Contrary to what quite a few people out there may think, the practice of law, particularly when it comes to criminal defense, is in no way a rigid monolith. A big part of the reason what that is the case has to do with the fact that the way that law tends to be practiced changes over time. Cases that are fought and the decisions that come regarding these cases turn into a precedent, which are often taken into account when deciding future cases, so looking at how past cases have turned out can be an important aspect of understanding how criminal defense attorneys tend to work on a regular basis.
One trial that has impacted criminal defense perhaps more than any other was the OJ Simpson trial in the 90s. Charged with murdering his wife, OJ Simpson was a very famous athlete and celebrity, and as a result of the fact that this is the case, there was a lot of publicity surrounding his case. When he tried to figure out who to hire to represent a criminal charge, he decided to go for a team of lawyers that was referred to in the media as the Dream Team.
This showed how important diversity tends to be when it comes to defending people who are charged with a crime. The different lawyers in the team brought their own perspectives with regards to how the case was meant to be fought, and this led to a very consistent approach that challenged the prosecutors in ways that they could not have predicted. This resulted in OJ Simpson being declared innocent of all of the charges being levied against him, and he was free to go.
