Gerry Spence, Wyoming lawyer known for his trial work and western wear, dies at 96

Gerry Spence, a Wyoming lawyer with a string of high-profile courtroom wins and a dramatic flair, died on Wednesday at his home in Montecito, California, surrounded by family, according to news accounts. He was 96.

Known for wearing his statement suede fringe jacket, Spence was, at the pinnacle of his career, one of the country’s best-known lawyers, according to multiple press accounts. He also wrote more than a dozen books, including the best-selling How to Argue and Win Every Time.

Spence was known for putting on a good show. He was “big, loud, swaggering and outrageous in court,” according to the New York Times.

In the case that first brought him nationwide fame, Spence represented the estate of Karen Silkwood, a union activist and nuclear worker tainted with plutonium, who died in 1974. Spence won an initial $10.5 million verdict in 1979 against plutonium processor Kerr-McGee for over its handling of the plutonium that contaminated Silkwood. Her death became the subject an Oscar-nominated movie.

Spence also represented Imelda Marcos, the former first lady of the Philippines, who had been charged with racketeering and fraud. She was acquitted. Spence represented other controversial figures, including Randy Weaver, the Idaho survivalist and central figure in the Ruby Ridge standoff with federal law enforcement.

“We are proud of his legacy and his contributions to the world, but most importantly, we are proud to be part of the family he built with love,” his granddaughter Tara Spence McClatchey said in statement given to the Associated Press. “We feel this loss deeply and we will carry him with us always.”

Born in Laramie Wyoming in 1929, Spence graduated from the University of Wyoming in 1949 and then from its law school three years later. While he graduated cum laude from law school, he initially failed the state bar exam, according to the Associated Press. Spence became a Fremont County prosecutor before running unsuccessfully for Congress as a Republican in 1962, according to the New York Times. Spence founded the Spence Law Firm. He also founded the Trial Lawyers College, now called the Gerry Spence Method, where lawyers hone their skills at a ranch retreat.

“Gerry Spence was a mentor and inspiration to me and many others. His death leaves sadness and celebration. What joy there is in the human spirit. He lived it. What sadness in saying goodbye,” says Norm Pattis, a Connecticut criminal defense lawyer and a graduate of Spence’s Trial Lawyer’s College, who also taught at the organization.

Joseph Low, a Long Beach, California, trial lawyer, is also the vice president, director of staff and curriculum and chief instructor at the Gerry Spence Method. He connected with Spence 27 years ago as a new lawyer.

“He shared with me that the most important skill a trial lawyer and a person can develop is the ability to listen. He would show me that a great listener is the one who can hear what is not being said,” Low told the ABA Journal.

Spence painted and wrote into his final days, according to the family statement. Spence had four children with his first wife and two stepchildren from his second marriage. He is survived by his wife of 57 years, LaNelle “Imaging” Spence, according to press reports.