It is easy to see why lawyers have cherished Atticus Finch, the character created by Harper Lee in 1960 and immortalized by Gregory Peck in the film version of "To Kill a Mockingbird."
In 1930s Alabama, Finch defended a black man wrongly accused of raping a white woman, even facing down a vigilante crowd bent on taking the innocent Tom Robinson out of jail by force. Describing courts in America as "the great levelers," Finch said the "one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom."
Finch has been a revered and redemptive figure for lawyers, perhaps especially in the South. He famously instructed his children that you couldn't really understand another person until you climb into his skin and walk around in it, and "Mockingbird" is one of the most widely taught books in this country.
Excitement began to build when the news broke early this year that Lee planned to publish her original version of a story about Finch. Set some years after the events in "To Kill a Mockingbird," "Go Set a Watchman" tells the story of Finch's daughter Scout as a young adult, returning to Alabama from her home in New York City. Lee reportedly described "Watchman" as the "parent" of "Mockingbird."
On the eve of the July 14 publication date for Watchman, reports began to surface about the older "new" version of Atticus Finch, and the accounts were disturbing to many fans of the "Mockingbird" book.
"Shockingly," according to a New York Times review of "Watchman," "Atticus is a racist who once attended a Klan meeting," "denounces the Supreme Court" and "describes NAACP-paid lawyers as 'standing around like buzzards.'"
Although advance sales of "Watchman" were brisk, some lawyers are not rushing to read the new book.
"I like old Atticus the way he was," said Richmond lawyer G. Andrew Nea Jr., Pro Bono Partner at Williams Mullen. "I thought he was a pretty great guy, regardless of what someone else may think."
Nea read the reviews and the publication-eve previews, and has not been enticed to pick up "Watchman."
Nea liked both the literary and cinematic versions of Atticus in the classic film. "We'll forever think of Atticus" as the character enshrined by Peck's portrayal, he said.
Working through the Center for International Studies, based in Salzburg, Vienna, Nea has presented courses on the American justice system to former Soviet countries including Russia, Poland and Lithuania. Nea typically shows two movies: "My Cousin Vinny" and "To Kill a Mockingbird." He has no plans to change his line-up.
"I vote to leave old Atticus alone," Nea said.
"I'm dying to read it. I'm fascinated by the whole writing process," said Richmond lawyer Hugh Fain, a past president of the Virginia Bar Association. He is looking forward to getting a "bird's eye view" of Harper Lee's "initial thought process" when she conceived her Atticus Finch character.
Although early accounts suggest that "a lot of people are upset" about the extra dimensions to the Atticus character as revealed by "Watchman," Fain doesn't think the newer version of the character will undermine what Finch has meant to lawyers. He is still the ideal of the "citizen lawyer," Fain said.
Atticus Finch "has been a beautiful beacon" representing the "citizen lawyer. We should all value that. I don't think ["Watchman"] sullies that," Fain said.
After reading early reviews of "Watchman," "I'm pretty torn up about it," said Leesburg lawyer Alexander N. Levay Jr., a past president of the Loudoun County Bar Association and the Hispanic Bar Association of Virginia . "I feel like I owe it to the author to read her previous manuscript," as published in "Watchman," but "I don't know if I want to ruin my vision of the integrity and character" of Atticus.
"We are all complex human beings and nobody is perfect," Levay said. Atticus "is obviously a person in a specific time in our history." As a faculty member for Virginia's professionalism course for lawyers, he's heard many lawyers cite the Atticus Finch character as inspiration for their legal careers.
"A lot of us try and work toward that ideal, and if that ideal is called into question, it messes with our head," he said.
In the end, Levay said, he probably won't be able to resist the temptation to read "Watchman," especially since a neighbor already has offered to loan a copy.
Published: Mon, Aug 03, 2015
