Sydney Pollack Quotes

Everybody has a right to be defended, and every lawyer has a duty to defend people accused. And my office is to defend him, to discuss the accusation point by point, as I think this is a normal step in a democracy.

Legal aid is crucial in ensuring those truly guilty of crimes are convicted after due process, and those innocent are able to clear their names, by ensuring that access to legal representation is available for everyone, regardless of ability to pay.

The criminal defense attorney is misunderstood if not despised by most of society. It doesn't matter if we believe in our adversarial system and the ideal that everyone charged with a crime is entitled to a vigorous defense. Ideals give away to reality - defense lawyers working loopholes and angles to get their clients off.

If everyone charged with crimes suddenly exercised his constitutional rights, there would not be enough judges, lawyers, or prison cells to deal with the ensuing tsunami of litigation.

Mere access to the courthouse doors does not by itself assure a proper functioning of the adversary process.

When I was a prosecutor in Kansas City, my job was to fight for justice and safety for all citizens in my community. Equal access to justice under the law is an American value embedded in the fabric of our legal and political system - the idea that anybody, powerful or not, can have their day in court.

Lawyers claim that their clients have been grossly mistreated, which is what criminal defense lawyers are paid to do.

Delay in justice is injustice.

God forbid that the defendant should not be allowed the benefit of every advantage he is entitled to by law.

Legal aid gets a bad press. Some rail against handing taxpayers' money to criminals; others attack fat cat lawyers, while some argue that we spend far more on legal aid than other countries. But let's get some facts straight: saying that legal aid is just about criminals is wrong - most goes to people before any decision is taken on their guilt.

We have a system of jurisprudence. You are innocent until proven guilty. You have a right to counsel. And you have a right to hospitalization if you are ill. That is our system. And it's what makes this country special and what makes this country great.

Access to justice is a fundamental part of a properly functioning democracy.

Without legal aid, and the dedicated lawyers who deliver it, our system of justice would quite simply collapse.

The entire legal system was built upon the assumption that people would have adequate representation. When they don't, the system fails, and the laws don't matter.

From the very beginning, our state and national constitutions and laws have laid great emphasis on procedural and substantive safeguards designed to assure fair trials before impartial tribunals in which every defendant stands equal before the law. This noble ideal cannot be realized if the poor man charged with crime has to face his accusers without a lawyer to assist him.

Being a public defender makes you incredibly paranoid - and I would say with reason - about law enforcement.

I was determined to become a criminal lawyer and help look after the poor.

Sadly the job security of lawyers has been ruined, so they are less willing to defend political defendants.

Every American deserves their day in court. Every American is innocent until proven guilty. These are core values enshrined in our founding document - the United States Constitution.

I'm a lawyer. I go for due process; I go for fairness and equity - these values mean a lot to me.

If we are to keep our democracy, there must be one commandment: 'Thou shalt not ration justice.'

I've become very fond of the law. I've always been an advocate for justice, which occasionally the law brings to light.

I was covering the Supreme Court when it decided Gideon v. Wainright, and the case has always had special meaning for me.

The same liberty that protects me also protects members of the Mafia.

Protections in law should be protections in fact.