Murder he liked

Nathan Cohn is one of the winningest criminal defense lawyers alive, founder of the American Board of Criminal Lawyers, an organization of the top criminal trial lawyers in the nation, chosen by their peers. "Nate" explains he prefers murder cases because they give him the same thrill that others find in high-stakes gambling. But here the stakes are the highest, someone's life or liberty. His cases include one of the first post-partum depression homicide cases (in which his client spent not a day in jail); the fastest jury acquittal case in California history (40 minutes in a case in which his client confessed to stabbing his victim 18 times); the "Golden Dragon" case in which his client was identified as the shooter in a gang killing by seven eyewitnesses; and the "Cash or Clobber Collection Caper," where he used humor to free his client from a death penalty charge of kidnapping. Nate's tales are redolent with the atmosphere of the San Francisco of the 1940's and 1950's, of Sam Spade and "Baghdad by the Bay" – featuring a world of gamblers, bookies, gypsies, prostititutes, shoulder by shoulder with prominent politicians, Hollywood personalities, and society swells, and take him from the world of carnivals and circuses where he was raised to the corridors of the California legislature and the lobbyists and politicians who dominated it —all with a laugh and the realization that it is only a quirk of fate, or luck, which separates the insurance company vice president from the corner hustler.