If you make a mistake as a prosecutor, your mistakes go home, whereas if you make a mistake defending, they go to jail.

I'm particularly committed to the political people who needed defense. I understand that they're fighting a bigger war than just, "Let me go get some money for cocaine tonight."

My anti-authoritarian instincts let me directly to criminal defense work.

The only way not to be afraid is to join with other people who are also afraid.

Lawyering is very individualistic. There are lawyers who are going to be that persistent birddog, they're never going to give up on the client, they're going to defend people.

I would never defend a cop - though I did on a few private cases, when cops were acting not as cops but as private citizens.

The only thing we have is each other.

Your goal is to make a better world through the work you do. It's not always possible, and you have to earn a living.

You're working not for the corporate interest, not for the government interest, not for your own self-interest. You have a higher calling.

I took anything that came across my doorstep. I started getting a reputation.

I would never take a case that had to do with abusing children. They're the true innocents.

Don’t let people who don’t care about you manipulate your mind feelings and emotions, or controls how you think about yourself. Never give that much power to someone else.

No one can feel more gratefully the charm of noble scenery, or the refreshment of escape into the unspoiled solitudes of nature, than the laborer at some close in-door employment.

Living exclusively in the land of the head or the heart will always be a limiting, limited experience. The most successful among us have dual citizenship.

I always wanted to play a lawyer.

Being of service is not enough. You must become a servant of the people. When you do, you can demand their commitment in return.

One of my best friends is named David Leventhal, and it has always been a constant source of amusement to see how the similarity and differences play out in our lives.

For the good of all, I say: Be careful, the brutality of the world must not be more powerful or attractive than love and friendship.

I have a very deep concern about President Obama putting in another 21,000 troops into Afghanistan with the promise of more to come.

If people would dare to speak to one another unreservedly, there would be a good deal less sorrow in the world a hundred years hence.

I'm a proud Australian, a very, very proud Australian.