Attorney Sandor Frankel, author of “The Accidental Philanthropist”. Photo courtesy of Sandor Frankel.
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(Reuters) – There is an art in telling legal war stories of unhappy customers and improbable claims; clever opposing lawyers and hard-earned victories.
Sandor Frankel is a master of the genre. Leona Helmsley’s attorney, Frankel, has been a steward of her $ 5.4 billion estate since her death in 2007, which he and his co-trustees allegedly gave away “to make life better” around the world.
In his new memoir, due to be released Tuesday on Skyhorse, “The Accidental Philanthropist: From a Bronx Stickball Lot to Manhattan Courtrooms and Steering Leona Helmsley’s Billions,” Frankel shares often hilarious, sometimes poignant, and always insightful observations from over 50 years Law firm representing clients such as the deposed Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda, actress Brooke Shields, singer-songwriter Barry Manilow and boxing promoter Don King.
Frankel, a 1967 Harvard Law School graduate, cut his teeth as a district attorney with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, DC, did a brief stint in Big Law in what is now known as Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson is known, and then joined with tax fraud prevention expert Lou Bender in a boutique practice. Frankel is now Of Counsel in Otterbourg’s Litigation Department in New York City.
Frankel told me he was inspired to write the book (his fourth – over the years he’s also written a real crime thriller, novel, and guide to fighting the IRS) because “You come to a stage in life when you in which one takes stock ”. where you are and what you have done. “
Frankel writes extensively about his work for the hotel billionaire Helmsley, who has been known as the “Queen of Means”. In 1989 she was convicted of federal tax evasion and other crimes and served 19 months in prison.
After her death, he was named one of the executors of Helmsley’s estate, which included a $ 12 million trust for her Maltese dog Trouble (“a vicious, non-discriminatory man-biter,” according to Frankel). The legacy was reduced to $ 2 million, which still resulted in nearly $ 200,000 a year in spending on dogs.
As the co-trustee of Helmsley’s charitable foundation, Frankel has “completely discreet” decisions about the purposes for which she donates her wealth.
“When you control billions of dollars, I assure you – you become very popular,” wrote Frankel. “The way of life from kneeling, the judge asks for small or large victories, to knee protector is radical.”
His years as a lawyer offered “a keen, unique, sometimes penetrating look into the weaknesses, limitations, rudeness, and the occasional backbone of the human species,” he wrote in an email.
But his new role is something completely different. “I pinch myself to make sure this is real. I think I’m awake, ”he wrote. “‘The Accidental Philanthropist’ tells how this dream happened and how and why I did what I did with it.” Here are a dozen of my favorite foods:
ABOUT THE APPOINTMENT OF A LAWYER
“If you ever need a lawyer and find one who tells you they’ve never lost a case, look for someone else who is more experienced or more honest.”
ABOUT DISCOVERY
“Stiff attorneys often fail to agree on adequate exposure, even though the subject-matter of the dispute is clear, inconsequential, or at least not worth the time of several attorneys to fight the dispute. Never giving in, compromising with a disgusting opponent, is the luxury of a lawyer paid for by the client. “
ABOUT OTHER BAR MEMBERS
“People often ask how lawyers can fight each other vehemently in court and then socialize outside. In fact, it can be difficult – some of the lawyers you argue with in the courtroom are people you want to fight with outside. “
TO CUSTOMER COMMUNICATION
“A lawyer best serves a client’s needs by honestly explaining the details of the legal process and the unpredictability of the outcome and the path to that outcome – even if the client often wants to hear how he or she is entitled to win.” , and how that will ultimately happen. “
ABOUT THE MANAGEMENT OF EXPECTATIONS
“Customers often ask the natural questions: How long will the case last, how much does it cost and will I win? My answer is often: These are excellent questions, but the honest answer is that it’s like asking how long a piece of string is. “
ABOUT DISPUTES
“In general, the only certainty in litigation is uncertainty and that it will be expensive.”
ABOUT JUSTICE
“The client’s sense of justice is often out of proportion to the end result.”
ABOUT BIG LAW
“I didn’t want to join a mega company; I had tried this environment decades ago after leaving the U.S. Attorney’s office and didn’t like the taste. A friend of one of these law firms, who recently hired their thousandth lawyer, said it wasn’t as warm and cozy as it was with just 999. “
ABOUT STRATEGY
“The opposite of ‘don’t sue’ is not necessarily ‘aggressively sue’. Sue more aggressively than the situation or wisdom dictates can have disastrous consequences. “
ON PAYMENTS
“Many lawsuits are settled when both parties are fed up with paying their lawyers.”
ABOUT CLUBBLE CUSTOMERS (PART 1)
“Some people think they have a good case if, to be honest, they don’t. A man goes to a lawyer that a neighbor drove him into a forest, tied him to a tall oak tree and robbed him – and he says he has evidence of it. Lawyer says show me the evidence. Man loads a lawyer into his car, drives into a forest, parks, goes into the forest with the lawyer, stops in front of a tall oak tree, points to it and says: ‘That is the tree.’ “
ABOUT CLOSELESS CUSTOMERS (PART 2)
“A man charged with tax evasion came to see me for possible representation. The charges were plain and simple – only the years and the amount of the evasion were alleged, but no details were given. I asked what the case was about and he said he had no idea …
Perhaps this was a tax fraud attorney’s dream case: a perfectly innocent taxpayer, clean as the snow, and an IRS investigation that’s gone wild. After my long grilling over him, our meeting was over and I still had no clue of the basis for the indictment. When he was about to leave, however, a thought suddenly seemed to occur to him.
Maybe it was the prostitutes, he said. Maybe I shouldn’t have put her on the payroll as an employee. “
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Jenna Greene
Jenna Greene writes on legal business and culture, takes a comprehensive look at professional trends, faces behind the cases, and bizarre court drama. A longtime chronicler of the legal industry and high profile litigation, she lives in Northern California. Reach Greene at [email protected]