Lawyer

During nearly half a century of practicing law, Arthur L. Liman represented the very best ideals of his profession. He was renowned both for his brilliance as a corporate lawyer and for his commitment to public service and pro bono work. Vanity Fair called him a “big trouble” lawyer—i.e., the lawyer you call when you’re in it.

In this candid memoir, written in the months before his death, Liman discusses his life in the law from the moment Roy Cohn’s performance at the McCarthy hearings inspired him to become a lawyer (in order to stand against lawyers like Cohn) to his influential investigation of the Attica prison uprising, through his role as chief counsel in the Iran-Contra hearings, with looks at many fascinating cases, clients, and controversies along the way. Full of lively portraits of the moguls, financiers, politicians and criminals with whom Liman worked, and grounded in his insightful, provocative opinions on the practice of law and on today’s legal issues, Lawyer is an absorbing read.