Alina Habba's critics 'nitpicking' Trump trial performance because she's a woman: attorney

Donald Trump's lawyer, Alina Habba, has been the target of mockery due to her combative style and court procedure flubs since she began representing Trump in his New York defamation case this week. But, according to New York federal attorney Colleen Kerwick, people are "nitpicking" her performance simply because she's a woman.

"Female lawyers already have an incredibly hard task of avoiding appearing too soft or too strident and too aggressive or not aggressive enough, so I'd rather herald her meteoric growth as an attorney than nitpick at her opportunities for further growth as an attorney and counselor at law," Kerwick told Newsweek.

Kerwick added that Habba "was adequately handling run-of-the-mill cases such as uncontested divorce, foreclosure, and slip-and-fall accidents before working her way into Donald Trump's circles."

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As Newsweek points out, one of Habba's most vocal critics is former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance, who wrote in her blog that Habba's antics show Trump can't get a good lawyer.

"Today, her lack of courtroom experience was on full display. She failed to stand when addressing the judge, and she failed to take her seat after he ruled — that's the stuff of trial advocacy 101," Vance wrote.

"I think her capabilities help us understand that Trump, who as a former president should have access to the finest lawyering the profession has to offer, does not. He is so toxic that most of the good lawyers won't touch him."

Read more at Newsweek.