The prosecution has an ethical duty to ensure not just that they get a conviction when the defendant is guilty, but also to ensure that they get it by means of fair trial, and that means a fair trial for the defense as well as the prosecution.
The only thing the defense has to do is take care of the client and see to it that they attack every weak spot on the prosecution's case. It's up to the judge to make sure that they don't pull any fast ones.
I was the only female in the special trials unit for many years.
I am a feminist. And I don't think of that as being anti-men, I think about it as equal rights for women.
My life is a mosaic, and there's no room in between pieces at all.
Jury instructions are so numerous and complex, it's a wonder jurors ever wade through them. And so it should come as no surprise that they can sometimes get stuck along the way. The instruction on circumstantial evidence is confusing even to lawyers. And reasonable doubt? That's the hardest, most elusive one of all.
Most of my interviews have been with millennials, and it's been a fascinating window into my kids' world. It's been so wonderful to see a generation that seems so savvy in so many ways - and so much cooler than we were.
I kind of like to write fast. It keeps the pacing up. And it keeps me off the streets.
It's gratifying when younger women come up and say, 'I went to law school because of you.' My heart swells; then it's like, wait, are you glad, or do you blame me?
As a lawyer, particularly in criminal law, you really do have to try to tell your story to the jury and hope that the judge makes rulings that allows your story to get through.
The minute you step into a job where you have to be at all tough and assertive, that's when the mischief happens. And you're not allowed to be assertive and feminine.
I loved my job... then the Simpson case happened.
When I went to the prosecutor's office, I wanted to be one of the good guys that the defense could trust. I'd try fair, clean cases, pull no punches, no below-the-belt stuff. Honorable. Because that's the kind of prosecutor I wanted to deal with.
I love Viola Davis.
I remember being called 'feminazi' and all that. I'm so proud of these young women who are coming out and not afraid to say they are feminists.
You amp things up and you speed things up, but technically, you can still be legally correct. This is the big beef I have with novels as well as television shows - it actually makes for a better show when you accommodate the truth.
That's who I was: a prosecutor. I really loved it.
I was a defense attorney before I was a prosecutor, and so knowing what the defense is going to try to do is something that you have to do constantly when you're in trial. I always went to trial knowing what they were doing. So I was always in both mindsets anyway. 'Oh, they're going to do this, then I'm going to do that.'
If you're going to educate the public and tell them how things happen in the courtroom, then you really owe them the duty to do it right. Don't misinform.
By no means did my first book sell. I took a few runs at it. You'll never see those early efforts 'cause they're burned, straight to the fireplace where they belong.
