The "wedding cake" model of criminal justice can give lawyers the status of celebrities. You have been a public prosecutor for years, and are looking to make a move into the private sector. You have been assigned a high-profile case: the quarterback of your city's professional hockey team has been accused of murdering his girlfriend. You already have a book offer, and know the media pressure will be high to take the case through a trial. The defense attorney is signaling her client may want to plea bargain. How will you decide how to proceed? Article : One other perception of the criminal justice system is that of Samuel Walker's wedding-cake illustration, based on a model proposed by Lawrence Friedman and robert Percival. In this scheme, the largest portion of criminal cases forms the bottom layers of the cake and the few "serious" cases form the top layer. The top layer is represented most dramatically by cases such as the murder trials of O. J. Simpson and Casey Anthony, or the criminal trial of Bernard Madoff. In these highly publicized cases, defense attorneys are extremely skilled (and highly paid). They employ trial consultants, investigators, and public relations specialists.