Legal History Commons^™

The Responsibility Of Lawyers To Challenge Injustice, Geoff Budlender

Cleveland State Law Review

Jotham Zwane is a respected community leader in Amsterdam, a small country town in South Africa. I could talk for a long time about the truly remarkable Jotham Zwane and his experiences. But in the present context, what is particularly striking about this part of his story is what it tells us about lawyers and their responsibilities. In the first place, the story reminds us of the classic role of the lawyer: to stand between the individual and the state. The second lesson which emerges from the story is a question about the role of lawyers in an unjust system. …