We remind the 20 most famous lawyers in history , Some are recognized for their achievements, others are infamous for their extra-professional life or scandals.
"Made the law, made the trap,"says the saying, and if anything is full the story is of rules and crimes. Justice accompanies man from the beginning of his existence and lawyers are his main protagonists.
Responsible for legal defense, lawyers are present in the world occupying a preponderant role for the rights of all human beings.
In his Decalogue of the"Lawyer's Commandments", Uruguayan jurist Eduardo Couture stated: to love the profession, to study to keep up to date, to fight, to forget resentment, to think, to be loyal, to have faith and patience, to be tolerant and to work.
There were lawyers throughout history, many of them came to occupy the presidency of the most important countries of the world, to be social leaders, to govern the main institutions of the planet and even to be show business stars.
One has to go back to ancient Rome and Greece to see the first lawyers in action. In 106 BC, Marco Tulio Cicero was one of the first to mark the profession, with an innovative and vehement style.
"If there were no bad people there would not be good lawyers,"said Charles Dickens to somehow define the task of these lawyers.
Some proverbs consider them bad neighbors and compare them with the painters, being the only ones able to change something from white to black. The truth is that a good lawyer is often necessary.
At the risk of being unfair to absentees, here I show you a ranking with the most remembered lawyers throughout history.
Top 19 most popular lawyers in history
Nelson Mandela
One of the most outstanding personalities in history for his struggle for race equality in South Africa. Mandela Born in 1918, died in 2013 and spent 27 years, and some months, imprisoned between 1962 and 1990 by the regime that imposed racial segregation.
He began his studies free and finished them almost two decades later in prison. However, his career as a lawyer began long before he graduated when he surprised the world with a three-hour plea (known as"I'm Ready to Die"), inspired by Fidel Castro's own"History Will Absolve Me."
In 1952 he founded the first African law firm in his country, which he defined as:"A place where blacks were not rejected or deceived, where they could feel safe being represented by people of their own color."
After 27 years in prison, where he had to endure all kinds of torture (such as working in a lime pit without glasses, which caused him severe visual damage), he regained his freedom and became one of the leaders of the pacification of South Africa. He was president of his country between 1994 and 1998 and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.
There is a long repertoire of books and films that tell their story, including their autobiography. We highlight the film Invictus, based on the real novel by John Carlin.
2- John Gregory White
Branca, besides being a lawyer, is almost a rock star, not because he is dedicated to music but because much of his career made him a representative of great musicians and bands.
He represented artists such as The Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, The Jackson 5, Carlos Santana, Aerosmith, The Beach Boys, ZZ Top, Fleetwood Mac, Bee Gees, Earth, Wind And Fire, John Fogerty and The Doors.
In addition, his clients include Alicia Keys, Justin Timberlake, the Backstreet Boys, magazines such as Forbes, Penthouse and Playboy or Mike Tyson. And it was who financed the video Thriller of Michael Jackson, the most expensive when it was released in 1982.
It is a source of consultation and advice for large financial movements of huge companies and in 2016 received the"Attorney of the Year"award by Billboard Magazine.
Robert George Kardashian
This lawyer is known for two reasons: to represent O.J Simpson and to be the parents of sisters Kourtney, Kim and Khloé Kardashian, Hollywood stars.
Along with Robert Leslie Shapiro, they defended the former football player, accused of murdering his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, in one of the court cases that most aroused in the United States.
The verdict was followed by half the American population. There the judges declared the athlete not guilty, that two years would be condemned for the crimes.
Barack Obama
He was the first black president of the United States. After winning the elections in 2008, he was reelected in 2012 and completed two terms in the White House.
A graduate of Columbia University and the prestigious Harvard Law School, Obama began his political career as a young man in Chicago.
With a unique charisma, he conquered the masses of his country and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 for"his efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation among peoples, standing out for his vision of a world without nuclear weapons ".
5 - Carlos Saavedra Lamas
Perhaps his name surprises in this list, but he was the first Latin American to win a Nobel prize, when the Swedish academy gave the one of Peace in 1936 by its mediation in the bloody War of the Chaco, between Paraguay and Bolivia.
6- Sarmiza Bilcescu
She was the first woman in Europe to obtain a degree in Law from the University of Paris in 1890. She then reaffirmed her laurels when she became the first woman doctorate in Law in the world.
She will be remembered for her struggle for women's rights. In 1915, she initiated a campaign to offer education to those women who could not complete their studies when they were excluded from the system.
7- Mahatma Gandhi
Another fighter for peace and freedom in his country, as Mandela. From 1918 he became the head of the Indian nationalist movement, with which his country fought for independence.
It will be remembered for its innovative methods of combating the violence of the British government on duty. His defense of non-violence, led him to resist hunger strikes, marches and demonstrations.
