“Philadelphia lawyer” is a term to describe a lawyer who knows the most detailed and minute points of law or is an exceptionally competent lawyer. Its first known usage dates back to 1788.^[1]

Philadelphia-based Colonial American lawyer Andrew Hamilton, a lawyer best known for his legal victory on behalf of printer and newspaper publisher John Peter Zenger, is believed to have inspired the "Philadelphia lawyer" term. This 1735 decision helped to establish that truth is a defense to an accusation of libel.^[2]

In popular culture

• The Woody Guthrie song "Philadelphia lawyer" is based on a Philadelphia lawyer who ventures west, falls in love with a woman in Hollywood, and is betrayed by her.^[3]