Legal Grounds | Conversations on Life, Leadership & Law
After over three decades in the legal-trenches, Mike Bassett has learned to appreciate two things: good conversation & good coffee.
Legal Grounds is an ongoing series of interviews with the people who are shaping our world - legal or otherwise. Witty, irreverent, & always thoughtful, these brief discussions fall somewhere between “Night Court” & Hopper’s “Nighthawks At The Diner”.
With that in mind, we promise your coffee will still be warm when the podcast is done.
(Legal Grounds was written, recorded, and produced by Dust Devil Press)
Legal Grounds | Conversations on Life, Leadership & Law
Legal Grounds | Stephen Jones on the Oklahoma City Bombing, Adherence to the Law in the Face of Tragedy, & the Right to Representation as a Pillar of Justice
Stephen Jones is one of the most well-known trial attorneys currently practicing.
With six decades of experience working some of the country's most high-profile Civil Rights cases, he would become a household name after accepting the position of representing Timothy McVeigh in the wake of the Oklahoma City Bombing.
In this week’s episode, Stephen was kind enough to join me for what I think is best described as a Craft-Conversation around the art of practicing law. So while we talk extensively about his time spent representing McVeigh, if you’re looking for your ‘true-crime’ fix, this isn’t it.
We discuss the importance of the Sixth Amendment as a buffer against vengeance, managing the emotional-toll that complex cases take on even the best attorneys, and the often unspoken balancing act between desire for swift justice and need for procedural patience.
You don’t have to be a lawyer to appreciate the wisdom shared in this episode.
But for those who are in the legal profession, I think this is a rare opportunity to listen to, and hopefully learn from, someone who embodies what it means to practice the law in its purest form: absent of ego or prejudice.
Enjoy the show.
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SHOWNOTES
BOOK: Other's Unknown by Stephen Jones
OKLAHOMA HISTORICAL SOCIETY: Voices of Oklahoma Audio Interviews