A few days ago we sang the praises of Eric Rudolf's defense lawyer, Judy Clarke. Today, the Associated Press has much more - a "one woman dream team." What a great and accurate description.

David I. Bruck, who helped Clarke defend Susan Smith, said she is intelligent and "tough as nails" in court, but also has a calming influence on clients.

"She's straightforward, she's direct, she's honest. That's essential in the process of convincing a client that he should spend the rest of his life in a steel cage," Bruck said.

A former president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Clarke gained prominence with the Smith case, convincing jurors that Smith did not deserve to die for drowning her sons by strapping them in a car and driving it into a lake. She donated her $83,000 fee for the case to a group that defends the poor in capital cases.

Before an Alabama judge appointed her to represent Rudolph, Clarke was assisting with the defense of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only U.S. defendant charged in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

We call her "Saint Judy."