Day after too many days, the defense lawyer Murray Richman went to the same restaurant for lunch, ordering the same meal as he had the day before: a Mayan sun salad with a sautéed filet of salmon.
He continued to do so until his murder trial in the Bronx finally ended on Wednesday, and he will resume the ritual the next time he goes to trial there.
“I’m eating the same food every freaking day,” Mr. Richman said recently, noting that the trial was lasting several weeks longer than he had expected. “It’s very good, but how many times can you eat it?”
For all his considerable skills at the bar and knowledge of the law, Mr. Richman, whose clients have included mobsters, politicians and rap stars, acknowledges a complicated and at times humorous
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Baseball players tap their cleats; in theater, it is bad luck to whistle backstage, and no one may utter the title of the play “Macbeth” unless one is actually working on a production and the script requires it, said Howard Sherman, executive director of the American Theater Wing. (A euphemism — “the Scottish play” — exists for those who must refer to it.)
But wouldn’t lawyers, who are seemingly driven by reason and logic, be different?
“This is completely irrational,” admits David A. Ruhnke, one of the nation’s leading specialists in capital cases.
“I believe that black is a color particularly associated with death and mourning, so I will not write in black ink.”
Mr. Ruhnke said that he sends e-mails with blue rather than black letters, and uses blue, green or white binders, what he calls “life colors.” He avoids red.
Mr. Ruhnke said that he sends e-mails with blue rather than black letters, and uses blue, green or white binders, what he calls “life colors.” He avoids red.
“I have no idea where it came from,” he said, but he has no plans to alter his ways. In 16 capital trials, he said, he has had only two clients sentenced to death and none executed — an accomplishment in a field where the goal is to save a defendant’s
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Charles A. Stillman said he once dozed off years ago during lengthy deliberations, only to be awakened and told that a verdict had been reached; it turned out to be guilty. Now he never allows himself to nod off during deliberations. “If defeat is going to come,” Mr. Stillman said, “I’m going to be awake when it arrives.”
Rituals can follow lawyers from job to job.
Roberto Finzi said that for years, as a federal prosecutor, he wore the same lucky tie whenever he gave an opening argument, a practice he continued after becoming a defense lawyer. The tie became so frayed that he finally replaced it.
“Trial lawyers believe in jinxes,” Mr. Finzi acknowledged from White Plains, where he is defending a man in a murder trial. Along with using his keen judgment and legal skills, Mr. Finzi made clear that he was doing whatever else was necessary.
“I’ve been up here 10 days,” he said earlier this month, “and I’ve had a tuna fish sandwich for lunch every single day.”
But Joshua L. Dratel questioned his colleagues’ adherence to superstition, asking, “If where I ate dinner last night decides the merits of a case, then what’s the point of even