Law and Justice

Posts Tagged ‘Famous’

INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED SPANISH JUDGE FACES SUSPENSION

“Justice or revenge ?” is the tricky question raised by most of Spain.

The hapless Baltazar Garzon, better known as the Pinochet Judge, snubbed by Margaret Thatcher, is facing his own peers in what is now becoming an embroiled and distinctly disturbing tussle of ideologies. It is also putting a very large question mark on the nature of the Spanish Judiciary. The extraordinary Judge Garcon had become the pride of the Spanish nation for his involvement in the pursuit and judicial processing of culprits of genocide. His order for the expatriation of the London bound Argentinian ex dictator which the Iron Lady dismissed with the now famous remark “everything in Spain turns into a circus” caused an international furore This did not go well in Spain but Pinochet was sent back to Argentina to face his own people and eventual justice.

Today, Judge Garzon divides Spain into sizeable chunks of supporters and detractors who appear to fit neatly into both political parties. The accusers on the side of the Partido Popular, accuse him of an ambiguous charge of violating the terms of the quaint law governing investigations into the past. The law which was the product of the present socialist government, was intended to bring out into the open the well known massacres and masss burial of those who dared to affront the Spanish dictator Franco. The crux of the issue, according to the Supreme Court, is that Judge Garzon has overstepped his limit and put the judicial enquiry firmly into the political arena which the Partido Popular states is opening up old hatreds. Whilst there is a tendency among many to swear blindly in favour of the qualities of the dead Head of State, Francisco Franco, there is also a growing mayority who think that he was guilty of open genocide and that the countryside of Spain is littered with myriads of forgotten, tortured and massacred victims including whole families. The recent attempt to recover the body of the internationally accepted celebrity, Garcia Lorca, was also fraught with an incredible amount of “for and against” on both sides. The result is that many more have joined the ranks of those demanding family burial of their executed ancestors and it looks as if the figures are rising sharply. Demonstrations outside the court rooms where Baltasar Garzon has been tried, have increased in size and acclamations and it is feared that this could cause friction with pro and anti franco parties.

The Spanish Judicial system enjoys a nationaly advertised bad reputation for its inefficiency and political tendencies. Europe herself has criticised it for its torpid slowness and in the case of foreign investors, for its inaction against state abuse of power against them. Most Spanish families have been to court on one issue or another during the course of their lives and an unacceptably high number regularly for a wide variety of reasons. The filtering process at police level does not seem to exist and as a result the country is set to become the world leaders in court rooms and entire administrative buildings. Some cynics comment that the process is part of an intimidation process guaranteed to keep the people in line. Others propose that with the average length of any civil process taking up to five or even ten years, that it would be far better if these issues were handled by private enterprise before facing judgement or clogging up the rickety judiciary. Another item of cricicism has been the lenient attitude attributed to some Judges with respect to political and high ranking figures and the often harsh and merciless sentencing of people hardly able to defend themselves. It is true that whereas seemingly delincuent bankers accused of exploiting privileged information and others accused of political power abuse (like the “shoot to kill” policies that emanated from them), got off lightly in the former and cushioned shortened sentences for the latter, a poor peasant was horrendously jailed for allowing his flock to eat some protected plant species. His whole flock died in his absence with the resultant national outcry. A Judge in Malaga also struck against a separated Spanish wife in favour of a demand from the American courts for the return of the couple´s child to her American father. Whilst this of itself would not have struck public sensitivity, the dubious profile of the father was not investigated and the eight year old child was taken without the mother´s knowledge and bundled on to a flight like a parcel. The stricken mother who had brought up the child in Spain since she left the United States when the child was in its eighteenth month, caused a hue and cry that raised funds for her to see her captive child but was curiously run over on arrival by an unknown hit and run merchant. Although the Judge apologised for his behaviour it is one of many dictates that have not endeared the nation to this, almost autocratic veneer of the Spanish government system. The rank and file make no bones about calling them the Gods.

The scale of he subjective and often innappropiate sentences which are almost always ratified on appeal, were the subject of the present Prime Minister Zapatero´s criticism of the system who called out publicly recently, for transparency. He was equally insistent on the need to adopt the European and international tenet of “innocent until proved guilty”which is not the way things are handled in most Spanish court rooms. Because of this, the Spanish Judicial system is considered “subjective” and the product of twisted attempts to justify personal convictions either by the Judge or the state attorney. Whilst it is impossible to determine whether most sentences are equally tainted, it is a well known fact that some go beyond understanding. In Barcelona, a court ruled that a music licenced bar had broken the law consistently and fined its woman owner over a quarter of a million euros – much to the horror of a highly critical media. Additionally, cases of wrongful imprisonment for murder with claimed manipulated evidence from the start have raised public fears. Overly critical programmes of supposed cover ups have led to judicial reactions including the warrant of arrest of the persistantly media exposed and determined father of one of the tortured and killed teenage daughter who raised suspicions with hitherto discarded evidence that people at high level were involved in her murder. The scenario of the spoof movie murders was elaborate and the semi satanic rituals equally so, demonstrating a high participation of collaborators and audience. The crimes are one of many of a similar nature which according to the father, have not been seriously investigated and it is true and only one man languishes in prison for what many consider he was not the prime culprit. The arrest of the girl´s father was the result of his relentless appearances on television and radio with private investigators thrilling the nation with fascinating arguments that led to the closure of the highly popular night programme and his eventual arrest for “smearing” the police.

