Page 462 - WhyAsInY

Why (as in yaverbaum)
Litigation Department to learn about real estate). I would add to the list of factors contributing to my disenchantment the fact that, as I also stated earlier, in 1982, the Real Estate Department underwent a signifi- cant change when the entire Marshall Bratter real estate group merged into the firm. Notwithstanding the fact that I had supported and played a role in bringing Marshall Bratter’s lawyers in (Steve Senie, formerly at Marshall Bratter and now at Rosenman, and I had approached Don- ald Siskind with the idea months before the merger talks finally concluded), the merger became uncomfortable, as it brought with it inevitable changes in the culture of the department. At first, Donald and George Gordon were the joint chairmen. In fairly short order, how- ever, Donald pushed George aside, and Donald’s attitudes created tensions. He focused almost exclusively on his own clients, favored his own attorneys, and did not disguise his feelings concerning the clients that Rosenman had been servicing prior to the merger or, for that mat- ter, his feelings about Flora and George. Integrated Resources led the list of the clients that he resented and whose service he strived to undercut. Even though I was not in love with that client, I had my job to do, and that led inevitably to clashes with Donald, whose style—to say the least—was not collegial. Donald acted as if he respected my abilities, but I became tarred with the fact that I represented Integrated and with the fact that I could not pledge exclusive fealty to his work. Thus, I was caught between work that I did not like and a new and less hospitable atmosphere. Finally, while all this was happening, my mar- riage was disintegrating.
Around the time that Phyllis and I finally separated, Flora approached me with the idea that I talk to Coronet, which she knew was looking for a new general counsel. Now, three of the most stressful things in life are changing one’s residence, which I had just done, going through a divorce, which I was in the process of doing (I will discuss my life as a single parent in Chapter Twenty-Six), and changing one’s job (Chapter Twenty-Seven). One would think it absurd to add to the psy- chological problems associated with a move to living alone in an apartment in New York after seventeen years of marriage. On the other
• 444 •