You're working not for the corporate interest, not for the government interest, not for your own self-interest. You have a higher calling.

My anti-authoritarian instincts let me directly to criminal defense work.

There's a lot of active radical thought today but not much action.

I didn't know Harlem existed. I didn't know there was such a place, because I grew up in white Queens, where five miles is 100 miles. So I went to the school and, being a smart cookie - as they called us in those days - I had a million questions. How did this place exist? How come I didn't know about it? Why are people living like this? Do they want to live like this?

Your goal is to make a better world through the work you do. It's not always possible, and you have to earn a living.

I think people are afraid. I remember when we'd have discussions in the '60s among people who were active. We'd say, "Well, people are afraid," and the answer to us was, "If you're afraid, you know you should be doing something." People are afraid today, but they're not doing anything.

I took anything that came across my doorstep. I started getting a reputation.