Murray Richman, Errol Analysis

The definition of a lawyer is a person who practices or studies law. In Errol Morris’ interview of lawyer Murray Richman, Errol asks Murray many questions about the morality and some of his court cases involving the mobsters at the time. Some people may think Murray is in the wrong due to the fact that he is allowing crime to prevail. They say this because Murray is using his abilities as a lawyer to help his clients get acquitted in their court cases. This means that the mobsters who truthfully commit murder, may get off the hook due to Murray Richman. Murray is right to believe his actions are justified because he is simply doing his job as a lawyer and keeping his morals out of it.

First off, Murray Richman ability to defend his clients is unbelievable at times. One of the things Murray said was, “The client pays me to win.” When Murray says this, he is talking about how his job is to defend his clients regardless of what the case is about, and whether or not the client committed the crime. Murray said

that he doesn’t care whether the person is guilty or not, which comes from the fact that he leaves his morals out of his job. In fact, Murray was asked if he believed whether a man killed a woman, and his response was “Yes, what’s the problem there?” This shows that Murray is just focused on doing his job and not his morals. One of Murray’s quotes is “When words are in your mouth, you’re the master. When they are out, you’re the slave.” What Murray means by this is that whatever you say first, that is what people will believe. This makes it impossibly hard to go back on your word, especially in a courtroom. This method allows Murray to help acquit many of his clients who have lots of evidence against them that would prove them guilty. People may think Murray is a bad man, but Murray defends against these claims by saying that he is simply doing his job, which he happens to be really good at.
I believe Murray is right in a lot of ways, especially in how that he is simply doing his job. One of the things Murray is right about is his methods of defending his clients. In one of Murray’s court cases, there were fourteen men on trial. He told his client to wear overalls instead of a suit and tie. This is because the fourteen other people on trial were wearing suits and ties. This makes Murray’s client look like he doesn’t belong. Due to this alone, everyone except Murray’s client was found guilty, even though his client probably did the crime. However, Murray is missing some things. One of the things Murray is missing is that he is indirectly killing people. He is doing this by getting murders acquitted, then these murders are back out and able to kill again. Even though this is a consequence of the what he does, he is still justified by what he is doing because simply he is doing his job, without the guidance of his morals.
It is unarguable that Murray is good at what he does.

He takes his probably guilty client and gets them acquitted through the tiny of pinholes. This poses a questions. If Murray Richman can do it, what holding back other lawyers from doing what he does. The answer to that is in one simple word, and that word is solely, morals. Morals is what drives people on what to do in a certain situation. However, for Murray, he doesn’t have any morals to direct his life. Murray said, “My parents are dead. God isn’t real, and this country is full of crap.” This just shows Murray doesn’t have any morals. This just goes to show that all Murray is focused on is getting his clients off. Since morals don’t direct his life, when defending his client, he may know his client did the crime, but he is paid to defend the client. That is solely what he does. Most people have morals, because they simply they drive their lives. However, for Murray Richman, his morals lay outside his

work.