Philadelphia lawyer


noun

a lawyer of outstanding ability at exploiting legal fine points and technicalities.

Origin of Philadelphia lawyer

An Americanism dating back to 1780–90

Example sentences from the Web for philadelphia lawyer

  • The phrase, Enough to puzzle a Philadelphia-lawyer, means, enough to puzzle the sharpest man in the world.

    The Slang Dictionary |John Camden Hotten
  • Philadelphia-lawyer, a Transatlantic limb of the law considered to be the very acme of acuteness.

    The Slang Dictionary |John Camden Hotten

Idioms and Phrases with philadelphia lawyer

Philadelphia lawyer

A shrewd attorney, adept at dealing with legal technicalities, as in It would take a Philadelphia lawyer to get him off. This expression dates from the late 1700s and, as lexicographer Richard H. Thornton observed: “Why members of the Philadelphia bar should be credited with superhuman sagacity has never been satisfactorily explained.”