When attorney Michael Higer was a kid in Miami Beach, he loved to watch old movies about Clarence Darrow.

The 1920s lawyer fought passionately against the death penalty and defended John Scopes for teaching evolution in a public high school. This struck a chord with Higer, who decided before he turned 10 that he would become a lawyer.

“People would barter for his legal services,” Higer said. “They might bring him a chicken or something to pay him for his services. And while at the end of his career, he had some very lucrative matters that he handled, for the great majority of his career, he was handling what were unpopular causes of the moment.”