Patrick Leahy Quotes

I view myself primarily as a trial lawyer who happens to be writing, as opposed to a writer who happens to be a trial lawyer, so the audience is like a jury to me.

And I've always felt comfortable certainly in a courtroom because you're just performing. And there was a time in my life when I thought when I grew up I'd be a trial lawyer myself.

I am a trial lawyer. Matilda says that at dinner on a good day I sound like an affidavit.

I was interested in getting courtroom experience. When I was a young lawyer, the only way I could get real courtroom experience was in the criminal law field.

Most lawyers aren't trial lawyers. Most lawyers, even trial lawyers, don't get their problems solved in a courtroom. We like to go to court. It seems heroic to go to court. We think we're the new, great advocates, better than anything we've seen on TV, and we come home exhilarated by having gone to court.

I'm a lawyer; I win arguments for a living.

My uncle's a lawyer and I remember going to see him in court and thinking, 'That's cool, too bad I could never be a lawyer.'

I wanted to be a barrister for a long time.

I think the lawyers are such incredible actors. Can you imagine the performance they have to do every day?

When I was a prosecutor in San Francisco I would get advice on trying cases from public defenders and defense attorneys.

There's a lot of money with a lot of big law firms that have a tremendous amount at stake by getting the right language to convince the right jury that my client is either innocent or that the opposition is guilty.

In the courtroom, it's where a lawyer really becomes an actor. There's a very fine line between delivering a monologue in a play and delivering a monologue to a jury. I've always felt that way - I've been in a lot of courtrooms. The best lawyers are really theatrical.

Being a trial lawyer sounds like glamorous work, but most of your time is spent pushing paper and arguing.

I had a dream to be an attorney. I don't know if I ever would've passed the bar or not, but that was my dream.

When I wanted to be an attorney, I think I wanted to be a litigator; I wanted to be in a courtroom.

I will be the defence lawyer of the Italian people.

A lawyer should have her facts straight.

My father was an attorney in the state of New York, which is where I came up with the term 'advocate.'

I was a prosecutor for 20 years.

A lawyer is just like an attack dog, only without a conscience.

Most lawyers only tell you about the cases they win. I can tell you about some I lose. A lawyer who wins all his cases does not have many.

An incompetent attorney can delay a trial for years or months. A competent attorney can delay one even longer.

From as early as I can remember, I was focused on becoming a lawyer.

My father was an attorney.

I'm very happy being attorney general.