FROMTHE EXPERTS
FROMTHE EXPERTS
WHAT MADE GERRY SPENCE THE GREATEST?
By Jim Carroll
Gerry Spence, western mountain man and champion of the powerless who passed away August 13, 2025, was the greatest trial lawyer of all time, plain and simple. Personal memories of what made him great in the courtroom, where relatively few saw him, are worth preserving. Here are a few.
COWBOY COUSIN VINNY?
I first heard of Gerry as a kind of cowboy Cousin Vinny from the Wyoming sticks who’ d won the historic Karen Silkwood plutonium contamination case against Kerr- McGee and got famous from it.
I wanted to check him out so I signed up for a daylong Gerry Spence trial-lawyer workshop( I’ m a trial lawyer). I decided to play juror for the day and assess him accordingly.
Gerry arrived early and looked us over as we came in, wearing his oversized flat-brimmed cowboy hat like Billy Jack’ s and fringed buckskin jacket like Buffalo Bill’ s— an outfit begging to be made fun of. With the hat on he was pushing 6 feet 7.
COURTROOM GERRY
Gerry kicked things off with a kindly, rumbling“ Well, good morning.”
I’ d seen him on the TV talking-head circuit. That Gerry bore little resemblance to the formidable figure I watched stalk the stage 15 feet in front of me for the next eight hours. But who else would know that. Relatively few ever saw Gerry live and in person in his natural habitat( the courtroom— which the workshop simulated). None of his jury trials were ever televised or taped.
Courtroom Gerry was an overwhelming presence, bigger than any opponent— or judge, or courtroom. It was obvious in two minutes. Just standing there,