Interviews

M.R. Hall: British Muslims, Barristers, Wigs and the BBC

by Bitter Success on December 1, 2009 in Interviews

[Ed. Note:When we got a heads up about English barrister-turned-writer M.R. Hall’s second novel, The Disappeared, we were more than a little intrigued. How often do you get a chance to interview someone who once wore a wig to work? But when we saw a blurb on his publisher’s website that said Hall left the law “due to a constitutional inability to prosecute,” we had to know more.

Hall, who has been a successful TV writer-producer in England, is set to debut The Disappeared this week, a follow up to The Coroner, which The Guardian praised for its “meaty characters” and “chewy plot.”

We recently caught up with Hall, who told us about the English legal system, what it’s like to wear a wig in court, and what that constitutional inability to prosecute really means.]

When you worked as a lawyer, you were a barrister. What are the pros and cons of separating the legal profession between barrister and solicitor?

A split legal profession does make for a very honorable system. In my experience, barristers conform to the highest ethical standards. A barrister’s primary duty is not to his client, but to the court: He must disclose every relevant case and statute to the judge and his opponent, whether it favors his case or not. Defense counsel has a duty to fearlessly defend his client to obtain an acquittal by whatever lawful means; prosecuting counsel has a duty to lay all evidence fairly before the jury but has no duty to secure a conviction.

On the pro side, trials are conducted to a high standard and the legally correct result is achieved most of the time. The major con is that clients can feel a little removed from or intimidated by their barrister. Barristers can also feel badly let down by lazy or incompetent solicitors who don’t give them all they need. But the greatest thing about the UK system is the wide availability of legal aid. The poorest criminal defendant can be represented by the same barristers who defend the richest [people]. Governments are always trying to hack at it, but cheap justice is no justice.

Was it strange wearing a wig to work?

Wigs, gowns and stiff collars are fantastic. They de-personalize the lawyer, render them androgynous and remove personality from the equation: Their biggest supporters are women.

On the downside, they are insufferably hot, especially on a summer’s day in a courtroom without air conditioning.

Your author’s bio says you left criminal practice “due to a constitutional inability to prosecute.” What does that mean? Sounds like there’s a story there.

In the UK we have a split legal profession: Solicitors handle non-contentious work, and in contentious matters, brief barristers (specialist advocates) conduct the case in court. I was a barrister. British barristers are like taxis at a rank: They are professionally obliged to represent whomsoever instructs them—an ancient system designed to promote impartiality and incorruptibility. This means criminal barristers both defend and prosecute, sometimes on the same day!

I loved defending. I’m always for the underdog, and I never failed to be moved in some degree by the plight of the (invariably young) men and women who fetched up in court. Nearly all of them had tragic histories and had been failed by adults while growing up. I soon found I hated prosecuting, to the extent I could hardly bring myself to do it. One day, I dried up in court—seized by a kind of nervous panic in quite a mundane prosecution—but it was because I didn’t believe in what I was doing. I can remember the faces of the jury and of the judge. It was both a mortifying and life-changing moment. I suddenly realized my subconscious mind, or whatever you like to call it, had told me ‘no more.’

So, did you quit that instant?

Very shortly afterwards I decided to take a three month sabbatical to concentrate on writing a screenplay. I did. I then went back to the law while I tried desperately to break into screenwriting. Fortunately, I got the job with Kavanagh QC about six months later.

Was it difficult to break in to writing for TV?

Throughout my early twenties I was trying to write screenplays. Looking back, I went about it in quite a lawyerly way: I studied the books and went to the courses on story structure and analyzed scripts until I understood what made them work. At age 27, I wrote a screenplay that finally got me noticed. It didn’t get made, but it got me a job writing for a major UK TV series, a legal drama called Kavanagh QC. I worked in TV right through to 2007 when I wrote my first novel.

What other shows have you worked on? Anything that’s been seen in the American market?

I have worked on many UK legal and crime shows, a lot of which will have shown at least on BBC America. Judge John Deed, Blue Murder, Scarlett Pimpernel and Dalziel and Pascoe.

Do you prefer writing to practicing law?

Practicing law can be thrilling, especially when you’re in the midst of a dramatic court case, but it doesn’t beat the satisfaction I get from writing a screenplay or a book.

Do you think your legal training makes you a better writer?

My legal training has been invaluable. Writing a screenplay or planning a novel is like creating a very complex logic puzzle; I feel I use the part of my brain that used to draft pleadings to work out a story, or even to tease through the text and sub-text of a run of dialogue. Writing relies on initial inspiration, followed by months of hard deskwork and endless refining and honing—a lawyer can handle that kind of drudge (it often is!) far better than most.

What was your best moment in law?

Securing my first acquittal in a jury trial. A young man had been arrested suspected of being involved in a violent disturbance. He may well have been guilty, I don’t know, but the six or so policemen who helped in his arrest all colluded in compiling their concocted evidence. Stupid people may have some excuse for lying. When police do it, there’s none. It gave me great pleasure to see lying cops watch their man walk free.

What was your worst moment in law?

Perhaps the most embarrassing was appearing in front of a bench of magistrates as a very young barrister and not being able to work out if the chairman was a man or a woman. Did I address him/her as ‘sir’ or ‘madam’? I opted for ‘sir,’ but I was wrong.

The Disappeared is your second novel starring Jenny Cooper (a lawyer-turned-coroner). How did you come up with the idea for her character? Is she based on someone you know? Did you spend time with coroners to get a sense of that profession?

I’d had a coroner in mind as a lead character for some years, but the idea only came to life when I thought about making her a woman. Suddenly I could infuse this character with vulnerability and emotional complexity, and she became someone I was fascinated by. She isn’t based on anyone I know, but I did go out and research with several coroners to get a detailed knowledge of how they operate. The fascinating thing about [coroners in the UK], is that they are judicial officers, answerable to the Ministry of Justice, but paid for by the local authority. This means they have a tiny budget, but huge powers which they can use to call the mighty to account, should they chose to do so.

What’s interesting about Jenny Cooper’s background as a lawyer is that she has really struggled (bad marriage, stressful career, anxiety disorder, prescription pill addiction). Is practicing law in England as hellish as it can be in the U.S.? Is there something universally hellish about the practice of law?

