Johnnie Cochran had been famed as a folksy oratory in Los Angeles courtrooms since the 1960s, but the 1995 O.J. Simpson trial catapulted him to international fame--a status he gladly acknowledges in this bare-knuckles memoir of his years in court.
Cochran doesn't spend much time revisiting the Simpson case (except to proclaim O.J. innocent). Cochran devotes most of his account to less-celebrated cases that address repeated themes--police negligence and outright perjury; the difficulties minorities face in securing impartial justice; the inherent unfairness of racial profiling. Cochran describes his methods, and explains the reason for his rhyming summations ("If the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit"): "Juries enjoyed them, understood them, and, more importantly, remembered them."
Readers may not be won over by Cochran, but his book will be widely enjoyed and remembered. --Gregory McNamee
Johnnie Cochran - A Life Lived Well And A Life That Mattered (Rating 5 of 5)
» Casadejunqueinc
I really enjoyed reading this book and it was interesting to find out what the Los Angeles civil and criminal court systems were like in the late 1960's and early 1970's.
At times, Johnnie Cochran engages in moments of self-puffery, but he's earned the right to gloat as he writes about a life lived to the fullest. He found a life's work that mattered greatly to him, and it also made him rich, and he makes no apologies for it.
Cochran, with the help of a co-author, writes openly and honestly about a Los Angeles that was - and still is today - heavily defined by race and social class. To his credit, he goes light on the OJ and instead focuses on the more significant cases in his career, of which the OJ Simpson defense was one of the least important, even though that is the one case for which he will always be remembered.
I highly recommend this book
Lawyer's Life (Washington Post Review) (Rating 4 of 5)
» Brian Gilmore
Cochran, the cool crusader
Brian Gilmore
A LAWYER'S LIFE
By Johnnie Cochran with David Fisher
St. Martin's. $25.95.
It was on that fateful day approximately eight years ago, when Los Angeles attorney Johnnie Cochran agreed to represent O.J. Simpson in his trial for the murder of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman, that the modern era of the African-American attorney began. The public's perception of black attorneys in the United States was forever changed by Cochran's demonstration, to millions worldwide, that a black lawyer could be cool and competent in the courtroom. Of course, black attorneys, male and female, have always been capable, but Cochran, with the generous assistance of Court TV and countless other media outlets, made the case to the American public.
Cochran has loomed even larger since then, so it is no accident that we are now offered his second memoir since the end of the Simpson trial. Much more opinionated than Journey to Justice, the new book, A Lawyer's Life, is akin to memoirs by so-called legends of the law, such as Conrad Lynn's There Is a Fountain and William Kunstler's My Life as a Radical Lawyer, even though Cochran is a bit different from those famous crusaders for justice. He believes in justice, too, and pursues it. But he also likes to dress immaculately and says so. He isn't afraid to say that he enjoys being paid for his talents, either. And he isn't afraid of the bright lights of the media.
This book could have been called Johnnie Cochran: My Struggle Against Police Misconduct. That's because Cochran exposes in meticulous detail some of the most striking examples of police misconduct and racist behavior in California, New York and New Jersey. In A Lawyer's Life, you will meet William Anthony Leonard, 19 years old, shot to death by the police while opening a window. Leonard, according to Cochran, was baby-sitting at the time to earn extra money. The police officer who saw him opening the window saw him only as a black man and "assumed he was a burglar."
There is also Phillip Johns, shot to death by the police in his bed because they had received a wrong address from an informant. And Ron Settles, a standout college football player, who was found hanging from the bars in his cell after he was arrested during a bogus traffic stop in an affluent section of Los Angeles. Settles, Cochran suggests, was one of the many victims of the infamous L.A. police choke hold that killed so many men of color over the years. And there is Leonard Deadwyler, shot to death by a Los Angeles policeman after being stopped for speeding through residential neighborhoods. Deadwyler was trying to get his pregnant wife, who was in labor, to the hospital on time. Cochran, who lost the $3-million wrongful death civil suit he brought on behalf of Deadwyler's wife, states passionately that "no case affected me more than the shooting of Leonard Deadwyler."
