 The second @-@ tier defendants had a difficult time finding lawyers to represent them . The five defense attorneys at the 1949 trial had been jailed for contempt of court , and two of them , Abraham Isserman and Harry Sacher , were disbarred . Attorneys for other Smith Act defendants routinely found themselves attacked by courts , attorneys ' groups , and licensing boards , leading many defense attorneys to shun Smith Act cases . Some defendants were forced to contact over one hundred attorneys before finding one that would accept ; defendant Steve Nelson could not find a lawyer in Pennsylvania who would represent him in his Smith Act trial , so he was compelled to represent himself ; and judges sometimes had to appoint unwilling counsel for defendants who could not find a lawyer to take the case . The National Lawyers Guild provided some lawyers to the defendants , but in 1953 Attorney General Herbert Brownell , Jr. threatened to list the Guild as a subversive organization , causing half its members to leave . 
