Amazon.com Review
Arthur Liman, a prominent partner at the New York law firm of Paul, Weiss, died in 1997 after a distinguished career spanning four decades. He represented moguls and big corporations, but was at least as well-known through his public service record, first as counsel for the New York state investigation into the 1971 Attica prison uprising, and then as chief counsel for the Senate Iran-Contra hearings in the mid-1980s. Perhaps because Liman is circumspect with his clients' confidences, or perhaps because he died before he could completely edit his work, Lawyer doesn't have quite the same storytelling rhythm that one gets from, say, Alan Dershowitz. The anecdotal nature of the work, primarily cataloging Liman's successes and failures, makes for a certain sketchiness as autobiography, and lawyers might hope for more practice pointers rather than stories. Liman's defense of one of his more notorious clients, Michael Milken, is strong, however, and he has entertaining and cogent observations on the multi-billion-dollar Pennzoil v. Texaco litigation. A subtext throughout the book is how the practice of law has changed over the years; the computer-dependent young associate of today will marvel at Liman's descriptions of the need for knitting needles to organize documents in complex litigation in the late 1950s. All in all, Liman's collection of tales and personal experiences provides a pleasant and engrossing read. --Ted Frank
From Publishers Weekly
High-powered trial lawyer Liman became a face known to millions when, as chief counsel to the Senate committee investigating the Iran-Contra affair, he grilled Oliver North and John Poindexter in televised hearings. In this earnest, energetic autobiography, Liman, who died last year at 65, portrays a Reagan White House out of control, run by zealous aides. He lambastes the Reagan administration for its disdain for constitutional procedures and its use of covert actions circumventing our system of checks and balances. A lifelong liberal Democrat, Liman voices his opposition to capital punishment because of the discrimination and racism he sees in how the death penalty is applied. His experience as head of an independent investigation into the 1971 Attica prison rebellion, in which 29 inmates and 10 hostages were killed in upstate New York, convinced him that U.S. prisons, dens of institutionalized racism, systematically degrade and brutalize blacks and Hispanics. Liman has had some controversial clients, notably convicted junk-bond trader Michael Milken, whom he lamely defends here as a scapegoat "vilified as the symbol of greedy and uncaring capitalism." This memoir combines genuine courtroom drama and frank insights into trial lawyers' tactics, as Liman replays cases involving such clients as Steve Ross of Time Warner and flamboyant entrepreneur Charles Bluhdorn, who created the Gulf + Western conglomerate. 8-page b&w photo insert. Agent, Wallace Literary Agency.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Dismayed by the distorted and unflattering image of the legal profession perpetuated by the O.J. Simpson cases, in the months prior to his death Liman put together an informative and revealing series of stories recounting his career as a high-profile attorney. As chief counsel to the Senate select committee investigating the Iran-contra affair in 1987, Liman pounded away at Oliver North for assisting in the creation of a covert action force that operated outside the restraints of Congressional oversight. In the public eye, however, North stole the show. Liman's staunch defense of Wall Street demon Michael Milken drew criticism from many who admired his Iran-contra work, but he explains that the rule of law allowed for both. One of a lawyer's greatest challenges in the multimedia age is overcoming the tendency to communicate in sound bites. Liman exhorts both his peers and future practitioners to ponder the admonition of Oliver Wendell Holmes not to allow principles of law to be bent on the altar of feelings and emotion. An excellent book for both practicing attorneys and law students.APhillip Young Blue, New York State Supreme Court Criminal Branch Lib., New York
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Liman's 40 years of practice was in the service of the high (e.g., Time-Warner, Michael Milken) and the low (e.g., Attica prison inmates). He honed his legal talent as a litigator under the legendary Judge Simon H. Rifkind in the service of a Wall Street powerhouse legal firm, among the first to merge Protestant and Jewish attorneys. Despite his reputation as a stellar litigator, Liman most valued his public service activities, both in and out of government, and his role as "counselor" out of the light of the court and public view. This book is must reading for lawyers because it deals with values that are often out of focus in the practice of law today. For others, this book will recall the social consciousness of our times: the McCarthy era, the idealism of the new frontier, and the civil rights era as a catalyst for social change. But what is most intriguing is Liman's common touch and the ease with which this recently deceased attorney could integrate his work, with the perspective of conflicting elements, into a consistent pursuit of noble ideas. Vernon Ford
From Kirkus Reviews
