"I want a lawyer and will not consider saying anything until one is here."
— What to say if you are arrested and interviewed in The United States
"I respectfully invoke my right to remain silent and will not say anything until I have a lawyer."
— A more formal convention of what to say if you are arrested and interviewed in The United States
"[A]ny lawyer worth his [or her] salt will tell the [client] in no uncertain terms to make no statement to the police under any circumstances."
— Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, in the Watts v. Indiana (1949) case.
"And one would wonder why one needs an attorney if one was not charged and had not done anything wrong."
— Michael Nifong, District Attorney for Durham County, North Carolina, ESPN interview
regarding the investigation of the Duke men's lacrosse team rape case note
regarding the investigation of the Duke men's lacrosse team rape case note Patron 1: "First thing he did was phone Chicago for his lawyer."
Patron 2: "That's always the first thing a guy like that will do."
— Pub talk in Fury (1936)
Craig Kettleman: "I just think I'd look guilty if I hired a lawyer."
James McGill: "No, actually, it's getting arrested that makes people look guilty, even the innocent ones, and innocent people get arrested everyday. And they find themselves in a little room with a detective who acts like he's their best friend. 'Talk to me,' he says, 'Help me clear this thing up. You don't need a lawyer, only guilty people need lawyers' and BOOM! Hey, that's when it all goes south. That's when you want someone in your corner. Someone who will fight tooth and nail."
— Better Call Saul, pointing out lawyers exist to protect innocent people too
"Cheery was aware that Commander Vimes didn't like the phrase 'The innocent have nothing to fear', believing the innocent had everything to fear, mostly from the guilty but in the longer term even more from those who say things like 'The innocent have nothing to fear'."
"We, on the whole, don't really understand the 5th Amendment, because it has a really shitty marketing department and today is virtually synonymous with fat union gangsters hiding behind it like RoboCop is chasing them. Somebody 'taking the 5th' means they're guilty, right?
No, it means under no circumstances can you be coerced into being a witness against yourself. And, since at the moment they speak to you, you don't know if you're a suspect or not, that means you always have the right to not talk to the police.
Now, obstruction of justice is a real thing, and it can be charged when you lie to the cops, destroy evidence or otherwise intentionally fuck up their investigation. But simply refusing to talk to them is not one of those things."
"Defense attorneys are a vital part of the justice system, so it’s a bit weird that Law & Order can sometimes go out of its way to present them like the Babadook."
Anderson Cooper: Mr. Shapiro, in Jordan Peterson's new tell-all book titled "My Effed Up Life", Mr. Peterson alleges that you ran over and killed a blind woman in 2002, according to his source, Joe Rogan. What do you say to these allegations?
Ben Shapiro: Uhh... I wanna speak to a lawyer.
Anderson Cooper: Mr. Shapiro, you ARE a lawyer.
Ben Shapiro: Well, I wanna speak to a better lawyer.
Ben Shapiro: Uhh... I wanna speak to a lawyer.
Anderson Cooper: Mr. Shapiro, you ARE a lawyer.
Ben Shapiro: Well, I wanna speak to a better lawyer.
