WOMAN LAWYER

Hokitika Guardian, 27 September 1932, Page 2

WOMAN LAWYER

THREEg BIG MURDER TRIALS

WOULD NOT DEFEND AL CAPONE

LONDON, September 21

A'charming; and essentially feminine .woman with; an American accent but international ideas went to England expressly- to tell the world how it should deal with its crime problems. As oiie of America’s leading criminal lawyers, 'Miss Dorothy .Fraoks ha s every qualification and ■ every, Sight to set bj&rself up as an authority on -crime, a« did when ishe. addressed the I ' La\y' Oxford. fly appearing Thievery type of court in her own country, and defending men. and women accused of almost every conceivable offence, she has passed : through a cockpit of cosmopolitan Wrong-doing. A . ; \Vhen met by a pressmen at Oxi'ord it seemed inconceivable that a small smiling woman of quiet voice and welcoming demeanour could be the one who had defended ,and gained the verdict in three niul’der cases,..had been engaged in trials of every type. , : - ghe told him she has never undertaken to defend a person unless convinced of his or her innocence, or ot the ethical unreality o£ the crime. When asked if she had defended any gangsters her reply wa 9 characteristic. “The real gangster is a bad mart, unworthy _ot pity, and therefore unworthy of being defended, t would not defend: a man like diamond or Capone whatever the brief.”; " ■ ■■’’. . , Asked if : she bad. lost any- big briefs by abiding to, her principles, the answer was:. “5000 dollars (about £1000). The man who was guilty and now in prison begged me to {defend him.' ;‘No/. I replied, ‘you afe guilty.’;‘But.you could probably get me off,’ he said, to which I replied, , ‘That is what I am afraid of-.’ ” : • ' 0 ■