Always a great wordsmith. After graduating from Kimball Union, Lee went to Harvard and majored in English and wrote for the school magazine Crimson, with an eye toward being a writer. He left to sow his wild oats in the Marines, craving adventure. He chanced into working at the courts martial. When his superior dropped out, he filled the void and worked on prosecuting cases. He marveled at how at home he felt in court. He belonged there, he sensed. He excelled. When he got out, he asked for a special waiver to get into BU Law School without having earned a BA degree yet, an unusual thing. He argued that his military experience should count as the second half of his college requirement. They bought it. He was admitted and blew away the field, graduating # 1 in his class. He became friends with E.Bennett Williams, a top national trial lawyer, and started trying cases immediately and with success and aplomb. Check out his book "For the Defense," if he interests you, I'd advise.
20:09 Aha, I remember seeing that article on the day it came out in the 'ABA Journal'. I wondered what the backstory was. He had been asked to write it. It was not proffered by him to the editor, as we readers had suspected. A great, little article of the importance of 'sealing off the exits' before you can pin someone down in cross-exam.
he later had the trial of the century, televised, and forever memorable in his questioning of officer Furherman. a great mind, wit, and logic. and he was maybe right about Phoenix in the 80s, but not these days. Never been to Indiana thoug .... And I wonder what would Young Bailey have said about the current Roberts court, compared to the Rehnquist court in 1992?
