Once upon a time, a legal ethics professor told a great story on the first day of class. As a young lawyer, he represented a woman in a personal injury case who had suffered a serious injury as a result of a car accident. At trial, she hobbled to the witness stand on crutches. She testified, tearfully, about the great pain she endured each day from walking even the shortest of distances. She testified how the accident had truly changed her life. After less than 30 minutes on the stand, the jury was practically in tears. The professor left the courthouse that day confident that when his client finished her testimony on the following day, victory would be assured.
The next morning, before appearing in court, the professor went to exercise at the Santa Monica stairs off Adelaide drive. And of course, he arrived to find his client there. Running. Smiling. Without crutches. Happy as a clam. Maybe even thinking about the perjurious testimony she would give later that morning with the professor’s help. (This professor waited until the end of the semester to tell his class what he did. Don’t worry, I will tell you at the end of this article.)