The practice of law can be particularly hellish for those who get caught up emotionally in what they’re doing. Personally, I found dealing with the ugly side of human nature every day a real strain. As I walked to the Old Bailey one morning, I remember thinking, ‘I’ll be doing this same walk in twenty years time, only for a serial murder rather than a single stabbing’ … Some people positively thrive on it, I don’t think I could have been one of them. My father-in-law, on the other hand, rose up to become a Law Lord (one of our Supreme Court Judges) and loved every minute of his 50-year career. I think the important thing is not to let yourself get trapped in a job that’s harming you.

In The Disappeared, Jenny is aided by a disbarred solicitor with a questionable history. How did you come up with the character of Alec McAvoy? Is any of you in him?

Alec McAvoy is a fearless lawyer with no sense of self-preservation and beset with human failings. I’m fascinated by the fact that people who achieve great things and overcome great injustices are often hopelessly flawed. In fact, only a person who doesn’t give a damn will have the courage to take on a really big beast and to hell with the consequences. I think Alec McAvoy is the kind of lawyer I’d like to have been, rather than the one I actually was.

Why did you decide to set the story in The Disappeared in and around issues relating to terrorism, radical Islam, and anti-Islamic views in the Western world?

Radical Islam is a very immediate issue in the UK. We have several million Asian immigrants, many now second and third generation; every small town and tiny village has an Indian or Pakistani restaurant. Britain was the imperial power in the Indian sub-continent, and we are wrapped up in its affairs. There’s a big issue of integration: Successive governments have followed a multicultural agenda, and now we’re wringing our hands wondering whether we got it all wrong.

The fact is, some young British Muslims, not particularly poor or deprived, went to Iraq and Afghanistan to fight U.S. and UK troops. The young men who bombed London buses and trains in 2005 weren’t poor or alienated; one was a schoolteacher. Caught between cultures, born in a land they don’t feel is truly their own, they were seduced by the idea of belonging to a powerful, global force that would deliver all the answers. This isn’t a problem that’s going away anytime soon and there’s no simple answer. Writers have to deal with these issues to inform the debate.

Do you have any advice for lawyers out there looking to become writers?

There’s nothing easy about writing for a living. Just like the law, it’s a tough discipline which requires several years of hard analytical study to master. Don’t just keep on writing the same stuff if it isn’t working. Most people have got something to say; writers know how to weave it into a compelling narrative. If you’re serious, read Robert McKee’s book Story, go to his course and master the basic techniques of story structure. If you’re willing to submit you creativity to rigorous discipline, then you’ve got the right stuff to make a career of it.

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Tara Kole: The Life & Times of an A-List Entertainment Lawyer

by Bitter Success on November 18, 2009 in Interviews

A Supreme Court clerkship is a golden ticket that can open just about any door. However, if there’s one industry where it may actually work against you, it’s Hollywood. Of course. Only in the tiny, insulated world of boutique entertainment law firms can such coveted resume experience not automatically push you over the edge and get you hired. Those firms are different. They don’t hire recent law school graduates. Period. Not even if you went to Harvard. Not even if you clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia.

When we ran across The Hollywood Reporter’s induction of Gang Tyre Ramer & Brown partner Tara Kole into their “Next Gen: Class of 2009” issue that showcases the top 35 entertainment executives under 35, we were intrigued by Kole’s unusual leap straight from a Supreme Court clerkship to representing Hollywood types like actress Gwyneth Paltrow (Iron Man 2) and director Alejandro González Iñárritu (21 Grams, Babel). We’ve interviewed entertainment lawyers and top Hollywood agents before, but none were at the top of their game by 32 years old like seems to be Kole already.
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Mark Lindquist: The ‘Brat Pack’ Prosecutor

by Bitter Success on November 13, 2009 in Interviews

An intriguing bilaterality of artist and attorney, most know Mark Lindquist as either a critically acclaimed author or a well-respected prosecutor. Although, some only know of him as one of People Magazine’s “100 Most Eligible Bachelors.” (Image here.)

The converse of a Bitter Lawyer, Mark Lindquist’s early life as a writer in Los Angeles propelled him into practicing law in the Northwest. After several years in Hollywood launching his literary career, Lindquist headed to Seattle for law school and began working as a prosecuting attorney in 1995—a stark contrast to his life as a trendsetting new author. Lindquist had been riding a wave of success with the release of his first two books, 1987’s bestselling Sad Movies and 1990′s Carnival Desires, which placed him in an elite club of his contemporaries.

Once a member of the so-called “literary Brat Pack,” Lingquist was romantically linked to celebrities of the era, such as Molly Ringwald. When first coined, the term applied to a new wave of young, erudite talent that captured the zeitgeist of the 1980s in stark, often minimalist, prose. As a copywriter for Hollywood Studios and a movie scribe, Lindquist joined the ranks of the Pack, whose founding members included Jay McInerney (Bright Lights, Big City), Tama Janowitz (Slaves of New York) and Bret Easton Ellis (Less Than Zero and American Psycho).

Lindquist began working on his third novel, Never Mind Nirvana, while in law school, which intertwined the life of a thirtysomething lawyer (whom many say resembled Lindquist) with the then-prominent Seattle grunge scene. And his fourth book, The King of Methlehem, draws heavily on Lindquist’s experience as a prosecutor fighting a growing methamphetamine epidemic.

Two months ago, Lindquist was unanimously appointed Pierce County Prosecutor in Washington State, further piquing our interest. So Bitter Lawyer recently caught up with him to find out more about how he went from writer to lawyer, how a background in fiction has made him a better prosecutor and what he’s working on next.

Where did you go to law school?

It was the University of Puget Sound School of Law when I started in 1992 and Seattle University School of Law when I graduated in 1995. Who knew you could sell a law school like a used car?

What kind of law do you practice?

My entire legal career has been as a prosecutor in the criminal division, eventually becoming Chief Criminal Deputy. But now I’m in charge of the office, and we have both a civil division and a family support division. There are about 240 employees in total, about half of whom are lawyers.

A lot of lawyers quit practice to become writers. You went in the other direction. What made you decide to go to law school after breaking through with two novels?

I intended to go to law school after college, but other opportunities arose.

I started undergrad at the University of Washington, then transferred to the University of Southern California where I graduated. I wanted to live in Los Angeles for a spell, and I wanted to write. So I stayed in L.A. after graduation and wrote, and I found I could make a living writing, which seemed pretty cool. [But] after ten years in Los Angles, two novels, over a dozen screenplays for studios, and countless article and book reviews for magazines and papers, I was burned out and decided it was now or never for law school.

