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 HottenPhiladelphia-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.”