{"id":437,"date":"2012-01-25T15:58:43","date_gmt":"2012-01-25T20:58:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/preserving\/?p=437"},"modified":"2012-05-01T15:27:21","modified_gmt":"2012-05-01T19:27:21","slug":"howe-and-hummel-modern-day-criminal-lawyers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/2012\/01\/25\/howe-and-hummel-modern-day-criminal-lawyers\/","title":{"rendered":"Howe and Hummel — Modern day criminal lawyers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

During the Guilded Age, the New York firm of Howe and Hummel played a prominent role in the evolution of the criminal law profession.\u00a0 In fact, you might say that Howe and Hummel were ahead of their time or that they were most responsible for developing the modern day persona and image of the high-profile criminal attorney.\u00a0 Howe was an audacious self-promoter,\u00a0 manipulating the press at every opportunity, determined to get\u00a0 acquittals either through corrupt\u00a0 influence or by professional skill, or perhaps more often the case– a bit of both.\u00a0 By the time that the firm dissolved in 1907,\u00a0 not long after Howe’s death,\u00a0 Howe and Hummel\u00a0 had defended more than a thousand people charged with murder or manslaughter and many more NYC residents for lesser crimes.\u00a0 Their clients ran from socialites to shoplifters and their influence around New York City was widespread.\u00a0 In one story, 74 arrested brothel “madams” all named Howe and Hummel as their attorneys.\u00a0 Always controversial, provocative, and daring, Howe and Hummel routinely pushed the boundaries of ethics and professionalism.\u00a0 While some admired their pluck , others damned them for tainting the reputations of criminal lawyers forever.<\/p>\n

William F Howe, a robust corpulent showman, handled the lion’s share of the firm’s criminal trials work.\u00a0 He was noted for his extravagantly bright outfits and opulent jeweled rings.\u00a0 Abraham Hummel, on the other hand, was nearly his exact opposite , thin and reserved, and often worked behind the scenes\u00a0 spotting loopholes in the law.<\/p>\n

In the 1886 publication, Danger! :a true history of a great city’s wiles and temptations : the veil lifted, and light thrown on crime and its causes, and criminals and their haunts : facts and disclosures, <\/em>Howe provides his personal take on a number of the city’s social ills and illicit activities, including gambling, shoplifting, blackmail, and a rather troubling chapter on abortion.\u00a0 Actual criminal cases are sprinkled throughout and some of their more “interesting” cases are summarized at the end.<\/p>\n

\n
Description:<\/dt>\n
Howe, William F. Danger! :a true history of a great city’s wiles and temptations : the veil lifted, and light thrown on crime and its causes, and criminals and their haunts : facts and disclosures. Buffalo : Courier Co., Printers, 1886<\/dd>\n
Persistent Link:<\/dt>\n
http:\/\/nrs.harvard.edu\/urn-3:FHCL:5059661<\/a><\/dd>\n
Repository:<\/dt>\n
Widener Library<\/dd>\n
Institution:<\/dt>\n
Harvard University<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\n
<\/dt>\n
<\/dt>\n
<\/dt>\n
<\/dt>\n
<\/dt>\n
<\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During the Guilded Age, the New York firm of Howe and Hummel played a prominent role in the evolution of the criminal law profession.\u00a0 In fact, you might say that Howe and Hummel were ahead of their time or that they were most responsible for developing the modern day persona and image of the high-profile […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2559,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2559"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437"}],"version-history":[{"count":48,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":480,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437\/revisions\/480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}