Lynne Stewart
Lynne Stewart
Lynne Irene Stewartis an American former attorney who was known for representing controversial, poor, and often unpopular defendants. She was convicted on charges of conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists in 2005, and sentenced to 28 months in prison. Her felony conviction led to her being automatically disbarred. She was convicted of helping pass messages from her client, Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, an Egyptian cleric convicted of planning terror attacks, to his followers in al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, an organization designated as...
ProfessionTV Actress
Date of Birth14 December 1946
You're working not for the corporate interest, not for the government interest, not for your own self-interest. You have a higher calling.
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.
My anti-authoritarian instincts let me directly to criminal defense work.
If you make a mistake as a prosecutor, your mistakes go home, whereas if you make a mistake defending, they go to jail.
I took anything that came across my doorstep. I started getting a reputation.
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."
I would never take a case that had to do with abusing children. They're the true innocents.
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.
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.
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.
There are lawyers who believe in client-centered representation and who are dedicated on the same level I feel I was dedicated.
There's a lot of active radical thought today but not much action.
You've got to learn to handle the press because god knows the government does all the time.