atticus finch represents the last republican lawyer. and i mean republican in the sense of the republic, of thomas jefferson, those kinds of people. the last lawyer who really believes that to enunciate the important principles of america is going to work. this is in a town where their first reaction -- i mean, tom ewell is an incredibly evil, disgusting person. everybody in town knows that. but they believe him. you know, they're willing to take his word even though they know he's lying completely, they're willing to take his word. they're willing to go out and try to lynch tom robinson, right? they have taken one of their upstanding citizens, bo radley, and locked him in the attic. he's been there for god knows how many years. has anybody in town done anything about it? no. lock your kids in the attic. that's the kind of town you're dealing with. as we're seeing this through the idse of scout, a child, we have -- through the eyes of scout, a child, we have to dig into it ourselves to see what's going on and once you do you realize tha

you got children of your own. >> atticus finch. >> this ring that belonged to your mother. you want to tell us what really happened? >> i got nothing to say. do nothing about it. you coward! >> gentlemen, i shall be brief but i would like to use the remaining time i have with you to remind you that this case is not a difficult one. it requires no minute sifting of complicated facts, but it does require you to be sure beyond a reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the defendant. to begin with, this case should never have come to trial. this case is as simple as black and white. the state has produced not one iota of medical evidence to the effect that the crime tom robinson is charged with ever took place. it has relied instead on the testimony of two witnesses whose evidence is not only been called into serious question on cross-examination but has been flatly contradicted by the defendant. the defendant is not guilty. but somebody in this courtroom is. i have nothing but pity in my heart for the chief witness for the state, but my pity does not extend so far as to her puttin

and i kept thinking, what would atticus finch do now? what would atticus finch do now? a few years later when i began secretly writing my first novel, i was drawn back to "to kill a mockingbird" for the incredible storytelling ability of harper lee, for the timeless themes, the justice and loss of innocence, for the humor, but most importantly for the character of atticus finch. .. >> it is a prized position. i have a place for it on the wall, and today i will add it next to this award here. now that i have two earlier, dean gave me another signed copy of "to kill a mockingbird." i have two kids, and i love to collect old books. and they're constantly wickerring about who gets -- bickering about who gets what. now i have two copies thanks to you. [laughter] thank you all for this award. [applause] >> thank you, john. appreciate your remarks very much. it's now time for a panel discussion comparing the two books, exploring their place in legal literature and their impact. it'll be moderated by david ball catch shi -- baldacci. dahlia lithwick writes supreme court dispatc

so the question how was it changed since atticus finch? [inaudible] >> please go peered >> well, for one thing, atticus finch is a flawless carrot here. for many people who read "to kill a mockingbird," that is some of the complexity the book you have a character who is too good at the end is going to have his own son prosecuted for the voluntary manslaughter of the most evil man in all of alabama. overly righteous. and now we see characters with much more complexity. kerry nurse who have flaws, who are in fact using the love with many john grisham cared terry's in this quality are accusing the case as a way to redeem themselves, as a way to find themselves through the law. atticus finch was quite clear he was as a father, who as of the time legislature, who he was as a native son of alabama. you know, if you look at our today, the characters are as lost as their client and we find them the struggling divorce in real human struggles in that makes it a huge difference between the last 50 years, characters with much more texture and much mor

not set in the 1960's, and atticus was a court-appointed attorney. and what he really did was he gave his client a vigorous defense which is -- was not expected and in fact, what's great at looking at the movie version of "to kill a mockingbird" is the jurors -- some of the jurors sitting in the jury box reading the paper because everybody figured they knew how this trial was going. you know, it tells you something sometimes about what a trial l can do, not just for the people who are on trial but for everyone who's watching it. and atticus did something that his neighbors and parts of his family didn't expect him to do. i think what's interesting about the novel is america was a deeply divided place. especially in the deep south. 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 d

we have a real-life atticus finch, tony serra, who is here and has motivated so many of us to do what we do. our second panel looks at abuse of power, abuse of power and how it happens and why it happens and most importantly what we can do and need to do to prevent it. whether it's a prosecutor or a judge or a defender render ineffective assistance to counsel or a police officer violating constitutional rights. this is not something we can tolerate, yet it happens each and every day. and our panel is going to delve deep into the issues that we're seeing not only here in the bay area but throughout the country and throughout the world. our third panel after lunch will talk about the future of the death penalty and hopefully its demise. you might be surprised that we are having a conversation here in san francisco about the death penalty. as you know, our district attorney has indicated that he may seek the death penalty in appropriate cases in san francisco, and that has not been the case for the past decade. but he's coming today to talk about his views. we also have a former warden a

and i can't think dean, what would atticus do now? , what would atticus do now? a few years later when now? a few years later when i began secretly writing my first novel, i was drawn back to "to kill a mockingbird" for the incredible storytelling ability of harper lee for the timeless themes of injustice and the loss of innocence, for the humor and most importantly for me for the care they are of atticus finch. a few years later, after my first book was published, i received a package one day on march. i open it

aties cuss finch -- atticus finch didn't have to deal with a 24-hour news cycle. tony serra didn't have to deal with bloggers in his career. i think what's going on in new york city where the head of the i.m.f. was arrested for doing some untorrid things in a big hotel. i found it ironic last night that eliot spitzer was interviewing people talking about these sorts of activities, and that cycle is going on and on. if you want to play a drinking game, you know, who wants to take bets of when we're going to have the first appearance of gloria allred? it's inevitable. i'm getting off the point a little bit here. but at some point i think it was around the time of the o.j. case where you had this confluence of a big public figure, it was a juicy trial, and cable news was just becoming a force. it changed the environment in which we operate, at least criminal system operates. because it's not just cases anymore, it's entertainment. it's a whole media frenzy on big cases. and i don't think that's a very good thing, but that is the environment in which we operate. and l

unlike many, i cannot say that atticus finch inspired me to go to law school. i don't know what i was thinking when i went to law school. but i do recall ye

not because atticus finch is the smartest guy on the block, but because the movie makers are the smartest guys on the block. [applause] >> once again we have all the books by our novelists here and our writers here in the front. or you can find them on amazon.com. i'd like to thank mary mcdonagh murphy, who joined us from new york via skype, and john -- john is actually a descendant of the first chief justice of the u.s. supreme court. paulette frankl, "lust for justice," tony serra, and sheldon siegal. so before we take a break, i do have a surprise. a few years ago, i guess six or seven years ago, i met an amazing artist. i was visiting his home. and he had created this wonderful sculpture. i immediately recognized it as being clarence. it turned out that he had created a number of just amazing sculptures of trial lawyers. and he went on to do one of clara fults, the first woman attorney in california and became the leader of the public defender movement. and just by happenstance, he called me and had this idea of encapsulating one of the greatest trial attorneys of our times. so, bill?