I had a good life [in Los Angeles]—most of those ten years were spent living in an oceanfront apartment in Venice. But I wanted a change. I moved to downtown Seattle just as the word “grunge” entered the national lexicon. While I was in law school, I started writing Never Mind Nirvana.

In an LA Weekly blurb about Never Mind Nirvana, Molly Ringwald is identified as one of your love interests. Two questions: Is this accurate? And is she, indeed, pretty in pink?

Yes, and yes.

You began your career as a movie industry copywriter (and your first book, Sad Movies comes from that experience). How did you actually “break in” as a novelist?

My agent sent my first novel to Gary Fisketjon, the editor of Jay McInerney’s bestselling Bright Lights, Big City, and to Morgan Entrekin, who discovered Bret Easton Ellis’s Less Than Zero for Simon & Schuster. They both liked it, and when they left their respective publishing houses to take over Atlantic Monthly Press, they bought Sad Movies, which was one of their first novels.

Do you think your background as a writer has made you a better lawyer? If so, how?

Absolutely. Trial work is about telling a story. Movie studio executives have a reputation as crass philistines, but the reality is that they well understand the mechanics of storytelling, of engaging and moving an audience, and I learned a lot doing script doctor work. Reading good novels, even plot-less ones, has also helped me as a storyteller.

What’s a typical day like for you now?

Busy. Right now it’s a seven-day-a-week, twelve-hour-a-day job. I’m dealing with restructuring the office, budget issues, imperious judges, and prepping for a four-defendant aggravated murder I’m trying next year.

How do you find time to write?

Lately, I haven’t been. I’m in the gathering stage. I scribble down observations, good lines and thoughts, and I store them in a file cabinet. When I have time to start the actual writing at some point, I’ll have something to work with. My job provides a bounty of material. I’ll probably start my next book after running for election in fall of 2010.

During your career, you’ve been associated a lot with the “literary Brat Pack,” whose most famous member is probably Bret Easton Ellis. Does the idea of a literary “Brat Pack” really mean anything, or is it just a shorthand marketing convention? That is, do you and those other writers actually talk, read each other’s work and identify as a group, or is that just some rather good hype?

Yes, yes, yes, and yes. Selling literary fiction requires wizardry, and the “Brat Pack” branding seemed to work. Jay, Bret, and I did know each other, we did read each other’s work, we did talk and drink together, but more so Jay and Bret, who both lived in New York City. I was in L.A. through most of the 80s. We had similar tastes in literature, music and movies, but mostly we hung out when we could because there aren’t that many people who care about books, and we did.

What’s the difference between commercial fiction and literature? Is it a question of quality, or is literature just a catchall these days for work that isn’t commercially viable?

I used to think my novels were literature because they were in The New York Times Book Review. But I now realize a novel is literature if some 20-year-old employee at a bookstore puts it in that section.

What’s been your worst moment as a lawyer?

I love the job so much I can’t think of anything that would qualify as a worst moment.

What’s been your best moment as a lawyer?

Many moments come to mind. Mostly courtroom snapshots, a closing argument that resonates, a cross examination that works, the truth emerging from a child victim who finds her voice, but also the camaraderie of my colleagues and being appointed Pierce County Prosecutor.

In The King of Methlehem you write about a prosecutor in Washington state fighting the meth epidemic. How much of the book is autobiographical?

Less than people suspect, but more than I will say.

To find out more about Mark Lindquist, check out his website.

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Gerald Posner: Unveil Miami’s Underworld

by Bitter Success on October 13, 2009 in Interviews

[Ed. Note: Back in June, we interviewed former Cravath associate Gerald Posner. Like a lot of former lawyers, Posner left the BigLaw “sweat shop” and became a journalist and author.

Posner’s fearless quest to take on controversial topics—from writing what many call the definitive book on the JFK assassination, for which he became a Pulitzer Prize-finalist, to tracking down former Nazi war criminals in South America—is what has made him a leading investigative journalist.

“It is all about your risk tolerance,” Posner told Bitter Lawyer in June. “I don’t smoke because I’m afraid of cancer. But I write about terror links in the Saudi Royal family and have no fear. Go figure.”

This time around, Posner didn’t travel the world to dig up dirt. Instead, he stepped outside his front door to uncover historical tales of sex, drugs, and jobbery. What emerged from Posner’s inquiry into his own city is Miami Babylon: Crime, Wealth, and Power—A Dispatch from the Beach, released today.

Stories of corruption (drug dealer who paid for a $400,000 home with $20 bills) combined with Posner’s lawyerly thoroughness draw readers in, providing a riveting account of sunny Miami’s shady history.]

Gerald, you normally write about events (like 9/11), political hot topics (the Saudi-U.S. Connection) or people (MLK, Jr. assassin James Earl Ray). But in Miami Babylon you turn your focus to a city. What made you decide to put Miami in your investigative crosshairs, aside from the fact that you live there?

Living here taught me that when Somerset Maugham described Monaco as “a sunny place for shady people,” he could easily have been describing Miami Beach. The book is not so much about the city, but about the amazing people who have called it home since it was first converted from a deserted sandbar to “America’s Riviera” in the 1920s.

The Beach has always been a mix of visionaries with chutzpah, gangsters, real estate speculators, cocaine kingpins and questionable characters who have moved to Miami to bury sordid pasts and start fresh. All compressed into one tiny island bordering the Ocean, it was too delicious a story to bypass.

Also, since the late 1970s, Miami Beach went from God’s Waiting Room—one of America’s poorest neighborhoods comprised almost exclusively of the elderly—to an uber cool resort brand; that’s a dramatic transformation that serves as a great backdrop for much of the story from Cocaine Cowboys to the latest real estate boom and bust.

Give us a little insider dirt on Miami. If we want a truly scandalous tour of the city, what are the three locations we absolutely must see?

1. Casa Casuarina (1116 Ocean Drive)
Fashion designer Gianni Versace’s oceanfront mansion along Ocean Drive. It’s where he was murdered by gay spree killer, Andrew Cunanan, in 1997.

2. The Fontainebleau Hotel (4401 Collins)
It’s been redone in a massive renovation, but the original, over-the-top Morris Lapidus designed hotel was mob central in the 1950s, where northern gangsters came to spend a winter holiday and hangout with Frank Sinatra, a Fontainebleau regular.

