What went wrong–and right–with 10 famous trials

J. Craig Williams believes empathy is an important quality to be a trial lawyer. It’s served him in his profession, and it’s a tool he has also been using as an author trying to get into the minds of people from past eras.

In How Would You Decide? 10 Famous Trials That Changed History, Book One, Williams examines cases and trials from history through the lens of a modern trial lawyer. He uses the accounts of the historical proceedings to illustrate current principles of litigation and civil rights, and explains what each can tell us about the rule of law. 

In this episode of The Modern Law Library, Williams tells the ABA Journal’s Lee Rawles that empathy was key in trying to understand the people involved in events like the Salem Witch trials, and figuring out how injustices could be perpetrated. He realized there were parallels to be drawn between society in late-17th century Salem and American society today.

The 10 trials featured in this first volume of How Would You Decide? are:

• The Trial of Jesus
• The Salem Witch Trials
• Boston Massacre Trial
• Civil War Tipping Point and Aftermath Trials (Dred Scott, John Brown, Plessy v. Ferguson)
• O.K. Corral Shootout Trial of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday
• The Black Sox Trial
• The Scopes “Monkey Trial”
• The Lindy Chamberlain Trial
• The McMartin Preschool Trial
• The O.J. Simpson Murder Trial

The case that most readers bring up when speaking with Williams is the Boston Massacre trial. Williams, who grew up in New England, says he was surprised to find during his research that there was much he hadn’t known about the case himself. Founding Father and future president John Adams was the attorney who successfully defended the British soldiers who fired into the Massachusetts crowd, an extremely risky professional and social decision. Williams and Rawles discuss Adams’s representation and what it meant for the establishment of the rule of law in the United States.

Listeners might best know Williams from his Lawyer2Lawyer podcast, which he launched in 2005, making him a pioneer in legal podcasting. Since Williams was already familiar with audio production, How Would You Decide? was a natural fit for multimedia. He launched a companion website, 10FamousTrials.com, making available more of the source material he relied on to write the book. He also partnered with Legal Talk Network to release a miniseries podcast, which is currently in production. In Dispute covers one of the 10 trials each episode, featuring commentary and reenactments drawn from trial transcripts and historical documents.

In this episode, Williams and Rawles discuss his research process, how he selected which trials to feature, and what might make it into Book Two. They also get into the holiday spirit by talking about The Sled, a Christmas story Williams and his wife wrote for their grandchildren.