On Philadelphia Lawyers

[Sojourner]

At 09:40 AM 6/11/97 -0600, LARSSON at VAX1.Mankato.MSUS.EDU wrote:
>Here's an opinion on the term "Philadelphia lawyer" from my brother, who is
>a lawyer and does work in, yes, Philadephia:
>
>
>"A lawyer named Andrew Hamilton from Philadelphia represented John Peter
>Zenger in the libel trial (In New York?), pre-Revolution, which established
>the principle that truth is an absolute defense to an action for
>defamation/slander. Since Hamilton got Zenger off the hook, Hamilton (and his
>fellow Philadelphia lawyers) got a Johnny Cochrane-like reputation for being
>a slick lawyer,: "If you get in real trouble, you'd better get yourself a
>Philadelphia lawyer."
>
>The local bar association has an Andrew Hamilton costume ball every year to
>raise money for the legal aid foundation.
>
>Over the years, I think the shade of meaning changed slightly. Woody Guthrie
>wrote a song (I can't remember which one) which prominently features the
>phrase "Philadelphia lawyer" as an advocate for the bad guys (i.e., big money
>and high society) against the good guys (i.e., the Joads) -- certainly an
accu
>rate view, based on my personal experience. It is tin his latter sense that I
>usually hear people use the term: a slick _establishment_ lawyer."
>
>

All the info is VERY welcomed!  I will say that the WG song is
"Philadelphia Lawyer" and talks about how a slick, P lawyer makes his move
on an innocent western belle, tries to shanghair her from her husband, and
finally the husband comes back and we all cheer as he gives the Philly L
what he richly deserves.