Bruce Carton over at the Securities Litigation Watch blog is excerpting portions of Joseph C. Goulden’s new book called The Money Lawyers (Truman Talley 1995), and the first excerpt is a portion of the chapter in the book about controversial class action plaintiffs’ lawyer, William Lerach. Goulden notes that Lerach disarmed him about Lerach’s legendary reputation for combative behavior in their first meeting:
Stories of the [Lerach] temper are legion. An unfriendly adversary told me he once heard Lerach tell corporate executives during negotiations, “I don’t give a f**k if I put your company into bankruptcy. I’m going to take away your beach house and your condo in Aspen by the time I’m finished with you.” When he talks about high tech executives, he tosses around vitriol such as “scumbags” and “crime in the suites.” He can be combative when dealing with other lawyers. One remembers hearing Lerach storm, “Your professional life is at an end. I am going to destroy you.”
But he chose to open our talk with a grin. “So,” he said, “some of those guys are saying nasty things about me, eh?”