About Steve Knopper
Steve Knopper is a Billboard editor at large, former Rolling Stone contributing editor, contributor to The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, GQ and many other publications, and the author of two books: Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age and MJ: The Genius of Michael Jackson. A longtime Super Lawyers contributor, he has written numerous oral histories, including one about civil rights attorneys in Alabama in the 1950s and ’60s and another on the pioneering wave of women attorneys in Southern California in the 1970s. He lives in Denver, Colorado.
Articles written by Steve Knopper
The Man Who Introduced John Lewis to Martin Luther King Jr.
Attorney Fred Gray on the passing of the civil rights iconFred Gray was not only the attorney who represented Rosa Parks during the 1955-56 Montgomery Bus Boycott, he was the man who introduced Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to a young kid from Troy, Alabama, who, in 1958, wanted to file suit to attend Alabama's all-white Troy State College. His name was John Lewis. While Lewis never attended Troy State, he would go on to become the first president of SNCC, speak at the March on Washington, lead the Freedom Rides, lead the Selma-to-Montgomery marches that …
Trial by Fire
Starting out as a prosecutor: a brutal workload. And the best job everIn her first five years as a lawyer, Adrienne McEntee tried about 50 cases—from DUIs to murders—some of which she received after walking into the courtroom. "You learn how to juggle a lot of cases and how to digest an enormous amount of information in a short period of time," says McEntee, a 2003 University of Washington School of Law graduate, "and then have to turn around, pick a jury, deliver an opening statement—oftentimes, without notes." Her job at the King County Prosecuting …
Going Public
Six LA-area criminal defense attorneys recount the joys and heavy workloads of being prosecutors and public defendersLong before Aaron McAllister became an attorney, he watched his brother lose a Division I football scholarship after being pressured into a plea deal on allegations of selling marijuana. His public defender barely knew his name, and he was convicted without a trial. “He wanted to be a teacher and had all these goals and plans,” McAllister recalls. “I just saw how it hurt him even after he served his time. It made me really passionate about criminal defense.” As a result, one of …
'Whatever You Do, Don't Look at the Clock'
Florida attorneys swap U.S. Supreme Court stories—from getting dressed down by Scalia to being the last lawyer to address RehnquistTallahassee attorney Barry Richard has argued four cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. One took place in the midst of a scorching heatwave; another in a deep freeze; one was packed with visitors for an unrelated abortion case; another was empty save a handful of tourists. But he's most famous for a case he didn't argue in D.C.: Bush v. Gore, for which he was candidate George W. Bush's lead attorney in 47 Florida state cases. But he had to miss Ted Olson’s argument in the federal case …
This Is a Change, and I Want to Be Part of It
An oral history of trailblazing women in the lawFrom 1969 to 1971, on the University of Michigan campus, Jeralyn Merritt hung out with Iggy Pop, MC5 and Alice Cooper while working her part-time job at a record store. When there were student protests at the University of Southern California, Lynn Feiger recalls the female law school dean bringing donuts as part of a plan to defuse tension. Nancy R. Crow was able to travel through Europe after law school, when her male contemporaries could not, because they were eligible to be drafted into the …
The Face of a Lawyer
An oral history of trailblazing women in Illinois lawIn the early '70s, when A. Marcy Newman showed up on her first day at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, she was one of about 10 women in a class of 210 students, and some professors didn't know what to do. One brought up a case involving a woman who'd suffered pain and damage during a hairdresser appointment, and pointedly invited Newman to comment. "This is closer to you than the rest of us," he declared—but his assumptions were wrong. Newman had been a counter-culture hippie at …
Across the Aisle
Former prosecutors who switched to defense compare notesFor eight years, Steven R. Adams worked in the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office, first handling juvenile felonies, then adult ones. One day, he looked at his paycheck, which amounted to roughly $42,000 a year, and thought: “I’m going to switch sides.” So he hung out his shingle. “Fortunately, it’s worked out quite well for me,” he says. “I mean, I work my tail off. I worked it as a prosecutor, too, but I’d rather work long hours and make more money than $42,000 a year.” …
'In Different Shoes'
Five Texas women follow the ‘path through the jungle’ carved by predecessors like Sandra Day O’ConnorBy the 1980s, women were a solid presence in law schools, firms and courtrooms. But the challenges facing them in the male-dominated field did not vanish overnight. “I have walked in for depositions and heard: ‘Are you the court reporter?’” says Jane Webre, with Scott Douglass & McConnico in Austin. “No male lawyer has ever been asked that. Every female lawyer who does litigation has been asked that—100%.” Not long ago, Webre attended a speech by former U.S. Supreme Court …
9 Stories
What was it like being part of the first wave of women attorneys? Nine Oregon lawyers tell allBy the 1970s, many female law students were no longer completely alone in their classes, as Sandra Day O’Connor had been. Many male colleagues were supportive, too. “Being a woman provided me access and visibility that perhaps I wouldn’t have had if I’d been a man,” recalls Janet Hoffman. But problems remained. Some Portland social clubs, where attorneys held crucial meetings, remained male-only for another 20 years. The odd male law student could still turn to a female classmate in …
Who We Are
Immigrant attorneys share their journeys to, and visions of, AmericaIt’s no surprise that Florida’s most common immigration stories have to do with escaping Fidel Castro’s Cuba. Many of these end happily—Giselle Carson and Jorge Espinosa, for instance, escaped the island when they were kids, then grew up to become lawyers. Carson, a shareholder at Marks Gray in Jacksonville, left on a plane when she was 15 years old, thinking she was taking a two-week vacation in Czechoslovakia, until her parents told her they were actually declaring asylum in Canada. …
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