Nominations for top 10 lawyer movies -- defense edition

Thanks to contributor "The Reader" for the very interesting post below. There's a lot to think about there.

This being the weekend (the last couple hours of it, anyway), I thought I'd post something a bit lighter.

I just got done watching the first episode of HBO's miniseries called "John Adams". It is based upon a book I've read and enjoyed called 1776 by David McCullough. The first episode is the story of a defense lawyer, who just happened to become the second president of the United States.

I find that episode relevant here because it focused on what we do: the defense of defendants that our community finds to be barely worthy of a defense at all. You see, attorney John Adams defended the British soldiers involved in what we all know as the Boston Massacre. The man believed in the law, and in the end the jury of Massachusetts men believed in the facts as presented by Adams. It's a good story, and leads to an even better one in which American revolutionaries came to appreciate the quality of Adam's reason and prudence, even though it did not at first serve their cause.

We dependency defense lawyers can't lay claim to Adam's greatness, but we can lay claim to a similar willingness to take the causes of those about whom the public might just as soon not look into the facts and weigh all the essential factors in what it means to serve the best interests of children and families.

Anyway, speaking of people named John Adams (in this case John Quincy Adams), it made me think of a great lawyer for the defense movie. One of my favorites is Amistad.

If you are inclined to nominate any other lawyer movies for the top 10, leave a comment below.