Hillary Clinton's dogged approach to litigation mirrors her political style
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Hillary Clinton. K2 images / Shutterstock.com
Hillary Clinton’s approach to cases as an Arkansas litigator in the 1970s wasn’t all that different from the way she handles challenges as a politician today.
That’s the appraisal of the New York Times, which took a look at some of Clinton’s cases, including her representation of an accused rapist and a canning company sued for including a rat portion in a can of pork and beans.
“A tour of Mrs. Clinton’s early work as a litigator,” the article reports, “turns up much of what would distinguish her as a politician many years later: Diligent preparation and a surgical approach to dismantling opposing arguments. A capacity for warmth with clients and adversaries alike. Toughness and deftness in the face of male condescension.”
Clinton was appointed, over her objections, to represent the man accused of raping a 12-year-old girl. Clinton was running a legal aid clinic at the University of Arkansas at the time, according to a Washington Post story on the case.
The defendant pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawful fondling after the crime lab failed to preserve crucial evidence. He served less than a year in jail.
The victim said at an October press conference that Clinton attacked her character, putting “me through something that you would never put a 12- year-old through.” Clinton had sought a psychiatric examination for the girl, saying in an affidavit that she had been informed the girl was “emotionally unstable with a tendency to seek out older men and to engage in fantasizing.”
Court documents indicate the judge denied Clinton’s motion for the test. Shelton also took a lie detector test, but the Washington Post found no evidence that Clinton arranged it.
In the case involving the rat, Clinton said in a 2003 memoir, she argued that something had gone wrong at the factory, but there was no harm to the plaintiff because “rodent parts which had been sterilized might be considered edible in certain parts of the world.” Jurors found for the plaintiff but awarded only nominal damages. Clinton handled the case while working at the Rose Law Firm.
Clinton also defended a moving company sued for a damaged coffee table, a low-flying crop duster accused of injuring a farm worker, an Arkansas utility, and a man accused of assaulting his girlfriend. She also handled a TV journalist’s divorce and handled other family law cases, representing a man seeking custody of his daughter and a couple who wanted to adopt their foster child.
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