I couldn't add my talent, which is prodigious, to a defense of someone even accused of hurting a child.

I would never defend a cop - though I did on a few private cases, when cops were acting not as cops but as private citizens.

I'm particularly committed to the political people who needed defense. I understand that they're fighting a bigger war than just, "Let me go get some money for cocaine tonight."

There are lawyers who believe in client-centered representation and who are dedicated on the same level I feel I was dedicated.

I got a job as a children's librarian at PS 175 in Harlem, and that changed everything. That was an epiphany. 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.

Lawyering is very individualistic. There are lawyers who are going to be that persistent birddog, they're never going to give up on the client, they're going to defend people.

The prosecution makes all the important decisions: what's charged, how much is charged, whether you can get a decent offer. Every defendant becomes an informant today.