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Author: Liu Ling, lawyer of Beijing Tianchi Juntai Law Firm, deputy director of the Criminal Procedure Law Professional Committee of Beijing Lawyers Association.
American screenwriters have always preferred legal stories, and there have been many legal genres in previous Oscar-winning films. Lawyers are often seen in movies, and many times lawyers appear as protagonists, such as the early black-and-white classic film "Kill a Mockingbird", the righteous Finch lawyer is elegant, wise and calm, the black-and-white film "Prosecution Witness", Wilfrid lawyer alert, humorous and free, these two lawyer images have become classics in the image, and also fit the audience's imagination of the legal profession.
In the 1990s, excellent films in the United States sprung up, and lawyer films also began to blossom, and lawyers of different types, different personalities, and different experiences took turns to appear, enlivening the film world, such as "Yihai Majestic Wind", "Ultimate Witness", "My Cousin Winnie", "Never Compromise", "Legal Pretty Lady", etc., shaping the roles of military lawyers, rookie lawyers, mother-type female lawyers, non-mainstream funny lawyers, modern female lawyers, paralegals and so on.
Lawyer movies, either with the help of lawyers to tell the story of the case, or to tell the story of the lawyer's representation in the case, the core is the case story, especially the criminal case related to life and freedom. The reason why the screenwriter chooses a lawyer as the protagonist is related to the characteristics of the lawyer's profession. In real life, lawyers contact and cooperate with various people, deal with abnormal, disharmonious, and unfair things every day, and are in the whirlpool of disputes, conflicts, and contradictions all day long. It can be said that the lawyer wanders through the story every day and is himself a participant in the real story. The screenwriter doesn't even need to use his imagination to directly bring the real case to the screen, which is a movie, such as "The Edge of the French Open", "The Philadelphia Story", "In the Name of the Father".
In the 1990s, there was also a lawyer-themed film "Devil's Spokesperson", which was very different in its realistic and illusory approach, as well as some religious overtones, and its attention was not as good as other similar films. However, it cannot be denied that this is an excellent work with depth. It reveals the conflict between the professional pursuit of lawyers and personal conscience through the story of defense lawyer Kevin, dissects the inner world of defense lawyers and tortures conscience, and explores the professional ethics and bottom line of defense lawyers.
Kevin's inner struggles
In the small town courtroom, the little girl who was sexually assaulted was being questioned. The little girl cried and told the story of the math teacher who sexually assaulted her. When the little girl narrated, Kevin found the defendant next to him, the accused math teacher, secretly doing disgusting movements. Kevin immediately understood that the little girl's statement was completely true, and that the defendant had committed sexual assault.
Furious, Kevin quietly looked around to see if anyone was paying attention to the defendant, and then stared at the defendant with a fierce look in his eyes, and the defendant stopped moving. At this point, the court asked Kevin to cross-examine the little girl. Unable to follow the established strategy, Kevin, who was outraged, asked for a fifteen-minute adjournment.
In the bathroom, Kevin calmed down. He has created a record of innocence in 63 consecutive cases, is a well-known local lawyer, and he is eager to continue his professional success. However, he also knows that if the defendant is successfully exonerated, more girls may be sexually assaulted in the future.
After struggling, Kevin made the choice to continue to defend himself without guilt.
After this case, Kevin broke free from the shackles of conscience and justice, and did whatever it took to pursue innocence: instigating witnesses to give perjury, and showing physical evidence in court to prevent the prosecution's lawyers from speaking. Each time he used "I'm a lawyer, I have to win" and "I'll just win, win" to justify his tactics.
So, can defense lawyers do whatever it takes to win a case, even disregarding conscience and ethics? The question raised by the film is worth pondering.
Modern rule-of-law countries set up the legal role of defense lawyers through the constitution or laws, which is to allocate a professional "helper" for the defendant. The defense lawyer and the defendant form a defensive party and engage in equal confrontation with the prosecution representing public power, and through the peaceful confrontation between the prosecution and the defense under this legal order, the court can discover the facts of the case and correctly apply the law, so as to achieve judicial justice. The duties of defense lawyers are very clear, that is, within the scope of the law, to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the defendant, to put forward a defense opinion that the defendant is innocent or light in crime according to the facts and the law, and to persuade the court to make a judgment favorable to the defendant.