The present saga of Judge Garzon therefore is but the straw that could break the camel´s back and even more so when his translation by request of the European Union to join the staff at the International Court of Justice in The Hague has been blocked pending sentencing. Most of Spain and an increasing number of political representatives of a wide variety of countries see this as an attempt to keep the horrors of the civil war massacres hidden from the world at large and that supporters of the regime remain with a reasonable chance of regaining power. Where democracy would stand in this respect is as difficult to say as some aspects of the Spanish Judiciary which sins by its lack of transparency. The apparent lack of understanding of the difference between Law, Justice, the letter of the law and seeing that Justice is seen to be done, often forms part of the accusations against it by an increasingly bitter public.

Choosing a Law School can be a difficult decision.  Besides the obvious things such as ranking, expense, location and reputation many potential law students are interested to know what famous attorneys came from the schools they are thinking of attending.  Yet, unless someone does independent research on numerous institutions or wants to research the backgrounds of a particular attorney they are a fan of there is no real good resource that provides such information.  To remedy this, I thought I’d pick out a handful of my favorite attorneys and list where they got their Juris Doctors from.

My personal favorite attorney has to be former California Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi of ‘The Manson Murders’ fame.  Mr. Bugliosi was able to convict Charles Manson despite the fact that Manson never was actually at the crime scene and committed his crime by brainwashing and planning the Tate/La Bianca murders from afar.  He has since gone on to be an internationally acclaimed writer beginning with the legendary ‘Helter Skelter’ and including the more recent ‘Outrage’ and ‘The prosecution of George W. Bush For Murder’.  Vincent Bugliosi attended UCLA Law School and graduated in 1964.

Next up is the famous ‘country’ lawyer and tv commentator, Gerry Spence.  Mr. Spence is well known as a commentator during the OJ Simpson trials and has the distinction of having never lost a case in 40 years.  He attended the University of Wyoming Law School gaining his degree in 1952.  He is known for pioneering the ‘Matlock’ style of ‘narrative’ lawyering.  He uses stories, allegories, metaphors and carefully crafted emotional hooks to convince a jury of his convictions.

No list would be complete without Professor Alan Dershowitz of Harvard Law School.  Besides his role in the OJ trial, Mr. Dershowitz has obtained a reputation as a great civil liberties lawyer.  He graduated first in his class at Yale Law School and was Editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal.  He has one of the most prestigious client lists of any attorney including such notables as Michael Milken, Leona Helmsley, Mike Tyson, Penthouse, Patricia Hearst, John Landis and even fellow attorneys F. Lee Bailey(Boston University Law School 1960) and William Kunstler(Columbia Law School).

Speaking of the OJ Simpson trial, Johnnie Cochran attended Loyola University School of Law in Los Angeles as did the fiery tv and radio commentator Gloria Allred.  Barry Scheck of the ‘Innocence Project’ at Cardozo Law School got his degree at UC Berkeley School of Law.  Robert Shapiro, OJ’s lawyer through much of the early stages of the trial attended UCLA Law School.  On the other side of the court, Marcia Clark attended Southwestern University School of Law and Christopher Darden attended the University of California, Hastings College of The Law.  Finally on the other side of the bench, judge Lance Ito obtained his law degree from UC Berkeley (1975).

Finally, I thought I’d throw in some of my own personal favorites mostly based on their accomplishments and personality.  I’m a big fan of the radio host Larry Elder and Larry got his JD from the University of Michigan School of Law in 1977.  His sometime rival on KABC radio is civil rights attorney Leo Terrel who attended UCLA School of Law.  Since Larry’s been off the air I’ve become a fan of Mark Levin who got his JD from Temple University.  Mark has achieved tremendous success over the past two years and most recently authored his best selling book ‘Liberty and Tyranny’. 

While there are many great law schools, sometimes a look at their most prominent alumni can give an idea of the style of law and particular strengths and character of the school.  For more great articles and insight on Law School please visit www.TopTenLawSchools.com.