CLARENCE DARROW’S LETTERS Presented By Randall Tietjen, Esquire

On Wednesday, October 30, Mr. Randall Tietjen will examine the selected correspondence of Clarence Seward Darrow. In the history of American law, no lawyer has achieved more renown than Darrow. Biographies of him and studies of his cases abound, as do films and plays about him. More has been written about Darrow and his cases—including the Scopes “Monkey Trial” in 1925 and the Leopold-Loeb case in 1924—than has probably been written about any other American lawyer (as a lawyer). But Darrow’s letters—until now—have not been published.

Randall Tietjen is a partner in the law firm of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi LLP in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Practicing primarily in the areas of securities, antitrust, constitutional law, and intellectual property, Mr. Tietjen has served as an Adjunct Professor, William Mitchell College of Law and was law clerk to the Honorable C. Arlen Beam, United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Books: Copies of In the Clutches of the Law: Clarence Darrow’s Letters will be available for purchase and signing by Mr. Tietjen.

Place: Mitchell Courthouse – 100 North Calvert Street – Main Reading Room of the Bar Library (Room 618).

Time: 5:00 p.m., Wednesday, October 30, 2013, with a wine & cheese reception immediately following.

Invitees: Members of the Library Company of the Baltimore Bar and their guests, judges, employees of Baltimore City and its courts, courthouse employees, government lawyers, public interest lawyers, law librarians, law and college faculty and students. Others may attend on payment of a $20 admission charge or upon application for Bar Library membership. All proceeds collected will go to the Bar Library’s Honorable Harry A. Cole Self-Help Center.

R.S.V.P.: If you would like to attend telephone the Library at 410-727-0280 or reply by e-mail to [email protected].

In the Clutches of the Law: Clarence Darrow's Letters

This volume presents a selection of 500 letters by Clarence Darrow, the pre-eminent courtroom lawyer of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Randall Tietjen selected these letters from over 2,200 letters in archives around the country, as well as from one remarkable find--the kind of thing historians dream about: a cache of about 330 letters by Darrow hidden away in the basement of Darrow's granddaughter's house. This collection provides the first scholarly edition of Darrow's letters, expertly annotated and including a large amount of previously unknown material and hard-to-locate letters. Because Darrow was a gifted writer and led a fascinating life, the letters are a delight to read. This volume also presents a major introduction by the editor, along with a chronology of Darrow's life, and brief biographical sketches of the important individuals who appear in the letters.

Tietjen says that Darrow’s letters show a marvelous lawyer’s mind at work and reveal Darrow’s interests, ambition, and philosophy, as well as his politics, the events of his day, and his relationships with a large array of people. The letters offer special insight into the reasons for Darrow’s success as a lawyer and his lasting fame. The book includes a total of 502 letters—all of them annotated to make the people and events understandable today— with a scholarly introduction that discusses many aspects of Darrow’s wide-ranging interests and his remarkable personality.

Reviews

The reviews of In the Clutches of the Law have praised Tietjen’s scholarship and trumpeted the book’s arrival:

Marion Elizabeth Rodgers, the author of a popular biography of H. L. Mencken (Mencken: The American Iconoclast) (as well as three time presenter at the Bar Library) says, “Tietjen combines impeccable scholarship, legal expertise, and a passion for his subject. The result is an informative, entertaining book that shows Darrow in all of his dimensions. A major, stunning resource."

Bryan A. Garner, editor in chief of Black’s Law Dictionary and a well-known authority on writing and grammar, recently declared Tietjen’s In the Clutches of the Law to be the “[b]est law-related book to have appeared in 2013.”

Michael Tigar, a prominent criminal-defense attorney, describes the book as “one of the three best books on Clarence Darrow ever published” (the other two being Darrow’s autobiography and a collection of Darrow’s speeches).

Edward J. Larson, the author of a Pulitzer Prize-winning history of the Scopes trial (Summer for the Gods), says that Tietjen’s “remarkable collection [of Darrow’s letters] will deepen our understanding of a near-legendary figure.”

John A. Farrell, author of a recent biography of Darrow (Clarence Darrow: Attorney for the Damned), declared that, “[f]or libertarians, lawyers, progressives, free thinkers, historians and all other assorted admirers of Clarence Darrow, Randall Tietjen’s collection of letters is a long-awaited, highly-anticipated and—I don’t use the term lightly—historic event.”