© 2012 Santa Clara Law

Fall 2011 Closing Arguments

 

BY GERALD F. UELMEN, PROFESSOR, SANTA CLARA LAW

 

A half century ago, as a high school student, I was inspired to pursue a career as a lawyer by reading a biography of Clarence Darrow and a compilation of his closing arguments in a number of his famous trials. I have since encountered many other lawyers (including Michael Tigar) who attribute their legal careers to the same inspiration. Today, I’m surprised at how many of our students have never even heard of Darrow. When I question them about this, I frequently discover that Darrow and the galaxy of other great lawyers in our history are rarely mentioned in any of our classes. I sought to remedy this in my Advanced Criminal Procedure class by treating my students to video portrayals of Darrow by Henry Fonda, Spencer Tracy, and Orson Welles. Professor Alan Scheflin also exposes students to great lawyering in his course in Forensic Persuasion. Several years ago, we declared a “Clarence Darrow Day” at the law school, presenting a one-person play, and bringing to campus Professor Bud Ogren (now deceased), who described an inspiring encounter with Darrow, and Professor Yale Kamisar, the Clarence Darrow Professor at the University of Michigan, where Darrow attended law school.

 

Like all heroes, however, Darrow had some flaws in his character. A century ago, lawyers defending labor unions faced a barrage of spies, informers, and unscrupulous detectives on the other side. Darrow apparently believed in fighting fire with fire, and in 1911 he was charged with jury bribery in Los Angeles while defending the McNamara brothers, accused of bombing the L.A. Times and killing 21 workers. Although he was acquitted in one trial, and a second trial ended in a mistrial when the jury could not agree, historians have fiercely debated his guilt or innocence ever since. Darrow fully redeemed himself in the great legal battles he fought long after the Los Angeles trials. His arguments for the freedom of scientific inquiry in the Scopes Trial, against the death penalty in the Loeb and Leopold case, and for racial equality in the Ossian Sweet case stand as inspiring examples of advocacy at its best.

 

Above, Juror George Lockwood was portrayed by Santa Clara Law Professor Robert Peterson.

When Dean Don Polden asked me to put together a program for the celebration of our Centennial, it did not take me long to realize this was a golden opportunity to bring Darrow to life again by reenacting his trial for jury bribery in 1911–12. Giving our students and alumni the opportunity to observe a famous trial that was occurring during our first year of existence as a law school seemed a fitting way to celebrate our beginnings. The first person I called was Michael Tigar, whom I admire as the person most like Clarence Darrow now on our planet, and he eagerly agreed to portray the lawyer defending Clarence Darrow. Then I called the lawyer I admire as the most ethical prosecutor of our times, Judge Steven Trott of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The faceoff of these two great lawyers, presided over by Chief Judge Alex Kozinski and graced by the presence of Judge Charles Breyer portraying Darrow, with Dean Polden and Professor Bob Peterson portraying the prosecution witnesses, was electrifying. Fortunately, we recorded it all on video tape, so those of you who missed the presentation can still enjoy it. We also recorded the deliberations of our jury of twelve Santa Clara students and graduates of our Centennial class. They were divided nine to three for acquittal. So the jury is still hung. But I’m not. I still proudly display Darrow’s portrait in my office, beside the portrait of another hero of mine, William Jennings Bryan.

 

What pleased me most, however, is the fact that the experience of preparing and presenting Darrow’s defense inspired Michael Tigar to undertake, as his next book, the case for Darrow’s innocence.

 

Above, a group of current Santa Clara Law students and recent alumni performed as jurors in the Trial of Our Century. Photos used with permission of San Jose Mercury News. Copyright© 2011. All rights reserved.

 

 

 

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