Trial Experience Quotes

When I left the San Francisco DA's office, I went down to the Los Angeles district attorney's office, and I was able to try a tremendous amount - very serious cases and working in gang neighborhoods, impoverished neighborhoods - really make a difference and be impactful in those communities.

I was appointed by Governor Gray Davis to the Los Angeles Superior Court and by President Obama to the district court and then the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In securing the state court appointment, I think it really helped that I had some trial experience.

I don't think there's much a person could say about me. My gangster's never been on trial.

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 an old trial lawyer.

Certainly the O.J. Simpson case was a turning point in my career.

I had my first trial at Villa at five.

The whole trial seemed surreal.

I was at an acting academy for seven years prior to the trial.

I may not have taken the stand, but I was an expert on the Boston bombing trial.

While there was clear evidence that the dad was innocent in 'Miracle,' in 'Heart Blackened,' I was in a situation of 'having to' prove somebody's innocence. So when I stood trial as Hee-jung, things felt awkward and unfamiliar for me.

I want to appoint Supreme Court justices who understand the way the world really works, who have real-life experience, who have not just been in a big law firm and maybe clerked for a judge and then gotten on the bench, but, you know, maybe they tried some more cases, they actually understand what people are up against.

You don't know a woman until you've met her in court.

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.

By not trying the small cases, the lawyers don't get the courtroom experience. So when the huge, bet-the-company cases come along, there are only a handful of trial lawyers who can handle it. That's why these big corporations still call us old-timers every day.

I lost court cases and misdemeanor juries, but of felony jury trials I was successful 105 of 106 times.

Even when one sits in the prisoner's dock, it is interesting to hear talk about oneself.