However, the defense lawyer is not the defendant's "voicepiece", is not bound by the defendant's intention, and the defense lawyer has an independent position from the client. The American jurist Robert Gordon, in his monograph "The Independence of Lawyers – Lawyers Independent of Their Clients", points out: "Although the services and skills provided by lawyers can be paid, their personality and political convictions are not... Because there is also an element in the professional personality of the lawyer who contributes to public undertakings. ”
Lawyers also need to abide by professional ethics norms in their practice, and in this regard, countries around the world have roughly similar regulations, including basic requirements such as abiding by the law, respecting facts, and respecting the court. In the Simpson murder case in the United States, Deshowitz, a member of the Dream Team Defense Team, mentioned in the book "Reasonable Doubt": "In practice, the party doctrine system allows both parties to do their best to find a way to win the case — as long as it is legal and in accordance with professional ethics." "The methods and means of defense lawyers should be legal and conform to professional ethics norms."
Through comparison, it can be seen that personal moral norms are basically consistent with lawyers' professional ethics, human conscience and lawyers' professional norms are basically consistent, and personal character shaping is basically consistent with the shaping of industry spirit. For this point, "The Devil's Spokesperson" also makes an interpretation through counter-examples, Kevin for personal self-interest and disregard for conscience, and his use of illegal means to pursue the outcome of the lawsuit, which is prohibited by the lawyer's professional ethics and should be condemned and punished.
If we have a comprehensive understanding of the professional ethics of lawyers, and at the same time can answer the famous Feng Xiangzhi's question, we can give a direct answer: good people can become good lawyers, and good lawyers can also be good people.
Freedom of will
Each of Kevin's choices in the film is an autonomous, voluntary decision that belongs to the "freedom of will" mentioned several times by the owner of the law firm, Milton.
In the case of the little girl's sexual assault, Kevin chose his personal merit and name after an internal struggle. He chased and beat the little girl through cross-examination, denigrated and reduced her credibility, and used small tricks to convince the jury that the little girl had planted the booty to frame the teacher. Kevin's choice is that vanity triumphs over conscience, and Kevin has since strayed from the direction of justice.
However, in the end, the film uses unreal techniques to get Kevin back to the starting point and let him make new choices. Movie bridges can be designed arbitrarily, but people in reality have no chance to choose again, and every choice means choosing a road of no return. The vast majority of people's choices are those made under "free will", of course, by their own consequences, that is, the so-called "bitter fruits of their own making, swallowed with tears".
Lawyers are freelancers, involved in all aspects of social life, and freedom of will is of course the first priority. Free will, choose according to the will of the individual, the heart, like Kevin. Step by step, first select the case, select the parties, determine the entrustment relationship, and then choose the defense direction, defense strategy, and choose the handling plan in the event of an emergency. The selection of lawyers is a process of value judgment and weighing interests. Faced with the same case and similar parties, different lawyers make different choices because the lawyers' values, outlook on life, and world outlook are different.
As a defense attorney, Kevin can choose to defend the defendant in a sexual assault case or reject such a case. You can choose to defend Getty or you can choose to refuse to defend him. You can choose to defend him for free or you can choose to charge a high attorney's fee. They can be acquitted or elected to be guilty. If there is a disagreement with Getty's communication defense plan, you can choose to break the agreement and part ways, or you can choose to abandon your personal defense opinion and obey Getty's opinion - note: At this time, the will is no longer free and has become a microphone for Getty.
However, freedom of will is not freewheeling and lawless freedom, and law and morality are the boundaries. Defense lawyers must not touch the bottom line of the law or infringe on the rights and interests of others. In court, defence counsel are immune to speaking, and when they leave the courtroom, their speech is restricted. Outside the courtroom, lawyers must not publish and publish through the media speech that contains illegal content, infringes on the privacy rights of others, and violates the ethics of lawyers, otherwise they will bear corresponding legal responsibilities.
The story of "Devil's Spokesman" has ups and downs, it is very good, and some classic lines are reminiscent, for example, when Kevin raises a gun to take revenge, Milton gently sentences "Vanity is the original sin" and pushes the responsibility to Kevin.
It should also be mentioned that the film has a strong cast, keanu Levis plays Kevin, Al Pacino, who left a classic image in "The Godfather" and "Smell the Woman", plays the law firm owner Milton, and charles Theron, who later won an Oscar, plays Kevin's wife in the film. Master tricks, natural and wonderful continuous, I recommend you to take a look.
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Every choice Kevin makes in the film is an autonomous, voluntary decision that belongs to the "freedom of will" mentioned several times by the owner of the law firm, Milton.
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