Lawyers

Breaking Barriers: Arlene Violet, America’s First Female Attorney General

Bill Thompson

Up until the mid-1980s, no U.S. state had ever elected a woman to be attorney general

It took a former Roman Catholic nun in America’s smallest state to shatter that glass ceiling.

In 1984, Arlene Violet – running as a Republican in deep blue Rhode Island – was elected attorney general. Her goals were to strengthen victims’ rights, and to try to root out the state’s entrenched public corruption .

Get your copy of Arlene Violet ‘s book

She did make progress, but was defeated for reelection in 1986.

Two years later she wrote her memoir, a book called Convictions. I had covered Violet’s career when I was news director of a major radio station in Providence, so I was delighted to have the chance to reconnect when her book tour brought her to my studio.

So here now, from 1988, Arlene Violet.

Arlene Violet is 81 now. And remains politically outspoken.

Morris Dees: Defying Racism to Lead the Fig/ht Against White Supremacy

Bill Thompson
Photo by Tim Pierce

How did the son of Alabama sharecroppers, with relatives who were openly racist, become one of the country’s most prominent voices against white supremacy?

His name is Morris Dees, and in 1971 he co-founded the Southern Poverty Law Center.

In his decades-long legal career Dees established himself – and the SPLC – as protectors of the civil rights of many groups, including African Americans, and immigrants.

In 1991 Dees wrote a book about his career, how he got started, why he got into the kind of law he became known for, and what the SPLC was about.

Get your copy of Morris Dees’s book

His book was called A Season For Justice, and I met him in the spring of that year to talk about it.

So here now, from 1991. Morris Dees.

Morris Dees is 88 now. The Southern Poverty Law Center fired him in 2019 after he was implicated in connection with workplace sexual harassment and racial discrimination.

Marcia Clark’s Candid Account of the OJ Simpson Trial

Bill Thompson
Photo by Larry D. Moore

I can promise you, if you were alive 30 years ago today, June 17, 1994, you were glued to your television watching a white Ford Bronco driving down the 405 in Southern California. Inside was OJ Simpson, about to be arrested for the murders of his ex-wife Nicloe Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.

Get your copy of Marcia Clark’s book

In the L.A. County district attorney’s office, the case was assigned to a veteran 44-year-old prosecutor named Marcia Clark.

And by the time the Simpson trial was over, with its infamous “not guilty” verdict, Clark had unknowingly become a celebrity.

In 1997 Clark wrote a book about the trial, and the toll it took on her. she called the book Without A Doubt, and I met her that spring to talk about it.

So here now, from 1997, Marcia Clark.

Marcia Clark will be 71 in August. OJ Simpson died this past April at age 76.

The Art of the Ethical Deal: How Bob Woolf Mastered Friendly Persuasion

Bill Thompson

When we hear about professional athletes or musicians actors who get those multi-million dollar contracts, do you ever think about who got them that deal?

Behind the scenes you will typically find an experienced and skilled negotiator.Someone like Bob Woolf, one of the pioneers of snagging big contracts for sports stars.

Woolf represented stars like Carl Yastrzemski, Larry Bird, and Julius Erving.

Get your copy of Bob woolf’s book

But he also negotiated deals for Larry King and New Kids On The Block.

And along the way Woolf developed a reputation that may run counter to your notion of what a powerful dealmaker has to be. Woolf was known for his amicable and strictly ethical approach to negotiating a deal.

He shared his knowledge in a 1990 book called Friendly Persuasion. And that’s when I met him.

So here now, from 1990, Bob Woolf.

Bob Woolf died in 1993. He was 65.

Gerry Spence

Bill Thompson
Photo by Greg Westfall

Imagine practicing law for 60 years, both as a prosecutor and as a defense attorney- and never losing a single case before a jury.

That was the enviable record racked up by attorney Gerry Spence.

And his record in civil cases was nearly as perfect.

A brilliant legal mind, coupled with a charismatic personality and courtroom demeanor made him one of America’s most effective trial lawyers.

So it was with more than just passing interest that Spence sat in the courtroom every day as a spectator at the trial of the century, the murder trial of OJ Simpson.

Two years after the verdict in that case, Spence wrote a book called OJ: The Last Word. And that was when Spence and I had one of our many conversations.

So here now, from 1997, Gerry Spence.

Gerry Spence is 94 now, and still lives in his native Wyoming.

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Sarah Weddington

Bill Thompson
Portrait

Last week the United States Supreme Court overturned the nearly 50-year-old Roe vs Wade decision, which afforded women the constitutional right to an abortion.

That was a court battle fought, and one, by a young Texas attorney. In fact, Sarah Weddington was only 27 when she argued the case before the high Court on behalf of her client, the pseudonymous Jane Roe..

When 20 years later, Sarah Weddington was still gravely concerned about the future of the ruling that she won.

And now, we see that her concerns were well founded.

And Sarah Weddington, as it turns out, had a personal interest in the outcome of Roe vs. Wade.

So here now, from 19932, Sarah Weddington.

Sarah Weddington died last Decembmer. She was 76.

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Catherine Crier

Bill Thompson

Catherine Crier had a remarkable legal career. By age 30, she had become the youngest elected judge ever in the state of Texas.

But the number of years and Crier became a journalist and television personality, eventually hosting her own show on Court TV.

And along the way, she developed some strong opinions about the profession that she began her career in, the law.

Her 2002 book The Case Against Lawyers became a New York Times bestseller. And that’s when I first met her.

So here now, from 2002, Catherine Crier..

Catherine Crier is 68 now, and is a partner and a firm that develops TV, movie and documentary projects.

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William Kunstler

Bill Thompson

The New York Times once labeled William Kunstler “America’s most controversial lawyer.”

What earned him that distinction was his defense of the so-called “Chicago Seven,” a group of young radicals who tried to disrupt the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

But the Chicago Seven were hardly Kunstler’s most controversial clients. He also represented clients ranging from Jack Ruby to U.S. Marine and Russian spy Clayton Lonetree, to the man known as The Blind Sheikh, the man behind the World Trade Center bombing in 1993.

I met William Kunstler in 1994, when he wrote his autobiography, a book titled My Life As a Radical Lawyer.

So here now, from 1994, William Kunstler.

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William kunstler died just a year after our interview, in 1995. He was 76.

Polly Nelson

Bill Thompson

Name a famous serial killer.

There’s a good chance that one of the first names that came to your mind was Ted Bundy.

Over a period of years, mostly in the 1970’s, Ted Bundy killed at least 30 people that we know of, but probably more.

Finally, in 1979, the charismatic 33-year-old was caught, tried, and convicted in Florida.

He spent the next eight years in prison, as appeal after appeal went through the courts. Then, in 1987, he met the woman who would be his last lawyer: Polly Nelson.

A freshly minted lawyer with a big Washington law firm, Nelson was chosen to do some pro bono work – it turned out, it was the Bundy case.

For the next two years, Nelson worked on his case, trying to find some way to keep him off death row.

Bundy was executed in 1989, however, and five years later, I met Polly Nelson, when she wrote a book about the case.

So here now, from 1994, Polly Nelson.

Attorney Poly Nelson is 69 now.

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Gloria Allred

Bill Thompson

She is one of America’s most high-profile lawyers.

In a career that began in the 1970s, Gloria Allred has become especially known for taking on cases involving sexual harassment and women’s rights, especially in the workplace.

In 2006, she looked back on her career in a book that she admits may be the closest she will ever come to writing a full-fledged autobiography.

So here now, from 2006 Gloria Allred:

Gloria Allred will be 80 in July. And still practices law.