‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘That’s nothing out of the common here, almost everybody has an attack of that kind the first time they come here. This is your first visit? Well, then, it’s nothing to be surprised at. The sun beats on the roof here and the hot roof-beams make the air dull and heavy. That makes this place not particularly suitable for offices, in spirit of the other great advantages it has. But the air, well, on days when there’s a great number of clients to be attended to, and that’s almost every day, it’s hardly breathable. When you consider, too, that all sorts of washing are hung up here to dry – you can’t wholly prohibit the tenants from washing their dirty linen – you won’t find it surprising that you should feel a little faint.’ Franz Kafka, The Trial p60
The very room, itself small and cramped, showed the contempt in which the Court held them. It was lit only by a small skylight ... and even the smoke from the chimney close by choked you and blackened your face. To give you only one example of the state the place was in – there had been for more than a year now a hole in the floor, not so big that you could fall through the floor, but big enough to let a man’s leg slip through. The Advocates’ room was in the very top attic, so that if you stumbled through the hole your leg hung down into the lower attic, into the very corridor where the clients had to wait. ibid. pp103-104
You’re an ambulance chaser with a rank. You’re nothing. Live with that. A Few Good Men 1992 starring Tom Cruise & Demi Moore & Jack Nicholson & Kevin Bacon & Kiefer Sutherland & Kevin Pollak & Wolfgang Bodison & James Marshall & J T Walsh & J A Preston & Michael DeLorenzo & Noah Wyle & Cuba Gooding et al, director Rob Reiner, Moore to Cruise
You can’t handle the truth! ibid. Nicholas to Cruise in court
These are the twelve justices who make up the supreme court … Their decisions affect everyone. The Highest Court in the Land: Justice Makers, BBC 2016
This court dispenses justice at the highest level. Everyone in the land is answerable to them. ibid.
Cases of particular general importance or constitutional issues will end up in the supreme court. ibid.
All the proceedings of the court are filmed. ibid.
My client has even written you a full and frank apology for the crimes he has committed against society. Rab C Nesbitt s2e4: That’s Entertainment, brief to judge, BBC 1992
It breaks your soul down … It takes your decency and respect. After Innocence, 2005, victim
For every one of us up here, there’s hundreds more in prison. ibid. victims meet the press
It could happen to anybody, and it did. ibid. Barry Scheck
The found four different sperms in her and none of them were mine. ibid. victim of false rape charge
Now through DNA we have hard evidence that there is a lot more mistakes being made than we ever expected. That means there are thousands of people in jail today who could prove their innocence with DNA tests. ibid. Barry Scheck on Phil Donahue Show
My lawyer was the worst lawyer on the planet. The only time I saw him was at court. ibid. victim of false rape charge #2
If there’s any more stock film of women applauding, I shall clear the court. Monty Python’s Flying Circus s2e12: Spam, BBC 1970
This is the most famous and feared criminal court in the land. For hundreds of years it has stood as a symbol of British justice. This is the Old Bailey. Inside ... s1e6: the Old Bailey, Channel 5 2018
It has sent hundreds of men and women to their deaths and witnessed devastating miscarriages of justice. ibid.
On 29th April 1981 Peter Sutcliffe arrived for one of the most anticipated trials in the Bailey’s history. People had queued overnight for a seat inside. ibid.
The new courthouse was completed in 1907. ibid.
18 courts hearing 1,500 criminal trials each year. ibid.
There was one case that cast a shadow over British justice for nearly 20 years … There was public outrage. ibid.
An Old Bailey trial that saw the last woman in Britain executed for murder. It was a troubling case in which for some the law and justice seemed to be at odds. On 20th June 1955 a woman named Ruth Ellis left her cell at the Old Bailey on her way to Court 1. She was accused of murder. ibid.
Fuck it. Let’s go to court. The Insider ***** 1999 starring Al Pacino & Russell Crowe & Christopher Plummer & Diane Venora & Michael Gambon & Rip Torn & Philip Baker Hall & Lindsay Crouse & Debi Mazar & Renee Olstead et al, director Michael Mann
My father hated lawyers all his life. He wasn’t a great guy my old man: he drank and beat up my mother; he beat me up too. So you might think I became a lawyer just to piss him off. But you’d be wrong. I wanted to be a lawyer ever since I read about the civil rights lawyers in the ’50s and ’60s. And the amazing uses they found for the law. They did what a lot of people thought was impossible: they gave lawyers a good name. The Rainmaker 1998 starring Matt Damon & Claire Danes & Jon Voight & Mary Kay Place & Mickey Rourke & Danny DeVito & Dean Stockwell & Virginia Madsen & Randy Travis & Roy Scheider & Red West & Johnny Whitworth et al, director Francis Ford Coppola, Rudy
There are too many lawyers in Memphis; this city is infested with them. ibid.
There’s nothing more thrilling than nailing an insurance company. ibid. Deck
If I get any trouble out of ya, I’m gonna integrate this jail. A Time to Kill 1996 starring Samuel L Jackson & Matthew McConaughey & Kevin Spacey & Sandra Bullock & Brenda Fricker & Oliver Platt & Charles S Dutton & Ashley Judd & Patrick McGoohan & Kiefer Sutherland & Donald Sutherland & John Diehl et al, director Joel Schumacher, black rozzer to two white rapists
I ain’t sorry for what I done … I figure there’s a lot of people out there tired of all the raping and killing. They’d be sympathetic to a man who took the law into his own hands even if he is black. ibid. Carl to Jake
We love fat women, people. Tight-fisted, unsympathetic, I want her on my jury. Runaway Jury 2003 starring John Cusack & Gene Hackman & Dustin Hoffman & Rachel Weisz & Jeremy Piven & Bruce Davidson & Bruce McGill & Marguerite Moreau & Nick Searcy & Leland Orser et al, director Gary Fleder, Fitch
Can you smell that? Furniture polish, cheap cologne and body odour. ibid. Fitch in court
Trials are too important to be left up to juries. ibid. Fitch to gun manufacturers
Never before has a jury found the gun industry liable for murder. ibid. television news
I’m in it to win. Just like you are. ’Cause that’s what I was hired to do. Everything else is coloured bubbles. ibid. Fitch to Rohr
You’re not going to change. Look around ya, I mean what’s going to change? Do you think it’s going to be any different next week, next month? It’s going to be the same goddamn thing. The Verdict 1982 starring Paul Newman & Charlotte Rampling & Jack Warden & James Mason & Milo O’Shea & Lindsay Crouse & Edward Binns & Julie Bovasso & Roxanne Hart & James Handy & Wesley Addy & Joe Seneca et al, director Sidney Lumet, Mickey
If I take the money, I’m lost. I’ll just be a rich ambulance chaser. I can’t do it. I can’t take it. ibid.
Sometimes people can surprise you. Sometimes they have a great capacity to hear the truth. ibid. Dr Thompson