Anna Dorn’s memoir Bad Lawyer offers a searing indictment of the American legal system through the lens of her personal journey from idealistic law student to disillusioned attorney. The book artfully weaves together Anna’s experiences with broader critiques of how our justice system perpetuates inequality and my guest, Cara, and I discuss remedies for it.
Golden Handcuffs
One of the most compelling aspects of Anna’s story is her exploration of privilege within the legal system. She acknowledges her own advantages– having her law school education paid for by her grandmother– allowed her the option to pursue public interest law rather than being forced into corporate work to pay off substantial student loans. This reality creates what Anna refers to as “golden handcuffs,” where even the most idealistic graduates often feel forced to abandon their dreams of helping vulnerable populations because, as she puts it, “You cannot pay off a $200,000 debt if your clients are homeless.” This economic barrier ensures that those most passionate about reform are often pushed out of the very roles where they could make the most difference.
Systemic Issues
Anna’s experience working in criminal defense provides devastating insights into systemic racism and classism within our justice system. In the memoir, she shares that most of her clients have virtually identical backgrounds: they were abused as children, neglected, impoverished, and predominantly people of color. They suffered from PTSD and other mental health issues that extended generationally through their families. In Anna’s clear-eyed assessment, these individuals “didn’t stand a chance of being functional, law-abiding members of society” given what they had endured and how society had failed them. Her memoir brings to light how our legal system often punishes people for being victims of circumstances beyond their control rather than addressing the underlying causes of crime.
Rethinking the Death Penalty
Bad Lawyer also delivers a scathing critique of the death penalty, highlighting both practical and moral problems with capital punishment in America. Anna cites studies showing how extraordinarily expensive the death penalty is to implement – one study found that Pennsylvania spent $350 million over a period resulting in just three executions!!! Even more disturbing is her discussion of the racial component in capital cases, noting that defendants are more likely to receive the death penalty when the victim is white, regardless of the defendant’s race. This stark reality undermines any claim that justice is being administered equally or fairly.
Feminism
Throughout the narrative, Anna also explores her complicated relationship with feminism itself, eventually embracing the fundamental truth that women deserve equal dignity and autonomy. Her journey reflects the broader struggle many professional women face: navigating between wanting acceptance in male-dominated spaces while simultaneously fighting to transform those spaces to be more equitable.
Hope for Change
In her memoir, Bad Lawyer, Anna shines a light on so many systemic injustices, but we leave this episode feeling hopeful. Hopeful that the very way to fix this rigged system lies within it. Hopeful that with our voice, we can still implement real and lasting change. Through Anna’s writing – both in this memoir and in her subsequent career – she continues to advocate for that change and proves that there are multiple paths to making a difference. Her journey reminds us that systemic change requires both working within institutions and critiquing them from the outside, and that sometimes the most powerful act is to share one’s truth about systems that fail to deliver on their promises.
For another episode about a lawmaker striving for change, check out Jackie Speier’s Undaunted
