101 Things I Learned® in Law School

“An act does not make one guilty unless his mind is also guilty.”

“If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”

Showmanship: Hiring a lawyer tells the other side you are serious about your complaint, or about defending yourself against a complaint, giving you a stronger position in any settlement negotiations.

integrity of the system is more important than the truth of one case.

Invoking the Fifth Amendment in a criminal trial prevents self-incrimination. Invoking it in a civil trial may induce self-incrimination.

it is because it accepts that the truth sometimes must suffer in the short run so the court gets better at finding the truth in the long run.

When in conflict, people rarely act from a rational, logical center.

Attorney-client privilege forbids a lawyer from disclosing certain communications made with a client—when those communications were intended by the client to be confidential—to anyone else without the client’s permission. However,

Intent is the resolution to commit a crime.