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11 Wash. U. J.L. & Pol'y 83 (2003)
The Difference in Criminal Defense and the Difference It Makes

handle is hein.journals/wajlp11 and id is 87 raw text is: The Difference in Criminal Defense and the Difference It Makes Abbe Smith* In 1894 I opened an office and went into private practice .... When I began, it was with the intention of trying only civil cases .... I had never had anything to do with criminal cases, and, like most other lawyers, did not want to take them.... --Clarence Darrow1 Strange as it may seem I grew to like to defend men and women charged with crime. It soon came to be something more than winning or losing a case .... [It] meant more than the quibbling with lawyers and juries, to get or keep money for a client so that I could take part of what I won or saved for him: I was dealing with life, with its hopes and fears, its aspirations and despairs. --Clarence Darrow2 I. INTRODUCTION: REPRESENTING MANNY Last year, I undertook the representation of a young man I will call Manny. He called the clinic4 after he shot a man in the chest in * Professor of Law and Associate Director of the Criminal Justice Clinic and E. Barrett Prettyman Fellowship Program, Georgetown University Law Center. I thank Vanessa Merton, Carrie Menkel-Meadow, Ilene Seidman, and Michael Seidman for helpful conversations, and Allison Sgroi for excellent research assistance. I also thank the Fordhan University School of Law for inviting me to present an earlier version of this piece at a faculty works-in-progress workshop. 1. CLARENCE DARROW, THE STORY OF MY LIFE 74 (1934). 2. Id. at 75-76. 3. The names and some of the details of the case have been altered to protect my client's privacy. He has given me permission to write about his case.

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