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GAZETTE
JAN/FEB 1993
Obituary - Vincent Hallinan
Irish-American "Trial Lawyer
of the Century" Dies at 95
San Francisco, California - October
1 marked the death at age 95 of the
celebrated Irish-American lawyer,
Vincent Hallinan.
Champion of the
under-dog and called a lion in the
courtroom for his ferocity, Hallinan
leaves a legacy as one of the last
great independent lawyers in
America, a spokesman for social
change; afraid of no one.
During a legal career that spanned
over seventy years, Vincent Hallinan
earned a national reputation for his
impressive legal skills and willingness
to go to extremes in the furtherance
of his clients' interests. He crusaded
against court corruption, mounted
brilliant defences in high profile
murder cases and won record awards
against corporations and insurance
companies. His combative and often
irreverent style was matched by his
sharp wit. When a federal judge
asked him whether by his actions he
w
as trying to show contempt for the
court, he replied "No, Your Honour,
I'm trying to hide it."
Born in San Francisco in 1896 of
Irish immigrant parents, his father
from Ballingarry, Co. Limerick, his
mother a Sheehan from West Cork,
Hallinan once entered the political
arena as an independent presidential
candidate. He also sparred with J.
Edgar Hoover, spent time in federal
Prison and went all the way to the
US Supreme Court with a suit,
ultimately unsuccessful, alleging
fraud on the part of the Catholic
Church for expounding on the
existence of heaven and hell.
Hallinan possessed the toughness,
cunning and determination required of
a member of a poor minority to get
ahead. While he played rugby well
into his seventies, his real sporting
love was boxing. A former boxing
coach, he relished a good fight both
in and out of the courtroom
and was often inclined to use his
fists to pummel his legal opponents
in what he termed "out-of-court
settlements." By one account he is
reputed to have struck "at least 23
officers of the court" in his career.
But Hallinan the brawler was also
Hallinan the benefactor. In 1963, he
persuaded the Supreme Court to
quash the murder conviction of an
innocent man who became the first
person ever to be freed from
California's death row. TWo years
earlier Hallinan had responded to an
ad placed by an impoverished
woman in a local newspaper who
offered to work for any attorney
without pay for life in return for
saving her husband from the gas
chamber. No fee was ever exacted.
Hallinan took on his most
controversial case in 1949 against a
backdrop of nationwide communist
hysteria. "It was the perfect case,"
recalled his son Terence at a
testemonial tribute to his father earlier
this year, "where the client went free
and the lawyer went to jail."
Harry
Bridges,
the Australian-bom founder
of the International Longshoremen's
and Warehousemen's Union and
organiser of the infamous San
Francisco waterfront strike of 1934,
was accused of lying about his
communist affiliations on taking his
citizenship oath. His deportation trial
was bound to be a political hot
potato with repercussions for those
publicly siding with Bridges.
Hallinan's involvement incited scom
from the right and later drew the
attention of the FBI. Despite an
intense and vigorous defence m heated
proceedings, the government's charges
were affirmed in the red-baiting
climate of the day, only to be
dismissed on appeal to the Supreme
Court. In the meantime, Hallinan lost
his own appeal of a finding of
contempt stemming from the trial. He
was sentenced to six months in pnson.
Another set-back followed when
Hallinan was successfully prosecuted
by the government for tax evasion in
1953, a charge some saw connected
to his defence of Bridges. For this he
served eighteen months in a federal
penitentiary. To add insult to injury,
the State Bar of California suspended
him from practice for three years on
foot of the tax conviction.
Hallinan preferred not to talk about
this period of his life. He soon battled
his way back from adversity to
continue, up until the time of his
death, the campaign against injustice
he had begun so many years before.
He was bestowed with a suitable
honour this year when the Northern
California Trial Lawyers' Association
named him Trial Lawyer of the
Century. The memorial service for
Vincent Hallinan, lawyer and pugilist,
was attended by a huge gathering on
October 17, 1992. It was fittingly held
at the International Longshoremen's
and Warehousemen's Union Hall in
San Francisco.
May he rest in peace.
John G. Olden
N O T I CE
The High Court
In the matter of Christopher Forde,
Solicitor and in the matter of the
Solicitors Acts 1954 and 1960
TAKE NOTICE THAT
by Order of
the High Court made on Thursday 14
January 1993, it was ordered that no
banking company shall without leave
of the High Court make any payment
out of any banking account in the
name of Christopher Forde or his
Firm Christopher G. Forde & Co.
carried on at 79 O'Connell Street,
Ennis, Co. Clare or his sub office at
Kildysart, Co. Clare.
It was further ordered that the
practising certificate of Christopher
Forde be suspended.
Patrick Joseph Connolly,
Registrar of Solicitors