizens have also spoken out and made a big impact on the legal system. Read on to learn about some inspirational legal heroes that will remind you why you wanted to go to law school in the first place.

1. John Quincy Adams

   John Quincy Adams is perhaps best known for being one of America’s first presidents, but the esteemed diplomat and politician was also a lawyer. Though he practiced little throughout his career, Adams was to be involved in one of the most famous and inspirational cases in American history. Documented (and highly fictionalized) in the movie Amistad, Adams represented the defendants in the landmark case United States v. The Amistad Africans. Adams was a staunch abolitionist and successfully argued that the Africans, who had escaped from a slave ship, should be considered free and not sent to Cuba where the importation of slaves was still legal. Adams never billed for his services in the case and would continue to oppose slavery for the rest of his life.

2. Ruth Bader Ginsburg

   Ruth Bader Ginsburg is only the second woman to ever serve on the Supreme Court, and her judgments have helped influence a wide range of human rights issues in the United States. Before being appointed to her position on the Supreme Court in 1993, Ginsburg was a volunteer lawyer for the ACLU and later a judge in a U.S. Court of Appeals. She has spent much of her career advocating for the equal citizenship status of women and men as a constitutional principle. During her time as a lawyer in the 1970s, she successfully argued several cases related to gender equality before the Supreme Court, helping put an end to many of the discriminatory policies aimed at women. She would bring these politics with her into her practice as a judge, helping ensure women maintain their rights and also providing a measured approach to many of the civil liberty issues that have been central in the post-9/11 years.

3. Clarence Darrow

   Sometimes known as the “attorney of the damned,” this American lawyer and leading member of the ACLU took part in many landmark legal cases during the early 20th century. As the defense lawyer for teenaged killers Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb (for whom there was no question as to their guilt), Darrow argued passionately against the death penalty for the young men. The speech that would later be replicated almost word-for-word by Orson Welles in the film Compulsion. He would also go on to defend teacher John Scopes in what would later be known as the Scopes Monkey Trial, arguing Scopes’ right to teach evolution to his students in one of the most iconic legal cases of all time. Throughout his career, Darrow would take on unpopular cases, defend those others would not, and very often win, establishing precedents for American civil liberties that still stand today.

4. Sir Sydney Kentridge

   For decades, South Africa operated under the shameful mantle of apartheid, yet there were those who stood up to the system as well, including South African lawyer Sir Sydney Kentridge. Kentridge would play a part in some of the most significant political trials in apartheid-era South Africa, even serving as part of Nelson Mandela’s legal team. One of Kentridge’s most notable cases was the Stephen Biko inquest of 1977. Kentridge represented Biko’s family after the young man was beaten to death in a police interrogation room. While justice was ultimately not served in that case, it didn’t stop Kentridge from doggedly pursuing a better and more just South African society. He would go on to serve as a defense lawyer in many major apartheid cases, helping to right many of the wrongs that occurred under that oppressive system.

5. Robert F. Kennedy

   Many might be more familiar with Kennedy through his family associations and untimely death, but during his career he was an influential figure in American law. Kennedy served as Attorney General under his brother John and later President Lyndon B. Johnson. And while his time in office was short, just nine months, it would prove highly influential. During his time in office, Kennedy would increase the number of convictions of organized criminals by 800%, working hard to root out corruption in the legal system. His greatest accomplishments as a lawyer, however, were in civil rights. Kennedy himself once commented that civil rights seemed to envelop almost every area of public and private life, and he might not have been far off. Before his assassination in 1968, Kennedy would participate in prosecuting corrupt officials in the South, make a major attempt to diversify his own staff and that of other White House offices, and work hard to protect those who were battling for equal rights across the nation.
   
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