Biography
Born into an Orthodox Jewish family descended from Indian Baghdadi Jews in Singapore, David Marshall was educated at Saint Joseph's Institution, Saint Andrew's School and then Raffles Institution. He became interested in politics and the independence movement at an early age. After graduating from the University of London, he was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1937. He later became the most successful criminal lawyer in Singapore, with a reputation "Marshall never loses". Known for his sharp eloquence and imposing stances, he claimed that he had secured 99 acquittals out of 100 cases he defended for murder during Singapore's period of using trial by jury. When Singapore's leader (and Marshall's political opponent) Lee Kuan Yew abolished the jury system in 1969, he quoted Marshall's reputation to illustrate its "inadequacy".
Read more about this topic: David Marshall (Singaporean Politician)
Famous quotes containing the word biography:
“In how few words, for instance, the Greeks would have told the story of Abelard and Heloise, making but a sentence of our classical dictionary.... We moderns, on the other hand, collect only the raw materials of biography and history, “memoirs to serve for a history,” which is but materials to serve for a mythology.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Just how difficult it is to write biography can be reckoned by anybody who sits down and considers just how many people know the real truth about his or her love affairs.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)
“There never was a good biography of a good novelist. There couldn’t be. He is too many people, if he’s any good.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)