3. The Miami River
Just across the causeway from Miami Beach, stop by the Miami River. That’s where, in July 1985, eight policemen stole $9 million of cocaine from a boat docked there. The next morning, the bloated bodies of three of the smugglers were found in the river. It led to the unraveling of the Miami River Cops, one of the most corrupt police gangs, in a city that was swamped with corruption during cocaine’s boom days.

The mere mention of certain American cities like Chicago and Miami conjure up images of hardball politics, shady backroom deals, and widespread corruption. Why is it that some cities consistently lead the league in this kind of stuff?

It’s a combination of several things for Miami. First, the city is so new. At the turn of the century, it had less than 1,000 residents. It wasn’t even the largest “Miami” in America. An Arizona silver mining town with the same name had more people.

More than 250 years after the Pilgrims had landed, and at a time when New York teemed with 3.5 million residents and Chicago boasted 1.7 million, Miami played no noticeable role in the nation’s development. The fact that it has no deeply entrenched institutions that were there to foster civic responsibility and honesty allowed the city to develop as if the rules didn’t apply in South Florida. It’s why Miami was the wettest place in a dry nation during Prohibition. And during World War II, when Miami Beach was converted to a giant army-training base, the party continued with backdoor gambling and widespread prostitution.

In the late 1970s and 1980s, it was ground zero for the American cocaine distribution of Colombia’s Medellin cartel. And at only 35 square miles, the smallest land area of any major U.S. metropolis, Miami is the major American city closest to notoriously unstable Latin and South American tin-pot dictatorships, making it a natural Ellis Island for emigrants.

Periodic coups through the 1950s, primarily in Argentina, Panama, Peru and Bolivia, invariably led to spectacular flights of capital that flooded Miami, each successive arrival of the ousted ruling class subtlety changing the cityscape. After Castro took power of Cuba in 1959, the influx of Cubans forever changed the demographics.

Many of those who settled from Latin American countries, where corruption is sometimes endemic, brought that attitude to Miami. It all added fuel to the already combustible mix of “The Magic City.”

And as for politics, as one insider told me, “it’s a blood sport.”

Miami has no shortage of colorful, shady characters, and you certainly met a lot of them researching this book. Did you have a favorite-someone you shouldn’t have liked, but kind of did?

Bobby Weinstein. That’s the pseudonym he’s given in the book. He’s a former mid-level cocaine dealer who is now a prominent businessman in Miami Beach. Considering his drug-dealing past, I expected to thoroughly dislike him. But he was charming and had a winning, self-deprecating sense of humor that won me over. I still reported his story straight, but without the disdain that one might have expected.

You’ve put yourself in the middle of stories about drug dealers, corrupt politicians, and other rough elements (all of whom know where you live). Was there ever a time when you felt like you were in danger writing this book?

No. While working on the book, I think almost everyone tended to underestimate that this was going to be a work of real journalism. I always tell people I interview that I will be as fair and accurate as possible, but if they want to insure the book tells a story they will like, they have to write it themselves. But, if anyone looks at my past books, and realizes that I am the biographer of Josef Mengele, Lee Harvey Oswald, and James Earl Ray, they should realize that I’m not going to give them softball journalism.

Now that it’s published, some people dislike the way they are portrayed in the book. But after dealing [in previous books] with some real crazies in the JFK assassination, and some infuriated Saudi royals, this is OK.

What are you working on next? Any interest finding out how a guy like Bernie Madoff duped the world or how Marc Dreier built a powerful law firm on a house of cards?

Yes, Madoff and Dreier both interest me. But I already have a book under contract with Simon and Schuster. The business of the Vatican. Tentatively titled God, Inc. I fully expect that after publishing that book, I shall be spending eternity in hell. But that still beats practicing law.
________________________________

Miami Babylon: Crime, Wealth, and Power—A Dispatch from the Beach hits shelves today. Investigative pieces by Gerald Posner can also be found at The Daily Beast, where he is the site’s Chief Investigative Reporter. For even more, visit Posner.com or follow Gerald on Twitter.

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Len Elmore: NBA, Harvard, D.A. & Dreier

by Bitter Success on October 6, 2009 in Interviews

Len Elmore has seen a little bit of everything in the law. A three-time All-ACC college basketball star at Maryland and ten-year pro player in the NBA and the ABA, Elmore went to law school when he hung up his high tops in 1984. In the years that followed, Elmore worked for the Brooklyn District Attorney, LeBoeuf, Lamb, Dreier LLP (more on that later) and started his own sports agency.

Unsatisfied with leaving basketball behind entirely, Elmore continues his presence in college athletics, both as a ESPN and CBS sports commentator and as a member of the Knight Commission, an unofficial watchdog group that allows the outspoken Elmore to chime in on the inequalities often associated with college athletics.

Bitter Lawyer wanted to know from Elmore why he became a lawyer, if he ever played hoops with President Obama at Harvard, his connection to the Marc Dreier implosion and his early predictions are for the 2010 Final Four.

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Niki Burnham: Sex, Love, Red Sox & Romance

by Bitter Success on September 28, 2009 in Interviews

[Ed. Note: The one book that always gets judged by its cover is a romance novel. Chick lit, usually in the form of grocery store guilty pleasures, is a major industry. And behind each titillating title is an author. One of the most prolific in the field is former lawyer Niki Burnham. Over the years, Burnham has published a dozen books and picked up numerous awards, among them: The 2005 Romance Writers Of America RITA Finalist—Best Traditional Series for The Bowen Bride; and Teen People Pick for Royally Jacked. She's even a former Jeopardy! loser.

We recently caught up with Burnham to find out what happened with Alex Trebek, how lawyers can get more love out of the romance genre, and to talk some Rockies and Red Sox baseball.]

Where did you go to law school?

University of Michigan, JD/MA Political Science, 1994.

Did you practice? What was your practice area?

After law school, I joined a midsize firm in St. Louis and worked in their Illinois litigation group. I left after a whopping four months to accept a clerkship with a federal magistrate (Judge Donald Abram) in Denver when he needed a midyear replacement.

What was your best moment as a lawyer?

I only practiced for a moment, and even then, I mentally had one foot out the door. So a “best moment” is tough to define.

