Judy Clarke

San Diego

Practice type: criminal defense

Specialty: capital cases

Clarke drew little surprise from colleagues this year when they learned she was representing Jared Lee Loughner - the 22 year old accused of killing six people and wounding 13 in a Jan. 8 shooting rampage near Tucson whose victims included a federal judge and U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who survived but suffered critical injuries.

Laurie Shanks, a New York friend and lawyer who's taught with Clarke for two decades at the National Criminal Defense College, said that when she heard news of the shooting, she turned to her husband and said, "Oh my God, this is a case for Judy Clarke."

"If anyone could forge a relationship with that man, it would be Judy."

One of a handful of premier capital defenders in the nation, the notoriously press-shy Clarke didn't respond to requests to be interviewed.

But those who've known and worked with her spoke freely about her brilliance as a legal strategist and trial lawyer, devotion to her clients and generosity and warmth as a friend.

An Asheville, N.C. native, Clarke, 59, has spent much of her 33-year career running the federal public defender's offices in San Diego and Spokane, Wash. She's now in private practice with her husband, Thomas H. "Speedy" Rice, a lawyer and consultant on international human rights and a professor at Washington and Lee University School of Law, where Clarke also teaches.

An ardent death penalty opponent, Clarke has represented a host of notorious defendants, convincing juries in most cases to spare their lives. They include Susan Smith, the South Carolina mother, serving life with the possibility of parole in 2025 for drowning her two young children; Ted Kaczynski, serving life without possibility of parole for his mail bombing campaign that killed three people and injured 23; Eric Rudolph, serving multiple life sentences for Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park bombing; and Zacarias Moussaoui, serving life without possibility of parole for his role in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

In the Loughner case, Clarke is appealing the trial judge's order that he be forcibly medicated until he's competent to stand trial.

Colleagues said Clarke's work philosophy has changed little over the years - and neither has her appearance.

"If you saw a picture of her in the Susan Smith trial and one of her in the Loughner case, you'd think it was a stock photo," Shanks said. "She looks the same. She's got the blue suit, enough white shirts for a week and a half-dozen bow ties. The woman can pack for a two-week trial in a carry-on."

- SUSAN MCRAE