'To Kill a Mockingbird' a Hit in Iraq

Dec. 23, 2010 — -- Atticus Finch, the hero of Harper Lee's classic novel "To Kill a Mockingbird," has been an inspiration to generations of American lawyers.

Now Finch, the brave defense attorney played by Gregory Peck in the 1962 movie, is serving as a model for a new audience of attorneys -- in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq.

Parts of the movie were shown to a group of 22 Iraqi attorneys -- most of them women -- as part of a training session organized by the human rights group Heartland Alliance and run by attorney Matt Rooney, a partner at Chicago-based Mayer Brown.

"I showed the excerpts of the closing arguments from the movie and cross examinations. I expected it to resonate with them and I think it did," said Rooney.

In the novel, set in the 1930s, Atticus Finch defends Tom Robinson, a black man falsely accused of raping a young white woman. Despite Finch's efforts and evidence that shows him to be innocent, the jury convicts Robinson. Rooney said the lack of a "Hollywood ending" surprised the Iraqi women.

So what does a white lawyer representing a black defendant in the South have to do with Iraq? Rooney sees a parallel.

"These women represent exactly the same kind of people. People who are not getting a fair shake in their society who are an under class," he said.

The Iraqi lawyers who took part in the training work for a legal aid service there that represents juveniles, victims of domestic violence and women caught up in prostitution or human trafficking. They are women representing mostly female clients in a male-oriented society.

The five-day session was designed to provide concrete trial advocacy skills to Iraqi lawyers. The 22 attorneys did mock trials. In one, a woman wanted a divorce from a man who beat her. In another, a child was accused of murder for accidentally shooting his brother. They practiced such courtroom skills as giving an opening or closing argument and examining witnesses.