Gerry Spence

Gerry Spence
Born (1929-01-08) January 8, 1929 (age 95)
Laramie, Wyoming
EducationUniversity of Wyoming (BSL, LLB)[1]
Occupation(s)Lawyer, author

Gerald Leonard Spence (born January 8, 1929) is a semi-retired American trial lawyer and author. He is a member of the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame, and is the founder of the Trial Lawyers College.[2] Spence has never lost a criminal case before a jury either as a prosecutor or a defense attorney, and did not lose a civil case between 1969 and 2010.[3][4] He is considered one of the greatest lawyers of the 20th century,[5][6] and one of the best trial lawyers ever.[7][8][9][10][2] He has been described by legal scholar Richard Falk as a "lawyer par excellence".[11]

Spence is recognized for winning virtually every case he has dealt with,[8] and for winning a number of well-known cases, such as Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, the Ed Cantrell murder case, the Karen Silkwood case, and the defense of Geoffrey Fieger.[12] He also defended Brandon Mayfield,[13] and carried out the successful prosecution of Mark Hopkinson.[14] One of his most significant cases was the defense of Imelda Marcos, former First Lady of the Philippines, in a racketeering/fraud case considered one of the trials of the century,[15][16] which he won.[17][13]

He has also won large million-dollar lawsuits against companies, such as $26.5 million in libel damages for 1978 Miss Wyoming Kim Pring against Penthouse in 1981.[18] He also won a $52 million lawsuit against McDonald's in 1984.[19] According to Spence, he has won more multi-million dollar verdicts without an intervening loss than any lawyer in America.[20]

He acted as a legal consultant for NBC in its coverage of the O.J. Simpson trial and appeared on Larry King Live.[21] He is the author of over a dozen books about politics and law, including The New York Times bestseller How to Argue and Win Every Time (1995), Win Your Case (2005), From Freedom to Slavery (1993), and Police State: How America's Cops Get Away with Murder (2015).[22]

  1. ^ Hubbell, Martindale (April 2000). Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory: Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Puerto Rico & U.S. Territories (Volume 18 - 2000). Martindale-Hubbell. ISBN 978-1-56160-376-3.
  2. ^ a b "Gerry Spence". Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  3. ^ [1] Archived December 31, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Carter, Terry (2008-06-02). "Spence's No-Loss Record Stands with Fieger Acquittal". ABA Journal. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
  5. ^ Solovy, Jerold S.; Byman, Robert L. (1999). "The Timeless Litigator". Litigation. 26 (1): 12–18. ISSN 0097-9813. JSTOR 29760099.
  6. ^ Uelmen, Gerald (2000-01-01). "Who Is the Lawyer of the Century". Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review. 33 (2): 613. ISSN 0147-9857.
  7. ^ Gillins, Peter (1989-01-01). "Famed cowboy lawyer packs Oregon courtroom". UPI. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
  8. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Solovy, Jerold S.; Byman, Robert L. (1999). "The Timeless Litigator". Litigation. 26 (1): 12–18. ISSN 0097-9813. JSTOR 29760099.
  10. ^ Bennett, Mark W. (2014). "Eight Traits of Great Trial Lawyers: A Federal Judge's View on How to Shed the Moniker 'I Am a Litigator'". SSRN 2491035.
  11. ^ Falk, Richard (2015-12-11). "Gerry Spence on America Menaced by Impending Police State". Global Justice in the 21st Century. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
  12. ^ "The Legacy of Gerry Spence". www.spencelawyers.com. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
  13. ^ a b Levenson, Laurie L. (2015-09-14). "Gerry Spence and His Fight Against Power". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
  14. ^ McCullen, Kevin (1992-06-11). "A 'REAL PEOPLE' LAWYER'S HARDEST CASE". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
  15. ^ Bareng, Eriza Ong (2018). Steeling the Butterfly: The Imperial Constructions of Imelda Marcos 1966-1990 (PDF) (PhD thesis). University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
  16. ^ Live Awake PH (2021-11-10), Gerry Spence, Imelda Marcos' Defense Lawyer in the Trial of the Century, retrieved 2023-11-16
  17. ^ Tisdall, Simon (2015-07-03). "From the archive, 3 July 1990: Tears and cheers as Imelda cleared". The Guardian.com. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
  18. ^ Polk, Anthony (1981-02-21). "$26.5 Million Libel Award". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  19. ^ Ap (1984-01-22). "AROUND THE NATION; Ice Cream Maker Wins Suit on Oral Contract". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  20. ^ "Gerry Spence". Gerry Spence Method. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  21. ^ "The Legacy of Gerry Spence". www.spencelawyers.com. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
  22. ^ "Gerry Spence". Trial Guides. Retrieved 2023-11-16.