law." the reason i liked "l.a. law" was that it was about the kind of business of law. you know? a lot of it was about the real, you know, business. you have to work hard in that context to get drama. it's harder to write a show like "l.a. law" because you have to find drama almost in the ordinary practice of law. to my way of thinking, you know, doing a crime show or even a criminal defense show, that's the easy stuff to do. you know? there's drama that's inherent in it. the hard stuff to do is say, like "the paper chase" where they're going to the library. really. so you've got to figure out a way to make that interesting. we did a show called "scavenger hunt," a massive search through all the libraries. and it's actually a very exciting show. but when we went to the network, they said, what are you shooting? we said we're shooting an episode with seven libraries. and they were like, we got to cancel this. how did osborn get here? you know? that's the hard kind of stuff for television. i'd like to see more of that. i am so sick of "law & order." [laughing] and all of that stuff

the nuremberg laws were rules by law. what exists around most of the world and in cuba today come in my own experience, is that the most powerful, the most privileged, get together and decide what rights, if any, the minority have. the united states constitution is the rule by law. the rule by law is to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority. it is the classic definition of law. now, the rule of law is what justice kennedy and justice roberts recently spoke about. in their opinions, one was involving the flag-burning case. texas vs. johnson. the other one was by justice kennedy. the other one was by justice roberts very recently in the demonstrations of military fit -- demonstrations at military funerals. they both said the same thing. they said, we don't like what these people did. as a matter of fact, what they did and their beliefs are abhorrent to most americans, and to us personally, but unless we protect their rights, all our rights are in jeopardy. and that is why the concept of a constitutional demo

no one is above or below the law. the rule of frame is the street people cannot sleep under the bridge, but the chief of police and the district attorney cannot sleep under

or laws that would reduce the sale of incredibly lethal ammunition or reduced the use to law-enforcement. these sorts of things which seem very common sense to a lot of people are under legal challenge. that's true in this city and it's one of the reasons you are being presented with this legislation. the national rifle association is actually suing the city and county of san francisco over these two ordnances. when the city originally adopted them, it was not the case under that law that there was a second amendment right that might be infringed. we did not prepare as would normally be the case, with legislation with a constitutional dimension. we did not prepare findings at that point because we did not know these laws would be so closely scrutinized by the judiciary. now that we know that, it's important to come back to these laws and explain what the foundation is for them exactly and so, the fact these laws are under challenge right now in this city is one of the primary reasons why it is important for the board of supervisors to express what its rationale was for these laws. superv

segregation was still not yet against the law. and particularly for white southerners, this novel, which caught on, you know, famously and quickly, it gave white southerners a way to think about how they were raised and to think about the system in which they were raised. it did so perhaps in a way that a political speech didn't do because it was told through the eyes of a child. it was a popular story that wasn't just about race, it about growing up in a small town. it was about coming of age. it was about love. it was about lonliness. it had all the suspense. the novel had so many elements with which to draw people in. >> so the tremendous amount of -- about harper lee. i know she never wrote another book. it was a pulitzer prize-winning book, and the film won the academy award. and yet she never wrote another book. what did you learn about harper lee and her reasons? >> well, i was fortunate enough to get great access to two very close friends of her. a new york city couple who gave their friend, harper lee, money. they remain

if you went to law school, the one book you would have read before going to law school was "the paper chase," and this is a book that john j. osborn wrote. has really become a classic. and it, of course, spawned an oscar-award winning film, same name, and also a television series. he's also written an incredible article about "to kill a mockingbird," so we're going to ask him about that. next we have paulette frankl. and paulette is a courtroom sketch artist. now, how cool is that? that's a pretty cool job, and she spends a lot of time in the courtroom and that's how she came across tony serra. and she spent 17 years, 17 years compiling the incredible book that she's put together that just came out and is called "lush for justice," and it's a book of incredible illustrations, artwork as well as a narrative. and right next to her we have tony serra, and tony serra is the most prolific trial lawyer of our times. he's tried more cases than any other living lawyer. if you ever had a chance to see him in court, it's just a sight to behold. it really is. we're so grateful that he could be h

that is opposed to brazil, where you have 1000 law schools, you can open a law school for a couple hundred bucks, and they have a huge failure rate. we are working with the brazilians, other colleges, law schools. i spoke to their major university about these issues, and they are doing what they can to increase. i would tell them to make sure that the legal education is a quality legal education. it is the first of to have a monopoly, so you can control the lawyers, and make sure they are acting in an ethical way. i think there was a third part of the question, what would i tell them not to do. by the way, before i get to that, in vietnam, i recently met with the president of their bar association, similar to the american bar. in most countries, they have a government bar association that is part of the government, in effect. then they just have an non-club federated are. the person was a 70-year-old viet cong that was the chair. one of the most interesting conversations i ever had. someone who did not told anyanger, -- not hold any anger, but wanted information and help from america. the