However, I really liked the judge for whom I worked in Denver. He’s an intelligent, stand-up guy with a wicked sense of humor. Exactly the type of person you’d want as a next-door neighbor. Or a boss.

What was your worst moment as a lawyer?

While working in Denver, a complaint came across my desk arguing that the use of one-ply toilet paper in prisons constituted cruel and unusual punishment. My first thought: Mile High Stadium is a hotspot of cruel and unusual punishment. Who knew? My second thought: Is this really what I’m doing with my life?

What was the moment when you said, “I’ve got to get the f*** out of law?”

There wasn’t a single light-bulb moment. My favorite classes in law school were both electives, Roman Law and English Legal History, which was a tip-off that the profession wasn’t for me. At graduation, I wasn’t excited about practicing the same way my classmates were. I was just relieved to have a means to pay off law school debt in the midst of a recession. I knew by the time I started in St. Louis that the law would be a short-term gig and I was already looking for an exit.

Do you think your legal background has made you a better writer? If so, how?

No. If time management and linear thinking don’t come naturally, law school can teach you those skills. However, as a writer you also must work well on your own for weeks or months at a time. You need an innate sense of story and an ability to create characters with whom your readers can identify.

However, I do understand my contracts better than most writers, which has proven useful, and my agent search was made easier because I eliminated every agent I felt knew less about contracts than I did.

What’s a typical day like for you a writer? It’s way better than being a lawyer, right?

Obviously I think it’s better. As a writer, I control the world (an imaginary world, but still). I can wear whatever I want. I work my own hours—sometimes only a few hours in the morning, other times all night—and drink my own brand of coffee. If I procrastinate by reading Go Fug Yourself or changing my fantasy baseball team in the middle of the day, no one cares. My office is mine alone, designed the way I want it, and I have a killer view. Best of all, there’s no feeling in the world like holding your own book in your hands, whether it’s your first or your tenth.

On the other hand, I work without a safety net. If I’m sick or take a vacation, no one picks up the slack. There’s no health care plan, retirement plan, etc., unless I create it. I don’t get regular paychecks. While I can budget based on book advances, royalties are a great mystery. I have no idea what they’ll be until they arrive on my doorstep. And then there’s rejection. It still happens, even after you’re published. It’s not a career for everyone. You need an iron core.

How did you become a romance writer? Were you always a fan of the romance genre?

After my clerkship, I moved to Boston, where my husband-to-be was working. I interviewed at two different firms, but as they walked me around and explained how wonderful their firms were for associates, all I could think was, “I hope they don’t give me an offer.” I stopped interviewing after those two, went to New York for a few weeks to take a publishing course at NYU, then took an unpaid internship with Boston Magazine to figure out how the magazine world worked. Pretty soon I moved to a six-month freelance position at Inc. magazine, and while I was there, I sold articles to a number of other magazines and started working on a novel. I had no specific plans to write a romance—I read across the board—but the story ideas I had fit best in that genre, so I joined the Romance Writers of America and worked to learn the craft.

Was it difficult to break in?

Breaking in is not easy. At the first writers’ conference I attended, an editor with a major house noted that she receives over 2,000 manuscripts a year—that’s full manuscripts, not proposals—from new-to-her authors. On average, she acquires two new authors a year. Other editors on the panel cited similar stats. To overcome those odds, you have to be able to tell a great story, work hard to improve your craft, and have a little bit of luck. It also helps to assume that a lot of what editors receive is utter crap, therefore making the odds better for you.

Romance novels seem to have really over-the-top cover art. As a writer, do you have a hand in crafting the cover art? Does cover art really matter once you’re an established writer?

There’s quite a range in covers. Some have what’s called the “clinch,” where you see a couple embracing while half-dressed, windblown hair that’s unrealistically flattering. There are also a lot of scenic covers—the gazebo surrounded by flowers, the porch swing—and what I think of as “feet” covers, where you see a shoe, the back of a dress, a hat, or some other article of clothing (but usually shoes, for whatever reason). I’ve had all three.

Authors almost never get a say in this, despite continuous pleas to the cover gods. It’s all up to art departments and marketing departments. That’s because the covers do matter. The effort put into covers is no different than what goes into movie posters or fashion ads. It’s all about what packaging gets the product into the hands of the right consumer.

Titles are the same way. I’m batting just over .500 on having my original title appear on the final book, which I’ve been told is typical.

We’ve read a few romance novels (the women in our lives have read a few more) and one thing is clear—lawyers are seldom the male hero. Are lawyers fundamentally unromantic?

You’re reading the wrong books! There are romances with lawyers, though few romances are set inside a law firm. (That’s true of mysteries and thrillers, too, unless the law firm is the story, as in some of Grisham’s work.)

In any story, the characters need to be doing something that engages the attention of readers. Generally speaking, the day-to-day goings-on inside a firm aren’t interesting to the average person. (Anyone up for reading fifty pages of dialogue on an SEC filing just before bedtime?) However, if you get those characters in high-stakes trouble, which often happens outside a firm, that’s worth a read.

We heard that, back in 2000, you appeared on Jeopardy! Did you win a few games? What eventually did you in? Feel free to phrase your answer in the form of a question.

What is “the buzzer?” Seriously. I couldn’t get in on the buzzer until halfway through the game, and then it was on a ballet question that the other two contestants didn’t even attempt to answer. (Who is Vaslav Nijinsky?) So yes, I lost on Jeopardy!

That being said, I’d do it again in a heartbeat. I had a blast at both the audition and the taping. And the guy who beat me went on to become the runner-up in the Tournament of Champions.

You blog about “writing, baseball and other random topics” at The Go-Ahead. Let’s talk baseball. Your two favorite teams are the Rockies and the Red Sox. The Rockies really turned things around this year when they fired Clint Hurdle and brought in Jim Tracy. Obviously that’s worked, but do you think the manager really makes a difference at the major league level?

See, I think Hurdle was great. The guy led the Rockies to the Series in 2007, and the team had to win 21 out of 22 games to do it. The last team to win even 19 out of 20? The 1977 Royals, who had Hurdle as a player.

How can the same person be a great manager in 2007, but be considered a detriment only two years later? Mystery to me. (And one reason—among many, I’m sure—no one’s ever offered me a job in baseball.) But I do like Jim Tracy. And Terry Francona walks on water. Not that you asked.