of the New York bar. The law career of the late Arthur Liman (he died last year) spanned four decades and included some of the most interesting cases of the late 20th century: he became an attorney after observing Senator McCarthys contempt for legal freedoms in the 1950s, and by the late 1980s his clients included William Paley of CBS and junk-bond guru Michael Milken. The book is spiced with personal anecdotes about some of his dealings with the famous and the infamous. Some, like media mogul Steve Ross (who negotiated the Time-Warner merger), come across as decent, almost humble, folks. Others are not spared Limans well-developed wrath toward any who would abuse the legal system: the book closes with Limans notes from the Iran-Contra investigation (of which he was chief legal counsel for the Senate), in which he castigates the circumvention of the Constitution by key White House and CIA officials. In particular, he never believed that Admiral Poindexter authorized all of the illegal activities without President Reagans knowledge (unfortunately, Limans private comment during a recess that Poindexters testimony was bullshit was picked up by a microphone and broadcast on TV). Liman also reflects on the investigators poor decisions, which unwittingly created a national hero out of Oliver North, who symbolized contempt for Congress. Always, Liman is quick to point out why Iran-Contra differed from Whitewater, Watergate, and other high-profile scandals: the issue at stake was whether the executive branch could ignore Congress by creating an unaccountable, secret organization that would conduct covert foreign policy and decide on matters of national security. Only rarely succumbing to legalese, Limans book is an important reminder of the foundations of constitutional law and offers a fine example of one attorneys integrity. (8 pages b&w photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Review
"[W]hen ever I faced difficult choices, legal or otherwise, I would turn to him. In fact, the question, 'What would Arthur think?' has become an essential component of complex decisions in my life." -- Henry A. Kissinger
Liman plainly took pleasure, even decades later, in recollecting the details. The reader's pleasure is less intense. While the anecdotes are told crisply and with occasional verve, their cumulative effect is to convince one, if there existed doubt, that there is no such thing as an interesting securities fraud. -- The New York Times Book Review, Adam Liptak
About the Author
Arthur L. Liman was for many years a partner at the esteemed law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York City. He died in 1997.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
From Chapter 21: For historical reasons, I decided to keep an informal diary of the Iran-Contra investigation. I had to be careful what I wrote down because of the security issue, but one of my first entries followed my first visit to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: There is a smell of death around the White House. It is almost as if the professionals feel that this administration is drawing to an end, and they want to be sure that their reputations are intact for the next. The President seems to be almost a bystander in the whole investigation. Unlike Nixon, who sounded like a shyster lawyer on the tapes in attempting to direct what his staff would say and what they would produce, President Reagan says only that he is interested in finding out what happened. We thus have the absolutely amazing spectacle of the President looking forward to the reports of investigation so that he can learn whether he, in fact, authorized sales to Iran!
Our congressional investigation wasn't the only one going on. An independent counsel, Judge Lawrence E. Walsh, had been named to investigate criminal charges, and the President, meanwhile, had appointed his own panel of inquiry, headed by former Senator John Tower. The Tower Commission had no subpoena power and couldn't grant immunity. It did, however, interview the President several times, which, unfortunately, only added to the prevailing confusion. In his first interview, the President said he had authorized the initial sale of arms to Iran, through Israel. In the second, the following day, he denied any such authorization and said he objected to the sale by Israel. Finally-astonishingly-the President stated he had no actual recollection of whether he did or didn't authorize the initial sales.
When the Report was released it criticized Don Regan (Reagan's chief of staff), the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of Defense for being deficient as a committee for someone who could not manage his own affairs. (The Tower Commission was careful not to come right out and say that the President couldn't manage his own affairs.) It was clear that the Commission's conclusions were in part political.
The Friday after the Report was issued, I was at the White House with the White House counsel, reviewing the President's notes, when Regan was replaced by James Baker. It was an extraordinary moment of history. Wallison, the White House counsel, received a call while we were meeting. It was Regan, who said that the President had just announced that Baker had replaced him. Nobody, it seems, had told Regan about it beforehand. Regan was furious and Wallison was close to tears, both shocked that noone had felt it necessary to offer them the decency of advance warning or a face-to-face chat. "They play it rough in this town," read my diary entry that night.
