«Devil’s Advocates»: 40 Brief Biographies of Lawyers Who Took on Controversial Cases

Original article: «Abogados del diablo»: 40 biografías breves de juristas que asumieron causas que nadie quería defender

Askasis Editions has released the book «Devil’s Advocates» (280 pages) in Chile, where Argentine writer and lawyer Julián Axat explores the brief biographies of 40 «famous» jurists who took on cases that no one wanted to defend, engaging in a varied journey through time and universal history.

From La Plata, Argentina, Axat shares, «For a long time, I have dedicated myself to collecting biographies of legendary jurists and lawyers who faced very challenging cases and represented individuals that society deemed unworthy of defense. This includes lawyers of people accused of terrorism, genocide, or other serious crimes.»

«In my case,» Axat continues, «I spent a long time as a lawyer for young individuals considered dangerous, so through my role, I collected stories of lawyers who did much the same.»

As a result, the book features 40 lawyers, both men and women, «who take charge of what society considers evil,» emphasizes the author, who included Pablo Rodríguez, one of Pinochet’s primary defenders in the lineup.

«There are also stories of Argentine and American lawyers, as well as French women who defended those once labeled as Algerian terrorists,» Axat details.

The book is available for purchase in Chile from Askasis Editions, whereas in Argentina, it can be obtained via Mercado Libre at this link.

In the book’s preface, Axat writes: «The lives of eclectic lawyers parade here, possessing fine rhetoric and high-minded frankness. There are all kinds of professionals: lawyers for Nazis, defenders of repressors, genocidal judges, of accused terrorists and assassins. And on the other side: defenders of witches, the mentally ill, women, children, chicken thieves, and revolutionary militants.»

«It doesn’t matter where they insinuate their belief from, whether they have blood on their hands or not. I am equally fascinated by them. For their capacity to be both damned and blessed, for leaving a trail for the future that I collect with devotion.»

Notable Featured Biographies

Friedrich Von Spee, lawyer for witches
Vicente Zito Lema, lawyer for poets and madmen
Maximilien Robespierre, guillotining lawyer for poets
Robert Servatius, lawyer for Adolf Eichmann
Jacques Vergès, lawyer for the «butcher of Lyon»
Horacio Castillo, lawyer poet at the State Prosecutor’s Office
Gisèle Halimi, feminist lawyer inventing her own rupture
Atilio Milanta, poetry lawyer for the police
Héctor Gustavo De la Serna, judge of the Argentine military dictatorship
Deodoro Roca, lawyer specializing in deconstructions
Perry Mason, series lawyer
Héctor Negri, court judge and poet
Judy Clarke, lawyer for accused terrorists
Vicente Mendivil, translating lawyer for Franz Kafka
Carlos Alberto Tavares, lawyer for Jorge Rafael Videla
Noemí Fiorito Labrune, human rights lawyer
Pablo Rodríguez Grez, preferred lawyer of Pinochet
Máximo Miguel von Kotsch, lawyer of Operation Massacre
Julio Cesar Strassera, prosecutor and the Divine Comedy
Theodor Niemeyer, lawyer for vigilantes and assassins
Matías Menéndez Behety, cursed poet lawyer
Raphael Lemkin, universal jurist homeless in New York
Gustavo García Saraví, sonneteer lawyer of law
Hans Kelsen and Carlos Cossio, jurists and poets
Matilde Alba Swann and Matilde Creimer, poet and lawyer
Carlos María Cárcova, lawyer against opacity
Lázaro Nieto Arana, lawyer against psychiatric power
Roberto Bergalli, criminologist lawyer suffering from criminology
Gustavo «Cuchi» Leguizamón, lawyer and folk musician of files
Pedro Delheye, poet lawyer of the diagonals
Rodolfo Ortega Peña, lawyer for political prisoners in two scenes of rupture
Carl Schmitt, Nazi jurist defending himself
Gustave Louis Chaix d’Este-Ange, lawyer of Les fleurs du mal
Roberts Alcorta, lawyer of «Mate and venga»

El Ciudadano