Let’s talk Red Sox. Is it just us, or have they become totally boring since they broke the curse? Seriously. They were such a great story, but when they finally won a World Series in 2004, didn’t they lose that thing that made them so special and fun to watch—namely that underdog spirit?

You obviously haven’t been to Fenway in the last few years. When you’re in the stands, there’s no difference whatsoever between now and then, other than the ticket prices. Everyone’s just as convinced as ever that the Sox will find a way to lose. It’s ingrained in the New England psyche.

Do you use a Kindle? As someone who makes her living as a writer, do you worry about electronic readers replacing books, or are you one of those writers who can’t wait to go 100% digital?

I don’t own a Kindle, but only because I spend my whole day on a computer, so I prefer to read a printed page when I can to give my eyes variety. However, Kindles are incredible for travel, so I imagine I’ll succumb soon.

I don’t worry about electronic readers replacing books. A good story is a good story. Kindles (and similar devices) are so well designed that the experience is virtually the same as reading a paper book.

What does worry me is electronic theft. Don’t get me started on Google and their so-called “book program.” Labeling their scanning as a “book program” and claiming it benefits authors is like having an arsonist tell you he has a home heating plan as he ignites a gasoline-soaked rag at your back door. I feel the same way about pirates who scan copyrighted works, then post them for download. Lack of copyright enforcement is what will put authors out of business. It’s wreaked havoc on the music i

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Val Ackerman: The WNBA’s Driving Force

by Bitter Success on September 23, 2009 in Interviews

[Ed. Note: Valerie Ackerman is a trailblazer in women’s professional sports. Best known for her 10-year post as the founding President of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), she helped launch one of the world’s few premiere female professional sports leagues that continues to develop today.

But before helming the league, Ackerman was an attorney and an executive at the NBA—and before that, a pretty renowned hoopster in her own right. As one of the first women to receive an athletic scholarship at the University of Virginia, Ackerman was a four-year starter for the UVA Cavaliers and a three-time captain. Following a year of pro ball in Europe, Ackerman attended UCLA Law School before going to work for NBA Commissioner David Stern.

Bitter Lawyer recently spoke with Ackerman about her work as a pioneering female athlete, why she became a lawyer, and how her BigLaw training helped propel her to the top executive spot in her field.]

Val, after a very successful college career and some pro ball in Europe, you went to UCLA Law School. Was that always the plan? Did you always want to be a lawyer?

Yes. And I was actually more intent on being a lawyer than being a lawyer in sports. I can’t date it to a particular moment that I decided that I wanted to be a lawyer. I was taken by the idea (or I guess the fantasy) of it. You know, as a kid dreaming of arguing before the Supreme Court. So, I guess I always wanted to be a lawyer.

College was when I brought law and sports together. Or, at least that’s when I thought about bringing the two together. I played one year of pro basketball in France, and I actually took the LSAT that year and sent out applications [from Europe]. When I got back, I went law school.

Did you try to get a job in sports right away?

Yes, but I didn’t succeed. I wanted to work for the NBA, but I got turned down. They didn’t have an HR department in those days, so I actually got two separate letters from two different people, each rejecting me.

[Laughing]

I still have both letters.

So, what did you do?

I got a lot of advice and everyone said that if you want to be a lawyer working in sports, you should go be a lawyer first and get some real experience. That’s what I did.

Is that still good advice?

I think so. That’s what I always tell young lawyers who want to work for a league or a sports team—they need legal experience.

So where did you get your legal experience?

I worked for two years as an associate in the New York office of Simpson Thacher. I mostly worked as a corporate lawyer. I think the fact that I spent a lot of time looking at contracts was particularly helpful for my career.

That eventually helped me get a job working for the NBA. The league was just looking for that direct experience. It could have been anything: IP, labor, litigation… For me, it was corporate work. But I think another big factor for me was that I met a lot of really great people at Simpson Thacher who helped me make contacts at the NBA.

Do you think that your experience as a D1 athlete helped you at all as lawyer?

Yeah, I think so. Virginia didn’t cut much slack for athletes, so I had to be good at time management. Writing papers on long bus trips to Clemson taught me how to budget my time. And I learned a lot of discipline. Time management is a critical skill for any lawyer, so playing college sports teaches you to juggle a lot of things and how to prioritize.

It’s also not a cliché to talk about teamwork. That’s something you learn in sports, and it’s really important as a lawyer because you’re going to have to play a lot of different roles and be comfortable working with other people.

What was your best moment as a lawyer?

When I was a first-year associate, I was put on a deal that had a senior associate and a partner who were very high-strung. He was one of those typical partners, very hard charging and humorless, and that made him very intimidating.

For whatever reason, I came in really early one day. I think it was before 7:00, which was unusual for the office. (We typically started late and ended late.) So there I am, and the place is a ghost town. I think it was even kind of dark outside because it was winter. Anyway, the partner was there, and he walked by my office to get some coffee, and I just said hello to him, which I think kind of stopped him in his tracks because he wasn’t expecting me to be there. He was almost kind of speechless. It was a small moment, but I felt like I had earned the respect of someone who wasn’t easily impressed, and we ended up actually having a very good working relationship.

What was your worst moment as a lawyer?

It was also as a first-year. I was working on another deal with a different partner who was also very tough. He had left the office for a flight to Los Angeles. We had prepared a first draft for a securities transaction, and I think it was all kind of standard forms at this point. He was going to present the papers in person, and I had spent the afternoon scurrying to get them ready. When I finally got him out the door, I thought I would have peace while he was on the plane.

Four hours later, I hear my phone, and when I picked it up, I heard this whoosh sound. He was calling from the plane to let me know that I had made a big typo in the documents because I had misspelled the other lawyer’s name. I had to go back and fix it, which in those days meant hours with word processing and turning the document around, so I ended up staying really late for what was basically a typo. That was sort of a low moment.

What made you leave BigLaw?

I kind of went into it thinking it was a stepping-stone. That kind of work wasn’t really for me because I had this passion for sports. The actual moment that kicked it off though was when I got married to another lawyer in the firm. In those days, there was a policy against couples at the firm, so I decided it was time to leave and pursue my passion for sports law.

So, despite the two rejection letters, you went back to the NBA?

Yeah. There was an opening there. They had a very small legal department, and they were looking for a third lawyer to kind of fill in the gaps. Getting that job was the highlight of my life at that moment, and it wasn’t easy. I had to interview with the lawyers at the NBA and with [Commissioner] David [Stern], so it was a tough hiring process. But I got the call, and I was thrilled.

