Charley German has a cassette tape in his top desk drawer. It's a recording of an appearance before the Eighth Federal Circuit Court of Appeals on April 10, 1990. His work on this particular case would cover more than one third of his 32 years in the legal profession. It's some of the work he's most proud of. Though in the end, it was a case that he did not win.

It was a death penalty case. German had been assigned to represent a Missouri man who had been convicted of murder and was sentenced to be executed. His work focused first on appealing the conviction and then appealing the death penalty sentence itself. "When a human life is on the line, you do everything in your power to make sure they get the very best representation possible," German said. 

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