January 11 2011

Legal Trivia: Abraham Lincoln’s Epic Legal Failure

posted by Allie

Let's face it, law school and the legal profession are no places for the faint of heart.  They are a world where egos are crushed and bubbles are busted.  But in this world of harsh realities, there are stories of perserverance and character.  And it's these types of stories that make it all worth it.  (Even if this story doesn't boost your spirits, you can at least be comforted in knowing that even 'ol Honest Abe had some crummy days as a lawyer)

Abraham Lincoln wore many hats (in addition the beloved top-hat) throughout his life: President, author of the Emancipation Proclamation, Illinois legislator, husband, and father.  However, in addition to these revered positions, he also had the misfortune of briefly owning another title “humiliated lawyer.” 

It was the summer of 1855, and Lincoln had just lost his U.S. Senate race when he received a substantial professional blow to his legal career.  Lincoln was a prominent lawyer in Springfield, Illinois and was approached by a well-known patent law firm from the East Coast to serve as local counsel in a landmark patent infringement case.  Lincoln had been recommended to the East Coast firm for the job, but because the case was so important, one of the firm’s attorneys decided to travel to Springfield to determine if Lincoln was up for the job.  After a brief meeting and an enticing fee arrangement, Lincoln was given the position. 

Lincoln immediately began working on the legal arguments for the difficult case. However, the case was transferred from Illinois to Ohio, and unbeknownst to Lincoln, the East Coast firm decided to team up with the brilliant Edwin Stanton—the same Edwin Stanton who would go on to become a member of Lincoln’s presidential cabinet, serving as Secretary of War.   This decision essentially fired Lincoln from the previous arrangement, but without knowledge of the decision to hire Stanton, Lincoln continued to labor on the case.  He wrote several letters to the East Coast firm requesting copies of the ongoing court proceedings, but never heard a response.  Despite the lack of communication, Lincoln was determined to finish the legal brief.  With the finished brief in hand, Lincoln traveled to Ohio for the pending hearing. 

Lincoln arrived at the hotel where the team of lawyers and the newly hired Stanton were preparing to leave for the court.  Lincoln congenially recommended to the lawyers, “Let’s go up in a gang” to which Stanton pulled aside the East Coast representatives and asked “Why did you bring that damned long armed Ape here… he does not know any thing and can do you no good.”  With that question, the lawyers left for court, leaving Lincoln behind.  One of the East Coast lawyers later described Lincoln’s appearance as he entered the hotel as “tall, rawly, boned, ungainly back woodsman, with coarse, ill-fitting clothing, his trousers hardly reaching his ankles, holding in his hands a blue cotton umbrella with a ball on the end of the handle.” 

Throughout the next few days Stanton made it very clear to Lincoln that Lincoln’s presence was no longer required or wanted, but Lincoln wanted to stay in Cincinnati to hear the arguments.  Despite the fact that Lincoln stayed in the same hotel, the team never once invited Lincoln to eat with them or accompany them to the hearings.  The team of attorneys did not even open the brief that Lincoln had worked so hard to prepare. 

Lincoln was obviously humiliated by the events and when asked if he would ever return to Cincinnati he replied, “I have nothing against the city, but things have so happened here as to make it undesirable for me to ever return here.”  Even though Lincoln had been thoroughly harassed by Stanton, Lincoln listened in awe to Stanton’s oral arguments realizing that he had never heard anything so elaborate or thoroughly prepared before.  Recognizing his own shortcomings, Lincoln confided to a friend that he realized he had a lot to learn about the law.  “For any rough-and-tumble case, I am enough for any man we have out in that country; but these college-trained men are coming West.  They have had all the advantages of a life-long training in the law, plenty of time to study.  Soon they will be in Illinois ….and when they appear I will be ready.”

Lincoln’s attitude toward this professional defeat demonstrates two remarkable character traits.  First, instead of leaving Cincinnati with a feeling of utter failure, Lincoln instead chose to focus on improving himself.  And second, instead of pursuing a personal vendetta against Stanton for treating him so poorly, Lincoln, just a few short years later, named Stanton to one of the highest offices in the country, Secretary of War.  This appointment would eventually lead to a friendship and respect between the two men during the intense Civil War years. 

(This brief anecdote of Lincoln’s days as a Springfield lawyer was summarized from a chapter of Doris Kearns Goodwin’s biography Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln.)