So, this whole “first President of the WNBA” thing. How did that come about?

I was there, for starters. I think a lot of it was right place, right time. But it was also part of a long progression for me that included my legal experience, and it was also the right time for a professional women’s league.

I think for David, it had always been a question of when, not if. And, in the early ‘90s, there were some really good things happening in women’s sports. For starters, women’s college basketball was getting a lot more attention, especially the women at UCONN. And the international success of the 1992 “Dream Team” with Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson helped USA Basketball put together a women’s team that won the gold in Atlanta in 1996.

Also worth mentioning: The economy was doing really well, and the NBA owners had money to invest in a new venture. So I think it was just a perfect time to pull the trigger. As for me, I had spent about eight years with the NBA, and I knew everyone involved really well, so that’s more of what I mean by right place, right time.

So what does a league president do?

A mix of things, and everyday is really different, which is great. First, it’s a lot of operations work, just day-to-day stuff to make sure you have a product to sell. You’re dealing with scheduling, players, officials, issues that come up with various teams, that kind of stuff.

The second thing is that you’re always looking at your strategic responsibilities because you’re always thinking about what’s next. With the WNBA, we expanded almost every year, so there was a lot of strategy work there.

Third, you do a ton of PR. There’s an endless stream of media requests, so you spend a lot of time talking to the press. You have a kind of ceremonial job to do as well. You’re making speeches, handing out trophies, putting in appearances and those kinds of things.

Was there a part of the job you liked best?

The best part was just being at the games, watching it all happen. I think for a lot of us, the WNBA is about a cause; it’s about doing something for women in sports. We felt like we were fighting for something. So, I was particularly proud to see it all happen, and to see young girls in the stands. That was the best part, to feel like I was part of something bigger than myself.

You’re now about four years removed from stepping down as the WNBA president. Is there anything you wish you’d done better?

We had some disappoints. Teams that folded, for example. Those where the darkest days. I think you always look back and ask if you could have done something different for those markets. On that score, yeah, I think about that. But, at the same time, I think we did a lot of things right in terms of using NBA assets and getting television network support and corporate sponsorship. I think the timing was also good. And I mostly just feel lucky to be so identified with the WNBA.

What do you think of the league now?

Female sports are in a more difficult stage now than they were when I was with the WNBA, whether you’re talking about basketball or soccer. The economy is worse and the novelty is gone. A lot needs to be done to build on what we began. But I think our society is ready for professional female sports because the quality of the product is really high.

And yet female sports aren’t anywhere near their male counterparts. Do you get that “Are we there yet?” question a lot from sports reporters? Do you feel like they’re missing something?

I did get that a lot. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Here’s one of my favorite stats: In our first year, we averaged about 9,000 people per game. In our second year, we broke the 10,000 barrier in terms of average attendance. I asked an NBA PR person to find out how long it took the NBA to get to that mark, and it turns out it took the league 29 years.

Now, I know that things were different back then—smaller country, no televised games, etc.—but the point is that you’re building a league, a brand. So it’s going to take a long time. It took the NBA a long time to get where it is. If you think about it, the league didn’t really get to the level it’s at today until the ‘80s with MJ and Magic.

Where’s attendance now?

It’s dipped. It bounces between 10,000 on average for its height, and has gone as low as an average of 7,000. But through that first 29 years, the NBA had a similar problem. Some years it was up, but a lot of years it was down.

Does it help the WNBA to have support from the NBA?

Unapologetically, yes. That support is critical, no question about it. From the brand, to the investments, to having employees with a lot of pro basketball experience. That being said, if the WNBA is going to be successful, it has to stand on its own two feet. It’s needs to be like women’s tennis in that way—the product has to be so great that it stands on its own.

As a woman who has worked in two male-dominated industries, do you think there’s a reason why we don’t see a lot of women making partner in BigLaw?

I don’t know how much I can speak to the law because I really only worked there for two years. But in both law and sports, I found that if you work hard and know what you’re doing, your gender really isn’t an issue. But maybe that’s just my experience because people respected me for working hard and working smart.

That said, I think women are more easily tripped up by work/life balance issues because they’re more inclined to think about their family. I know that I was a victim of the work/life balance struggle when I left the WNBA. Life for me was a high-wire act. My husband was still working as a lawyer on Wall Street, and I was the WNBA president—and before that at the NBA. So for 12 years, my kids had two parents working all the time, and I just felt like I needed a break. My kids deserved more.

But look, 25 years ago, this wouldn’t have been an issue at all because you didn’t see so many women working in either law or sports, so you didn’t see a whole crop of young women looking to work in those professions. I think a lot of this is changing, bit I hope that even more changes are on the way.

Val currently serves on the Board of Directors of USA Basketball, the Executive Committee of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Board of Trustees for the March of Dimes.

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David Baldacci: Absolute Thriller

by Bitter Success on September 10, 2009 in Interviews

[Ed. Note: If you’re a fan of political thrillers, you know David Baldacci. With tens of millions of copies of his books in print, Baldacci has come a long way from his roots as a DC-area lawyer. In 1997, his first book, Absolute Power, debuted as a New York Times bestseller and was adapted by screenwriting legend William Goldman into a movie directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, with Gene Hackman, Ed Harris and Laura Linney rounding out the cast.

Since then, Baldacci has gone on to rack up 17 international bestsellers to his credit. His most recent novel, True Blue, mixes crime, a powerful law firm, and what Baldacci calls the “dark side of national security.” The book hits shelves next month.

Bitter Lawyer caught up with Baldacci to find out why he stopped practicing law, why Hollywood has only made one of his books into a motion picture, and how he once found himself on People magazine's list of the 50 most beautiful people.]

David, where did you go to law school?

University of Virginia School of Law

What kind of law did you practice?

Trial and corporate law.

What was your best moment as a lawyer?

Winning a case against a guy who’d embezzled money from a 90-year-old widow. I did it pro bono. It took me a year, and I had to chase the guy through bankruptcy court, [but] I finally nailed him and got the money back.

What was your worst moment as a lawyer?

Losing a big jury trial that we’d spent two years on, and the jury took about twenty minutes to tell us where to go.

Did you ever consider yourself a Bitter Lawyer?

Not at all. The practice of law was challenging. I enjoyed most of the people I worked with. I can’t say the same about all my clients.

