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Lawyers in and out of Love
Two stories in the news this week about lawyers in and out of love: one sordid, the other sweet.
First, the sordid. Writing for Legal Times, Nathan Carlile describes the nasty Washington, D.C., divorce battle between John Guttman, partner and former managing partner of the environmental boutique Beveridge & Diamond, and his wife, Nancy Lasater, a former solo practitioner who often represented firms on ethics issues. The sordidness stems from two sides. One is Lasater's allegation that Guttmann forged her signature to borrow from his firm's 401(k) plan in 1993. The other is the admission by Guttmann's successor as managing partner, Holly Cannon, that she and Guttmann began an affair six months before he filed for divorce. In fact, according to Legal Times, Cannon has contributed more than $300,000 to help pay Guttmann's divorce lawyers.
While the Legal Times story details love lost between lawyers, a New York Times piece tells of a lawyer and a love rekindled. The lawyer is Paul L. Mills, who as a 50-something trial lawyer in Los Angeles walked away and returned to a life -- and a woman -- he had long since left behind. That life was as the Manhattan street poet known as Poez, and that woman was an aspiring young singer named Suzanne Vega. Way back when, Mills had asked Vega to marry him, but when no answer came, he eventually headed west to law school, and she married someone else. Years passed, and a curious Mills' Google search for his former self led him to send a message to Vega. Vega, now divorced, replied. Four months later, Mills and Vega married, and Mills gave up law to return to Manhattan and his former life as the poet Poez.
Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on October 16, 2007 at 03:35 PM | Permalink
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