Page 640 - WhyAsInY

Why (as in yaverbaum)
whose father had left them with many valuable real estate properties in and around New York and Washington, D.C., plus a vast art collection. We represented Dian Woodner, who came to us after firing both Cra- vath, Swaine & Moore and Davis Polk & Wardwell, two of the most prestigious firms in New York, having litigated with her sister, Andrea, for years. Dian was very bright, very independent, very charming, very tough, and very distrusting of Andrea and Andrea’s attorneys, Willkie Farr & Gallagher. She was thought by many of the Rosenman attorneys who came in contact with her to be very difficult. For some reason, I got along with her famously.
Somehow, I managed to forge an agreement between the sisters that split the properties in an economically even-handed fashion that mini- mized adverse tax consequences in the context of elaborate partnership and corporate structures, and that gave each sister essentially what made the most sense for her. The highlight came after the settlement docu- ments were signed and the sisters proceeded to divide the more than two hundred pieces of art (including, among other things, Rembrandt drawings, Renoir pastels, and Dürer etchings). The division of the art- work was preceded by the flip of a coin and, by this point, Dian’s nervousness, combined with her trust in me, was such that she just could not assume the highly technical job of calling heads or tails. Rather, she insisted that I do it. (Perhaps she was aware of my proficiency in flipping baseball cards when I was a kid.) I called “tails,” which, as far as Dian was concerned, was just one more in a series of brilliant moves that I had made. Not only did she trust me, but, knowing that I admired a particu- lar Renoir nude in the collection, she picked it when it was her turn and promised to show her gratitude by leaving it to me in her will. We’ll see. Hey! Stepped-up basis!
Another memorable character was Timothy Haskin, thought by everyone who came into contact with him to be impossible to deal with. I thought so too, but, for some reason, I was an attorney whom he would not fire. I represented Haskin in his purchase of two New York hotels and his fights with the sellers, the brokers, his partners, and his lenders, current and prospective. He also fought with his wife and me, and
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