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Gerry Spence: Author, The Making of a Country Lawyer [By Megan Rellahan] With courtroom victories against Kerr-McGee, Penthouse, and McDonald’s, among many others, Gerry Spence is a smalltown attorney at the very top of his game.
Born on January 8, 1929, in Laramie, WY,
in history. However, they did lose “Little
buddy, Jim Brown, and the two impulsively
Gerry Spence was welcomed into the world
Peggy,” Spence’s younger sister, who died
ventured out into the world. Working as
by his parents, Gerald and Esther. He spent
unexpectedly from cerebral meningitis.
sailors on a ship, Spence and Brown spent
his childhood learning what it meant to live
their free time drinking, smoking, and acting
off the earth. In early childhood, Spence
“My first memories were of a small angel,
like rebellious teens, free from their parents’
learned how to hunt animals for food. In
she barely three and I four, her eyes as
rules and regulations for the first time.
fact, he lost several of his “farm pets” when
luminous as fire, her happiness, it seemed
they became supper. Through Spence’s
an inexhaustible flame,” wrote Spence.
experiences growing up in the wilderness, he
However, when it was all said and done, both boys returned to Laramie, where they
discovered that “killing in the courtroom is
“I do not remember ever hearing her cry,
enrolled at the University of Wyoming. They
like killing in the mountains.”
but memories edit. And it was hard for me to
had hopes of becoming big-shot criminal
understand how a perfect angel could die,”
lawyers like the legendary G.R. McConnell—a
said Spence.
Wyoming attorney who defended a
“Like all killing,” explained Spence in his autobiography The Making of a Country
bootlegger and won by drinking the whiskey
Lawyer, “it carries with it the same ethical standards I saw my father live by when I was a child. One does not kill in the courtroom for the sheer sport of killing. One does not kill the opponent simply because one can. Only mad dogs, a few rogue wolves, and trophy hunters with piddling self-esteem, who line their walls with the innocent dead, kill for pleasure.”
Spence refers to Peggy as his first friend,
referred to by the court as “evidence” right in
and losing her had a permanent effect on his
front of the judge and jury.
“The killing, the blood on the hands, the
“Years later, as a lawyer,” explained Spence,
all the “bad” he had done, it did not come as
hands deep into the entrails of the witness on
“I viewed the insurance companies with
a surprise that his classmates failed to ask
the witness stand—the whole process known
their pay-on-death policies and the carnival
Spence to join their fraternity. In Spence’s
as the trial must not be a mere exercise in
crooks with their shell games and the Mafia
mind, he blamed himself for not fitting in.
killing. Instead, it should be the means by
chiefs with their protection scams as all
Without knowing that his destiny was to
which justice is nourished and by which the
kindred under the skin.”
become a highly prolific lawyer who boldly
entire family. With stories of death swarming around them, it is no wonder that when the
When Spence’s father signed a three-year
insurance men came knocking on the Spence
contract with a Bolivian company, his entire
family’s door, Gerald and Esther handed over
family moved and left Spence behind to
their entire savings. However, in the end, the
attend college. Still drinking and goofing
insurance they purchased barely covered a
off, Spence and Brown rented a room in a
week’s worth of hospital expenses.
basement and went to school. With feelings of intense dislike for himself mounting for
rights of ordinary people are, at last, fed,” wrote Spence.
defends the underdog, Spence felt as if he “They all peddled the same thing—the
were nothing.
placation of fear. All understand the During the Great Depression, the Spence
dominant motivations of the species—fear
Because he was not a frat boy, he “didn’t get
family did not lose all of their savings.
and greed. In the end, fear wins out.”
the girls,” according to Spence. However,
Nor did they succumb to unsanitary or
although it hurt back then, he realizes now
unsafe working conditions, which ended
After Spence graduated from high school,
the lives of many people during this time
he plotted to escape Wyoming with his best
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that it was a blessing in disguise.
continued on back
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In The Making of a Country Lawyer, Spence
easy voice of the mind, to give in to it, and to
famous Idaho federal standoff case. In Utah,
wrote, “Not having been chosen was one of
write the exam as it dictated.”