Cochran's crusade against police misconduct and racist behavior culminated in the Simpson trial, where the naked bigotry of the LAPD was exposed in the person of Mark Furhman. Referring to the now- famous screenplay tapes as the reason he became involved in the trial, Cochran is unapologetic about his tactics. Furhman, according to Cochran, was "talking about his life as a cop. Framing people, setting up people, killing people." Cochran cannot understand why the tapes were never released to the public, considering that Furhman has become a successful author. "If people were permitted to hear these tapes," Cochran adds, "I feel confident that Furhman's career would end quite abruptly and he would be forced to crawl back into his hole, never to be heard from again."
A Lawyer's Life also includes Cochran's journey to New York to work for Court TV, and the police brutality case stemming from the vicious assault on Abner Louima. Cochran made history when he broke down the "blue wall of silence" by suing the city's powerful police union. He also includes the Amadou Diallo killing, even though here he met with one of his biggest professional disappointments. Diallo's mother initially hired Cochran to handle the case for her but fired him later because he was not always immediately available.
Not far away in New Jersey, Cochran represented four young black men who were racially profiled on the New Jersey Turnpike. The young men, now known as the "New Jersey Four," were pulled over and eventually sprayed with gunfire by the police during the traffic stop. The case became synonymous with racial profiling nationwide, and cost New Jersey nearly $13 million in damages.
Finally, after detailing his representation of hip-hop magnate Sean "Puffy" Combs, Cochran takes time, among other things, to discuss the possible lawsuit he is contemplating with other attorneys to seek reparations for slavery. He admits he doesn't really have any answers yet. "Who are the plaintiffs?" he asks. "Who are the defendants? What remedy do we propose? Is there a statute of limitations?" These are, of course, daunting questions.
Yet if you read A Lawyer's Life, you come away knowing that soon Johnnie Cochran, great-grandson of a slave, will provide answers to them all. Then, as expected, the cameras will start rolling.
Brian Gilmore, a public interest attorney and the author of Jungle Nights and Soda Fountain Rags: Poem for Duke Ellington, wrote this review for the Washington Post.
Copyright The Chicago Sun-Times, Inc
Must Read for African American Lawyers (Rating 5 of 5)
» Esther N. Slade
This book is a must read for African American lawyers or if you are considering a degree in either law enforcement or any other legal profession. Cochran is candid and tells the facts. It is a real eye opener about the US legal system
Better than expected (Rating 3 of 5)
» Michael LaRocca
I think it's always good when a storyteller can take us inside the courts and tell us what happens there. And according to this book's author, every lawyer is a storyteller. I believe him.
A LAWYER'S LIFE was written by Johnnie Cochran. I've never seen the man. Not in person, not on TV, nowhere. Are you shocked? I was very careful to avoid all press coverage of the OJ trial, simply because anything that heavily covered should be avoided.
The book's a compelling read, and OJ only gets a few pages. A good proofreader wouldn't hurt, and someone really needed to clean up the repetition. But I'm only nitpicking here.
No hate mail, please. Reading a book like this is about hearing the author's side, understanding it, thinking about the issues, and reaching your own verdict, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. I'd bet you can find this one in your local library by now. Pick it up, start reading, and see what happens
Splendid (Rating 5 of 5)
» kenton212
I thought the readings from chapters 1 through 9 were great. I mean Johnnie Cochran took the reader through cases familiar, and unfamiliar. In detail how some police are just terrible, how the system has bias in who will be the victim. But, the last chapter 10. Oh MY! If you dont read the book, just read chapter 10 it'll make you rethink alot of things. Its powerful-Johnnie goes on stating how the system has failed so many, how corporations get away with discrimination. His life and what its like to be a lawyer. Its just great. Read the book, and if you dont do that. Just read the last chapter, number 10 its worth it
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