Law firms opting to represent controversial clients are coming under increasing pressure to justify their choices
Some lawyers bask in the glare of a notorious client and search for opportunities to pursue controversial cases. Others discreetly represent clients from whom they distance themselves publicly. There is nothing new in this. In 1631, when Lord Ochiltree failed to prove accusations of treason he made against the Marquess of Hamilton, his lawyers begged the Lords Commissioners to excuse them, out of shame “to open their mouths for so guilty a person, or in so foul a cause”. Ochiltree spent the next 20 years in jail.
