The Client Decides:: A Litigator's Life: Jackie Onassis, Vice President Spriro Agnew, Donald Trump, Roy Cohn, and More

A fascinating trial lawyer's memoir in which renowned litigator Martin London takes the reader inside cases of national importance, like the one involving his client Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in a precedent shattering First Amendment case, and representing her son John Kennedy Jr. as well. The breezy narrative also describes his trial work as part of the team that won a record-breaking jury award on behalf of valiant physicians who refused to buckle under to the murder threats of a group of anti-abortion extremists, and the author reveals why the government's criminal case against his client Vice President Spiro Agnew ended the way it did. London also represented Agnew's predecessor, Vice President Hubert Humphrey in the political-legal battle that led to Humphrey's winning the1968 Democratic nomination but losing the election to Richard Nixon. For a change of pace, London reveals the strategy and tactics that produced a record jury verdict in a nationally followed case against CBS and its Chicago TV anchor Walter Jacobson. That victory was affirmed all the way up to the Supreme Court. In another matter, the author describes his defense of his lawyer-friend who was sued by Donald Trump for $105,000,000! London's work in that case was so successful, that in the end, Trump paid London's fees! The book also reports the details of the author's pro bono work that led to the disbarment of Roy Cohn, and the removal and sanction of unfit judges and lawyers. A great assortment of other criminal and civil cases are described, some of which were legally and physically challenging, and some are just interesting and funny. Indeed, throughout the entire book, London displays an easygoing sense of humor, no matter how serious the subject. Finally, London gives a quick view of the events leading up to his to career as a trial lawyer, including his legal and other adventures during his tours of duty in the U.S Army, and the unsuspecting help he received in that process, from The Godfather author Mario Puzo. In sum, this book is an inviting read for lawyers and non-lawyers alike.

Martin London is a nationally renowned Brooklyn-born lawyer who is an Honors graduate of NYU Law School, where he was an Associate Editor of the Law Review. After two tours of duty with the U.S. Army, London spent 45 years as an associate and partner at the international law firm, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. His partners first made him head of the Litigation Department, and then elected him to the Chairmanship of the Firm. His colleagues at the bar elected him to Fellowship at the prestigious American College of Trial lawyers, Chair of the Second Circuit Federal Bar Council, and he was appointed by the New York Supreme Court

Appellate Division to be Chair of its Disciplinary Committee, which had jurisdiction over 40,000 lawyers. London's name appears on a number of peer-selected Best Lawyers'' lists. He has won numerous awards for advocacy, lectured at leading law schools, and appeared on television and radio. He tried cases cases all over the world, before retiring in 2005 at the zenith of an outstanding career.