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CroWninG aCHieveMent: Harvey, tHe General Counsel
by me. I disliked it because, when I stepped back, all that I could see was that I was helping rich people get richer by reducing their tax bills—and somehow I never got the feeling that their extra money found its way into, for example, good causes. I liked representing John Portman because he was changing the landscape in a way that I felt was positive. What could I say about Norman Dansker? I guess on some level one could argue that he was helping people find a home of their own, but that was not exactly something that was ever articulated in the office. And for good reason: Norman Dansker was capitalism in its most unvar- nished state—and he would proudly tell you that, if you could ever muster the courage to ask.
In a law firm, which lacks the challenges and the action of an active business, there are a variety of clients, with a variety of goals, and you don’t always get your pick. (In truth, the lawyer in a firm is obligated to his partners to work on matters without any real ability to choose. This was, however, a principle that I violated once in my career: George Gor- don, who was going on a lengthy vacation, was parceling out his matters to his partners so that they would be covered in his absence. He launched into a long explanation of three of his matters that involved very big buildings in New York City and then nominated me in front of all of the others to handle them; it was a compliment, I assume. Before he intro- duced the matters, he gave the name of the client—the name, in any event, that was carried on the firm’s books. I knew, however, that the cli- ent that was named was in fact a front for Ferdinand Marcos, then the dictator in charge of the Philippines. I also had strong reason to believe that the investments in New York were nothing other than structures through which Marcos was channeling moneys looted from his country. I recall announcing, in a somewhat overly dramatic form, that I was forty years old, that I had been practicing for a long time, and that I thought that I was entitled to refuse the representation on moral grounds. Which I did. And I never heard another word about it.)
There are some clients to which you can relate and some to which you cannot. And I knew that I was much happier when I felt that such talents as I had were being put to good use. Luckily, this would be borne
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