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Message from Jeff Gamso, President, OACDL
Earlier this month, I was honored to accept the presidency of the Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Ours is an organization with a proud tradition, of leadership, service, education, and advocacy for the criminal defense bar. That tradition remains undimmed. We are committed to it without reservation, as we are committed to our clients.
For all the jokes about lawyers (many of them very funny and not altogether undeserved), this can be a noble profession. And for all the scorn heaped on those of us who would defend the reviled (How can you defend someone you know is guilty? comes the cocktail party question, one with no shortage of answers from snarky to serious; I hope we’ll address the question more fully here in the coming months), there is no nobler branch of the law than criminal defense.
It is we, the criminal defense lawyers, who hold the government’s feet to the fire. It is we, the criminal defense lawyers, who say that the government cannot go snooping through your body, your home, your office, your car, your computer or your phone on a whim, on the chance that something will turn up, because hey, why not, because you wouldn’t want mind us snooping through your life if you didn’t have something to hide. It is we, the criminal defense lawyers, who stand fast in support of the constitutional right not merely to counsel but to truly effective counsel.
It is we, the criminal defense lawyers, who say that while it may not be you today, it might be you tomorrow.
It is we who stand up and defend thousands of years of history and philosophy and, yes, justice when we say that accusation is not proof and that proof beyond a reasonable doubt is the least we can insist on before the government with its awesome power can take someone’s money or freedom or life.
Some years ago, we sold baseball caps with the slogan “We Make the Constitution Live.” We did. We do. Every day.
But what we do is also stressful. For every victory, there are defeats. We struggle too often in isolation, lone wolves, unappreciated by the press, the prosecutors, the courts, even by our clients. And so we also provide support, encouragement, and when needed a strike force ready to assist.
None of us alone is as strong as all of us together. Together we stand, united, strong, committed to the zealous, effective, ethical representation of our clients. If you are a criminal defense lawyer, if you defend the accused or convicted, come and join us.
