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Book Review: In Defense of Women - Memoirs of an Unrepentant Advocate
By Dick Barbuto
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In Defense of Women: Memoirs of an Unrepentant Advocate
By Nancy Gertner
Beacon Press (2011)
Reviewed by Dick Barbuto
How does one become a judge?
You graduate from this fine institution (Yale Law School) with a stellar record, you represent the first lesbian, feminist, radical, anti-Vietnam War anti-war activist accused of killing a police officer you can find; that would be your first major case in prime time. You take every abortion case in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; you speak out on the major hot-button issues of the day in successive rallies on the Boston Common, or on television, or in the editorial pages of the newspapers. You represent defendants of all stripes, from those in political corruption cases to high-profile murder cases, and for the final coup de grâce, you marry the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Massachusetts.
Well, that’s how former Judge Nancy Gertner did it anyway.
Even a partial list of defendants that Judge Gertner s
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