Philadelphia lawyer

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See also: Philadelphia Lawyer (song)

The term Philadelphia Lawyer is today generally used to refer to an attorney in less than glowing terms. However, its origins were complimentary. The first "Philadelphia Lawyer" was Andrew Hamilton (c. 1676 – August 4, 1741) was a Scottish lawyer in Colonial America, best known for his legal victory on behalf of printer and newspaper publisher John Peter Zenger. This 1735 decision helped to establish that truth is a defense to an accusation of libel. His eloquent defense was concluded with the notion that the press has "a liberty both of exposing and opposing tyrannical power by speaking and writing truth." His success in this case has been said to have given rise to the expression "Philadelphia lawyer", in the sense of a particularly adept and clever attorney, as in "It would take a Philadelphia lawyer to get him off." So the term was originally highly complimentary in referring to a lawyer's skills.

Over the years, as civil law in America has taken on some of the less complimentary traits that many refer to the term has lost a lot of its complimentary tones and is now a clever, crafty, or otherwise extremely adroit practitioner of law who may or may not be above stepping out of bounds to achieve his desired results.