Portrait of the flamboyant San Francisco attorney Melvin Belli (1907-1996) inside his office at 722 Montgomery Street in San Francisco, CA. In 1954 LIFE Magazine called Belli “The King of Torts.” During his more than six decades practicing law Belli represented a number of controversial personalities in court and appeared in films and television shows, often playing himself. Belli wrote more than 60 books, his multi-volume “Modern Trials” completed in 1960 is still in print and considered the classic textbook on Demonstrative Evidence.
Photo by Chuck Nacke