Philadelphia Lawyer

   During the eighteenth century a popular belief held that a Philadelphia lawyer was an awesome legal adversary. The reputation of a Philadelphia lawyer carried with it a picture of great talent and the ability to expose the weaknesses of opposition witnesses under cross-examination. The first recorded use of the phrase Philadelphia lawyer was in 1788 in the form "it would puzzle a Philadelphia Lawyer," but it was first heard at the trial of John Peter Zenger, the publisher of the New York Weekly Journal (it was what today would be called an "underground" newspaper), who printed a series of articles attacking the provincial government for abuses committed against the people and charging the government with personal corruption. Zenger was arrested in 1734 and indicted for seditious libel. He hired Andrew Hamilton, a distinguished Philadelphia lawyer, to come to his defense. Hamilton traveled to New York by a horse-drawn taxicab and, charging no fee, did come to Zenger's defense, devastating the prosecution. He brilliantly defended the beleaguered publisher and obtained a "not guilty" verdict. During the trial, the term Philadelphia Lawyer was used both as praise and opprobrium. The trial, according to one authority, "was instrumental in establishing a precedent for freedom of the press in American law."