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CoMinG HoMe?
and pressured Nomura loans to put together and close (one of which led to a warm reunion with John Portman, whose Atlanta Peachtree Plaza Hotel was being refinanced). Then, to my mixed feelings of pleasure and displeasure, there was a skein of new undertakings for a client the principals of which were alumni of the late and not lamented (by me) Integrated Resources! Thus, that work was extremely complex (and therefore intellectually challenging), focused on tax considerations (and therefore both time sensitive and of little to no public benefit), and driven by a demanding, hard-charging client.
One of those transactions, the last that I was involved in for the Integrated alumni while I was at the firm, involved, as usual, hundreds of millions of dollars, was hard fought for about six months, had to close by the end of 2007, and entailed working virtually around the clock in its last stages. To my great relief (even though one is not sup- posed to feel that way), the transaction failed to close when the parties recognized that their differences were irreconcilable but nevertheless managed to wait until approximately 6:00 p.m. on New Year’s Eve to come to that conclusion. Of course, the message went out to the attor- neys without the slightest expression of gratitude. Usually, if a transaction is going to fail, that fact is recognized early on; it was extraordinarily rare that one in which so much work had been done would actually “crater” so late in the game. In fact, I cannot recall any similar circumstance in my career. Nor could I recall a transaction the failure of which brought me as much relief or pleasure. I just didn’t care. It’s hard to put your heart into work the goal of which is to avoid taxes (but, you do it because you’re a professional). I was so tired, relieved, and annoyed that I decided, with a great degree of satisfac- tion, to travel home by limousine from 575 Madison Avenue to 7 Garnet Road, Roxbury, Connecticut, a trip of more than seventy-five miles. I had no doubt that the unappreciative client would be delighted to absorb the added expense.
The other work was for the most part challenging and satisfying. One of my favorite projects, one that I worked on for many years, involved the settlement of a decade-long clash between two sisters
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