I grew up in a family of lawyers. People seem to have a bad impression of the legal profession, but from what I saw, they were a moral group of folks, or at least thoughtful.

Having judges and lawyers for dinner company acclimated me to a high standard of dialogue, I think. In my mother's words, I was a champion arguer - I had to learn to out-lawyer the lawyers.

When I was young, I much admired Clarence Darrow.

Having all these lawyers in the family gave me a sense of security when I was thrown in jail. As George jr. - "so many criminal lawyers in the family, 'bout time we had a criminal."

Ma has been around a long time for a female attorney. She spoke about the benefits and burdens of a woman having a career in February '96.

a family affair