He was imprisoned for his ideals but in 1943 he achieved his goal by making India independent. Gandhi thought that capital was not more important than work, it was a vegetarian and rejected all forms of animal abuse.
8- Margaret Thatcher
One of the notorious personalities of this list, known like the Iron Lady its ideals can be located in the opposite way to the one of Gandhi and Mandela.
She graduated from Oxford and was the first woman to be elected Prime Minister of England, a position she held between 1979 and 1990, being the person who presided the most time during the last century.
Her strong character and her ideals led her to win numerous enemies in the world. It promoted the privatization of state-owned enterprises, of education and of the means of social assistance in their country.
His most remembered events for the world are the Malvinas War, the islands of the South Atlantic with Argentina, and his refusal to form the European Union.
9- Alexis de Tocqueville
Considered the father of democracy, this French lawyer developed his career during the nineteenth century. His ideas about equality and his warnings about the dangers of tyranny influenced many thinkers and political leaders who transformed the world.
"I conceive then a society in which all, looking at the law as their work, love it and submit to it without effort,"was his most celebrated phrase.
10- Mikhail Gorbachev
He was head of state of the Soviet Union between 1988 and 1991. In 1990 he received the Nobel Peace Prize for his fight for peace during the Cold War, the greatest non-war conflict of the 20th century.
Geoffrey Lawrence
This British lawyer played a leading role in the Nuremberg Trials, which after World War II prosecuted and convicted 24 Nazi leaders.
12- Francis Biddle
He was an American lawyer who represented the United States in the Nuremberg Trials, one of the most lauded criminal proceedings in modern history.
13- Henri Donnedieu de Vabres
Like Biddle and Lawrece, he was one of the four judges who punished the Nazi leaders in 1946 representing France. He had a long career as a lawyer in different cases linked to genocide around the world and founded the International Association of Criminal Law.
14- Iona Nikítchenko
Representative of the Soviet Union in the Nuremberg Trials, in which the Nazi leaders were convicted of war crimes, against peace and against humanity.
The rulings gave 12 death sentences, three life sentences, two 20 years, one 15 and one against those responsible for the genocide in Germany.
15- René Samuel Cassin
French lawyer, is the main person in charge of the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights, recognized by the UN the 10 of December of 1948.
This declaration establishes 30 basic rights of every human being and is one of the most important advances of the twentieth century in terms of equality and human respect.
Cassin was the creator of UNESCO in 1947 and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1968.
16- Cordell Hull
Its importance as a lawyer in the world is given as one of the precursors of the Organization of Human Nations in 1945, which led to winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
In addition, Hull is considered one of the intellectuals behind the current trading system of the World Trade Organization.
17- Robert Schuman
This French lawyer led the peace negotiations during World War II and was the main driver of the European Union.
He died in 1963 without seeing his completed continental work but with the bases seated for what would happen in the following years. "Peace can only be based on equality,"was his most celebrated phrase.
18- Karl Loewenstein
Considered the best constitutionalist in history, he fled from his native Germany persecuted by the Nazi regime. Loewenstein was one of the main intellectuals of modern constitutionalism.
With his theory he pushed the form of states that today are spread throughout the world. His ideas about popular sovereignty and independence of powers are his greatest legacy.
18- Vernon Jordan
His fame is based on his fight for civil rights in the United States, but also for being considered the most expensive lawyer in the world.
He was an adviser to Bill Clinton when he was president, and his words against Ronald Reagan in 1981 toured the world and symbolized his struggle for equality.
"I do not question the conservatism of this administration. I challenge their failure to exhibit a compassionate conservatism that adapts to the realities of a class-based society and the distinction of race,"Jordan said.
19- Bill Clinton
He studied law and, after graduating, began a marathon political career that led him to be president of the United States in two periods between 1993 and 2001. He retired with a 76% positive image, the highest since World War II.
Husband of Hillary Clinton, who lost the last presidential elections before Donald Trump, Bill gained great world-wide fame by its descontracturado style and its charisma.
During its tenure, the US economy grew considerably and it was normal to see it in fun situations along with other world leaders.
But no doubt the scandals during his second term in the White House gave him greater world-wide fame.
Problems began to come to the fore when scholarship recipient Monica Lewinsky admitted having had sex with the president in her office.
He was subjected to a process of dismissal for abuse of power and obstruction to the work of justice, which was successful in 1998 after Congress vetoed the trial.
Clinton acknowledged having"improper physical behavior"but fervently denied having committed any offense as president. In that same year, 1998, he ordered the bombing of Iraq.
There is a long repertoire of cultural works that portray his life and his Affaires , Including Primary Colors, which chronicles his first presidential campaign during 1992.