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THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE November 28, 1986 Page 15
Findlina for the dslsnse
Jewish lawyer an advocate for the underdog
by Richard Bono
TSI staff writer
In the larger, private law firms
that occupy the downtown office
high rises of major Southern cit
ies, a good number of Jewish
men and women fill the roster of
attorneys pursuing the lucrative
fields of corporate or tax law or
divorce proceedings. But a far
smaller number of Jewish attor
neys in the South devote their
time to defending the South’s
large contingent of poor people.
Drew Findling opted for the
latter track. As an assistant pub
lic defender for the Fulton County
Public Defenders Office, the 26-
year-old Findling defends his
court-appointed clients of crimes
ranging from shoplifting to mur
der. But he does not consider
himself special for doing this.
Rather, he says his work as a
public defender is exemplary of
the concern Jews typically show
for the underdog.
"We're pretty much a giving
people," he said. "I don't feel that
I’m a rarity being a public de
fender. It’s characteristic of our
giving ways. Fair treatment for
people despite their economic
status has always been a concern
of Jewish people.”
Findling has been a public
defender since the spring of last
year when he was graduated from
Emory University School of Law.
The job serves not only to satisfy
a desire Findling has to help poor
people, but, he says, “I
wanted the trial experience. 1
enjoy being in the courtroom,"
he said. “It’s a combination of
the two.”
Findling has gained some
prominence of late for represent
ing a 45-year-old woman accused
of murdering her 42-year-old
boyfriend. The case is thought to
be the first where years of verbal
abuse was successfully equated
with physical abuse.
“We put up a battered woman
defense where the person is
beaten up over a period of years,"
Drew Findling
Findling said. “But, in our case,
the woman had never been beaten
before. She had just been ver
bally abused.”
On June 7, the woman was
arguing with her boyfriend on a
street in their southeast Atlanta
neighborhood. He hit her, appar
ently the first time in their stormy
11-year relationship he had ever
raised his hand against her, des
pite consistent verbal threats that
he would.
"When he hit her, it sort of
culminated all the verbal threats
he had made for 11 years,” Fin
dling said. “All the threats had
become reality. She had been
carrying a knife. It was a bad
neighborhood. The knife fell to
the ground w hen he hit her. When
he came at her again, she put the
knife in his heart. The jury held
she was completely not guilty."
Findling’s successful defense
does not set a legal precedent,
but rather signals defense attor
neys that the battered woman
defense can successfully be app
FOR THE BEST
OF BOTH WORLDS
Ron Weintraub
Hennessy Cadillac Jaguar
3040 Piedmont Rd., N.E.
Atlanta, GA 30305
lied in some cases where verbal,
not physical abuse, is the prim
ary motive for a crime allegedly
occurring from self-defense.
Findling is pleased with the
outcome and is basking in the
light of some new-found public
awareness.
There are only two investiga
tors for 20 lawyers in the Fulton
County Public Defenders Office,
according to Findling. “Some
times I just go out on my own to
investigate,” he said. “It takes me
to various parts of the commu
nity, interviewing witnesses, going
to the crime scene or talking with
people who live in the neighbor
hood.”
That aspect of the job is uni
que, according to Findling, who
indicated that most lawyers do
not venture far from their offices.
“There is a lot of culture shock
involved,” Findling says of con
ducting your own investigations
on the streets of Atlanta. “You
learn a lot about life. You don’t
take as much for granted. It’s an
incredible experience.”
Findling, who is originally from
New York, admits to not being
very active in Atlanta’s Jewish
community. But he expects that
to change somewhat when he
weds Beth Kaplan of Atlanta
next summer. They will be mar
ried at Ahavath Achim Syna
gogue, which Findling says they
anticipate joining.
Findling does not expect to be
a public defender forever. From
this level of legal representation,
he said he’d like to move into
private trial practice.
“I just felt that at some junc
ture of my career, I wanted to do
something to help poor people,”
he said. “I never joined the Peace
Corps like some people do. And I
was trying to find some way to be
helpful over period of time. I’d
recommend it to anyone.”
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