supreme court struck down part of arizona as public financing laws. that part is very analogous, virtually identical, to san francisco's laws. the purpose of this legislation was to make sure we were in compliance with the supreme court. i appreciate supervisor kim's objection, but this is to -- but this has been decided by the supreme court. we are not here to decide it. it is that president we have when we say idyllic -- when we say ideology is more important. we are being reactive to the u.s. supreme court. that applies to us here at the board of supervisors as it does everywhere else in this country. scores of other jurisdictions are amending their laws and, just to reiterate for the public, arizona, connecticut, florida, hawaii, maine, nebraska, north carolina, west virginia, wisconsin, albuquerque, and particularly in new haven connecticut. these jurisdictions all amended their finances and had them struck down by a court of law. we need to too to avoid a lawsuit. we are playing roulette with taxpayer dollars. i appreciate supervisor kim enter c

we start practicing modern law like in federal court. these reforms -- i cannot talk about in two minutes. i have been in the system for over 20 years. go do my website -- go to my website. i have an actual plan laid out there, and it works. if these are implemented, it will work, and i would ask for your support. thank you. >> when congresswoman jackie spear urged me to run for san francisco d.a., she said san francisco deserves ada that is a professional prosecutor, that this season and is in it for the duration. that is what i bring you. we're definitely in challenging times. we have over 1000 unsolved murder cases and over 900 unsolved rape cases. we have allegations we are reading about that the problems are not being fixed at all. we have hundreds of cases dismissed due to allegations of police misconduct, and our appointed d.a. has supervised and trained the very police he is now being asked to investigate. our courtrooms are being closed because of a backlog of cases, which means that justice is being delayed, and the clock is ru

law is fair, it applies to everyone equally. no one is above or below the law. the rule of frame is the street people cannot sleep under the bridge, but the chief of police and the district attorney cannot sleep under the bridge. see how fair it is? it's equal. isn't it? [applause] >> actually, we'll have the d.a. here and the chief of police. so we can ask them that question. [laughing] now, sheldon, you've written books about a fictional defense attorney. the stories that you tell really get into, i think, the issues and stories of our time. and that's why your books have been so popular. first of all, you know, how did you become a writer? why did you become a writer? and how did you end up writing did a criminal defense attorney in san francisco, of all places? >> i was not told i would follow tony serra. i need to go back and prepare a little more. [laughing] i learned something, too. i guess i better stand up. [laughing] i'm really honored to be here. i'm the toy department. i write novels about the types of cases that lawyers like tony handle. in the dayt

the laws in this area are strict compliance laws, and they are very specific. the federal law since 1990 indicates issues from 1998. all businesses, such as a grocery store, a dentist's office, restaurants, a doctor's office, virtually anything that a member of the public comes into the -- comes into needs to be a barrier-free. we will go over what barriers are. every public accommodation needs to be wheelchair-accessible. there are also other other forf disability. most of the issues we are hearing about are wheelchair accessibility issues. there is a small group of private individuals who are wheelchair-down that go around the city and they look at small businesses. and i dare say anybody in small restaurants have some accessibility issues. it is another attempt at making your building wheelchair accessible. i am not sure which of you may be merchants and which it may be landlords. the law applies to both. and that means you were 100% liable for any barriers to access and any damages that may be associated with those barriers. there are ways you can defend yo

he is a professor of law at golden gate university school of law, former chief assistant san francisco public defender, was president of the bar association of san francisco in 1989, and also served as vice president of the state bar in california. he's an internationally known legal analyst and provides regular legal analysis on cbs television and radio here in san francisco. he offered san francisco's handgun control ordinance and proposition 190, amending the california constitution & reforming the state commission on judicial performance. peter is a well known and expected -- respected leader in the community and a perfect person to moderate tonight's forum. it is my pleasure to introduce our moderator for this evening, peter keane. [applause] >> thank you very much, cynthia. it is a great pleasure for me to be here, and i thank the league and the bar association and the criminal trial lawyers association for inviting me to do this. i am a neutral moderator. i have not endorsed any candidate in regard to this race, and you will hear from the candidates who will have an opportunity

if these laws are in place. but over a half million guns are stolen and immediately in criminal hands every year. also,