author
Abraham H. Hummel
1849–1926
Remembered as one half of New York’s notorious Howe and Hummel law firm, this sharp, elusive lawyer built a reputation for finding loopholes and steering some of the Gilded Age’s most sensational cases. His story sits at the crossroads of courtroom drama, scandal, and the rough-and-tumble world of old Manhattan.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in Boston and raised in New York, Abraham H. Hummel became a lawyer after starting out as an office boy in the legal world while still very young. He later rose to prominence as the junior partner in Howe and Hummel, a firm famous in the late 19th century for defending criminals, celebrities, and other headline-making clients.
Hummel was known less as a grand courtroom speaker than as a strategist working behind the scenes. Accounts of the firm describe him as especially skilled at spotting technicalities in the law, helping make Howe and Hummel one of the best-known and most controversial legal partnerships of its era.
His career eventually collapsed in scandal, and he remains a vivid figure in American legal history because of that mix of brilliance, notoriety, and show-business-era New York intrigue. For listeners interested in true crime, urban history, or the drama of the Gilded Age, his life offers no shortage of material.