Spence received a medical malpractice verdict, which established a new standard for
the great gifts of my life.... What if my life was won or lost depending upon the clubs I
In his early law-practicing years, Spence
belonged to or the socialites who invited me
worked as a prosecutor and built up an
to their deadly stand-up cocktail parties?
insurance clientele, later becoming one
Spence has not lost a jury trial since 1969
What if I ended up representing banks who
of the leading defense attorneys in the
and has never lost a criminal case. Along
robbed the poor rather than representing the
Intermountain West. However, with the
with his outstanding performance in the
poor, some of whom robbed the banks? What
memory of his parents’ insurance plan along
courtroom, this small-town lawyer with big
if, after a lifetime, I had no extra chamber
with other observations of hardworking
victories is the author of 14 published books
in my heart for the widow mopping the
Americans who had been “screwed” by the
as well as a lecturer at law schools around
toilets and the laboring man coughing in the
system, Spence eventually took an entirely
the country. He is the founder and director of
mines?”
new direction. He became the most well-
the nonprofit Trial Lawyers College, where
known attorney to defend the “little guy”
attorneys learn to try cases on behalf of the
In October 1949, Spence’s world turned
against large corporations, insurance
people.
upside down when he received the news that
companies, banks, and big businesses.
haunted him for years to come. His mother
nursing care in that state.
From 1995-1996, Spence teamed up with
was dead; she had killed herself. As a rebel
With multiple multi-million-dollar verdicts
NBC to create The Gerry Spence Show,
without a cause who had been repeatedly
in his favor, Spence has won more criminal
where he discussed legal and social issues
warned by his mother to behave, Spence
cases than any other lawyer in America. His
that affected the lives of the people of our
blamed his bad behavior on the bullet that
first case that gained worldwide recognition
country. He is also the founder of Lawyers
ultimately ended her life.
was against Kerr-McGee in the Karen
and Advocates for Wyoming, a nonprofit,
Silkwood case on behalf of her children.
public interest law firm. Having guest-
“My mother’s suicide was a monster
Defending Ed Cantrell in the famous Rock
hosted and appeared on Larry King Live
pounding at the door. Locked behind the
Springs, WY, murder case and winning
and the Geraldo Rivera Show numerous
door, I barred it and shoved the furniture of
big while earning $26.5 million against
times, he was also a legal consultant for
my life up against it,” wrote Spence.
Penthouse for Miss Wyoming were just a few
NBC throughout the O.J. Simpson trial and
of his large victories.
founded The Spence Law Firm.
deadly thoughts of self-loathing and blame,
Spence went on to receive a $52-million
ON THE NET
Spence dived into his studies. In 1952, he
verdict against McDonald’s Corporation on
As a way to distract himself from his own
graduated cum laude from the University
behalf of a small, bankrupt, family-owned
The Making of a Country Lawyer
of Wyoming Law School. Explaining
ice cream company. In 1990, Spence won
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-
his methods of surviving the grueling
an acquittal for Imelda Marcos on multiple
/0312169140?v=glance
exams in school, Spence stated, “I never
charges after a three-and-a-half-month trial
struggled with logic, for the answers that
in New York City. The year 1992 saw Spence
Larry King Live
logic produced often seemed brittle and
win a $15-million verdict for emotional
www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/larry.king.live
superficial. I never sought to follow the loud,
damages incurred by his quadriplegic client
lawyerlike reasoning that the up-front brain
against a major insurance company. In 1993,
Trial Lawyers College
spilled out, for on paper it made little sense.
Spence defended Randy Weaver on murder,
www.triallawyerscollege.com
At last, I had no choice but to listen to the
assault, conspiracy, and gun charges in the
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