What was the moment when you said, “I’ve got to get the f*** out of law?”

I’m a writer who happens to also be a lawyer. I always wanted to write fiction, but I started out writing short stories, and you can’t make a living off that, so I went to law school. I’m still a member of the Virginia Bar but I never see myself going back in the saddle. Writing remains my passion. But practicing law all those years really helped me write fiction better.

How?

Being an attorney helped me cope with working on long-term projects. I developed the discipline needed to stick with it but to also try not to do too much too fast. It’s a process, and it’s going to take longer than a weekend. Also my training as an attorney makes me an aggressive researcher—wanting to make the novel read as true-to-life as possible.

How did you first break in as a novelist? Was it difficult?

I was writing screenplays and short stories while working on Absolute Power. When Absolute Power was finished, I submitted it to a number of literary agents. They all loved it, and I was lucky enough to be able to travel to New York and vet agents instead of the other way around. That is very unusual. I went through ten-plus years of steady rejection before that. But the longer you write, the better you become sometimes. And if you love the craft, the rejections tend to bounce off like slugs from Kevlar.

Over the years, your books have been mentioned and praised by a wide range of public figures (from Bill Clinton and Rush Limbaugh to Howard Stern and Don Imus). Why do you think your books resonate with such a diverse group? Are we all just suckers for a good story?

I work hard to get the facts right and play fair with readers. That’s why I think my books are read by so many different types of people. I break most stereotypes with my characters, giving readers new perspectives on issues through dialogue and plot devices. But you’re right, above all, people enjoy a good story with memorable characters. But you have to work hard to get the research and the plot to a sophisticated level. What you don’t want a reader to think is, “Gee, I could’ve come up with that one sitting on my couch drinking a beer.”

How do you come up with your ideas? Do you read the paper and mark interesting stories, or are there things that you’ve just always wanted to write on?

I like to write about things I’m interested in. And they are usually things I don’t know that much about, so I become a researcher, journalist, investigator and writer all in one. Then through the research, the story develops. It can come from a newspaper story, some nonfiction book I’m reading that jars something in my head, or a concept like fixing the lottery. Ideas are actually easy for me. The hard part is executing on that idea and turning it into a story people would enjoy reading.

Absolute Power was made into an impressive movie with Clint Eastwood a year after the book hit stores. Why haven’t we seen more of your work adapted for the screen?

It takes all the moons to be in alignment for Hollywood to move on something. And the moons rarely are so agreeable. Hollywood right now is in a “political thrillers don’t sell” mode coupled with a “let’s make nineteen sequels of every movie ever made plus film every comic book ever published” mentality. We’re working on some projects with some good folks, and hopefully one day we’ll see another one on the screen. But it is frustrating.

In 1997, People magazine named you one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world. (HERE) How did you react to being put on a list with Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio? Was it flattering, or just kind of silly?

Silly. There were forty-eight actors, one archeologist, and I was the token writer.

Having published 17 novels over your career, do you have a favorite? Or are an author’s books like children—you never pick one?

I don’t have a specific favorite; I love each of them for very different reasons. Your first will always be special. Wish You Well was a departure from the thriller genre and fun to write. I so enjoy The Camel Club members, King & Maxwell [series] are such great and vivid characters for me, and the new one, True Blue, is closest to me at the moment since I just finished writing it.

How do you manage to keep turning out books year after year? What’s a typical day for you?

My typical day is so untypical! Some days I write, some days I think, some days I research, some days are filled with all of it. I turn out book after book mainly because I love to write. I’m not comfortable if I’m not writing.

You live in the DC area—a place that seems to attract a lot of political thriller writers for obvious reasons. Do you have to live in DC to be a legit political thriller writer? Is there something about living in a place that helps you put together a story?

Certainly living in the heart of American politics helps, but if one does his/her homework, I think political thrillers can be written from anywhere.

Do you own a Kindle? As an author, what do you make of electronic readers? Are books becoming luxury items? Are we nearing a day when one of your books goes direct to digital and never sees hard copy?

I do own a Kindle. I like it for travel and research purposes, but I don’t think it will replace the traditional book for me—or for most people. I see it as simply another tool, not the replacement for the book. I think it has more advantages for textbooks more than pleasure reading. I like to put my books on a shelf too. You can’t do that with the Kindle.

What’s coming up next for you?

I’m working on the spring novel, a follow up book to The Whole Truth.

Do you have any advice for lawyers or law students out there who have unpublished novels tucked away in their desk drawer?

If you love writing, just keep plugging away at it. Don’t give up! The publishing world always needs new material. Be as creative in marketing your work as you are in writing it. Don’t follow trends. Follow your own interests. That way the passion will come through on the page. And sometimes it’s that little extra spark in the material that will capture someone’s eye.

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Tucker Max: The Anti-Lawyer

by Bitter Vault on August 25, 2009 in Interviews

If you attended Duke Law School between 1998 and 2001, you probably idolized, abhorred or had sex with Tucker Max. Truly uninspired about becoming a lawyer, he rarely attended class, but Tucker made the most of his law school experience.

Fueled by excessive amounts of firm-sponsored booze, an averted sexual encounter with a married female partner, and a belligerent performance at the firm retreat landed him in the managing partner’s office—fired from his first (and only) summer associate gig. Days later, an email he wrote to friends chronicling the incidents turned him into a viral internet sensation.
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Bob Woodruff: Lawyer, Brave Journalist

by Bitter Success on August 11, 2009 in Interviews

If there’s ever been anyone worthy of calling himself a Bitter Lawyer, it’s ABC newsman Bob Woodruff. However, despite having a top-notch career interrupted by a near-fatal incident, that is hardly his attitude.

First as a corporate lawyer, and later as a journalist, Woodruff has had a knack for finding himself in harm’s way. As a young lawyer, Woodruff caught the journalism bug while working in China. The year was 1989, and Woodruff went from law professor to CBS News “fixer” overnight when the nation’s young people—some of whom were his students—put their lives on the line in what became known as the Tiananmen Square protests.

Tiananmen Square wasn’t the end of Woodruff’s legal career, but it marked the beginning of Bob Woodruff’s more-public career as a television journalist. In the decades that followed, Woodruff earned a reputation as an effective, no-nonsense reporter for ABC News. He covered stories in international hot spots like North Korea and Iran, as well as domestic disasters like Hurricane Katrina.
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