F. Lee Bailey died yesterday.
There must be thousands of stories about him and his law firm. Here's mine.
Wednesday, April 25, 1984 was the day I interviewed for a job with F. Lee Bailey's New York law firm, Bailey & Broder. It was also the day I was sworn in as a New York lawyer.
Back then, F. Lee Bailey wasn't just a legendary lawyer. He was THE legend.
His name was iconic. People used to kid young, aggressive lawyers like the one I hoped to become by comparing them to him: "Who do you think you are, F. Lee Bailey?" Or, "OK, F. Lee Bailey. Whatever you say."
It was a powerful "F." To me, his first name practically was "F." Years later, during the O.J. Simpson trial, whenever I heard someone refer to him simply as "Lee Bailey," it somehow sounded wrong.
Anyway, on the morning of April 25, 1984, I took the attorney's oath in New York City. I was officially a lawyer, but I had absolutely no idea how to begin my legal career. I certainly had no idea that a few hours later I would be sitting in the Empire State Building interviewing with F. Lee Bailey's law firm.
That morning, I picked up a copy of the New York Law Journal and saw an announcement that caught my attention.
F. Lee Bailey's law partner, Aaron J. Broder, was giving a continuing legal education seminar that afternoon at the New York Hilton Hotel. Tickets were $35.
Thirty-five dollars was a lot of money to me back then. I had been a New York lawyer for about an hour, had no job, and had no real prospects of finding one anytime soon.
But I decided to make the investment. I was going to meet F. Lee Bailey's law partner that day. And, somehow, he was going to offer me a job. That was the plan.
I took the subway from my apartment in Brooklyn to the New York Hilton wearing my best suit, a white shirt, blue tie, and black shoes that I'd had shined by the guy in the subway station.
At the Hilton, I sat in the front row and listened to Mr. Broder speak about New York Civil Procedure. Boring as hell. But I smiled. I clapped. And I waited.
My plan was simple. When the lecture ended, I was going to walk up to Mr. Broder, tell him how great it was, introduce myself, and somehow convince him to hire me.
Then the lecture ended, and instead of returning to his table for lunch, Mr. Broder disappeared through a kitchen door.
Now what? Thirty-five bucks for this meeting down the drain? Oh no.
I quickly made my way out of the ballroom toward the escalator. There he was, almost at the bottom.
"Mr. Broder!" I yelled. He turned around. I put up my hand as I stepped onto the escalator, and he waited for me.
Now I had another problem. What the hell was I going to say to him?
"Mr. Broder, I just wanted an opportunity to meet you and tell you how much I enjoyed your lecture." It came out with a mixture of fear and excitement.
"Thank you, young man. What is your name?" "I'm Steve Kaplan."
"Well hello, Steve. Where do you work?"
"Well, to tell you the truth, Mr. Broder, I was just sworn in to the New York Bar this morning, and I don't have a job yet."
Then he asked me a question I absolutely was not expecting. "Would you like to interview with my firm?"
F yea, I would.
He handed me his business card and told me his managing attorney was a man named Mr. Michaelson. He told me to call the office in the Empire State Building, tell Mr. Michaelson that Aaron Broder had sent me, and arrange an interview for an associate position with Bailey & Broder.
So I called. A receptionist with a beautiful British accent answered the phone. "Good afternoon, thank you for calling the law office of F. Lee Bailey and Aaron J. Broder. May I help you?"
I explained that Mr. Broder had told me to call and arrange an interview with Mr. Michaelson. My interview was scheduled for that same afternoon.
A few hours later, there I was. The Empire State Building. The 84th floor.
I was sitting in F. Lee Bailey's office just hours after becoming a lawyer, waiting to interview for my first legal job. My heart was palpitating.
There was an open window nearby with a bird singing outside on the windowsill. I looked at it and thought, I could jump. What the hell was I doing there?
I sat across from the receptionist as she answered the phone with the same beautiful British accent I'd heard earlier. "Good afternoon, thank you for calling the law office of F. Lee Bailey and Aaron J. Broder. May I help you?"
Then: "Just one minute, please."
A short pause.
"Hello, Mr. Broder? Mr. Smith is on line three regarding the Korean Airlines 007 case."
THE Korean Airlines 007 case?
The case had been front-page news around the world for months.
Korean Air Lines Flight 007, flying from New York City to South Korea, had been shot down by a Soviet fighter jet. Everyone on board was killed.
And there I was, a lawyer for all of a few hours, interviewing with a law firm representing family members of the people who had died.
I interviewed with Mr. Michaelson.
He explained what would be expected of me if I were selected. I would work seven days a week. Occasionally, I might get a Sunday off, and when I did, he told me, it would feel like a holiday.
If I was good enough and dedicated enough, after a few years I might hope to be promoted to the "Broder Trial Prep Team." Then came the salary. $10,000 a year. I gulped.
Mr. Michaelson told me to think about the terms and call him if I was interested.
Ultimately, I sent him a letter thanking him for the opportunity but explaining that I couldn't accept a position at $10,000 a year. And that was that.
As I write this 37 years later, now a 63-year-old New Jersey divorce lawyer, I still sometimes wonder what would have happened if I had continued with the interview process.
Would I have gotten the job? Would I have ever worked on a case with F. Lee Bailey? Would I have stayed in New York City instead of returning home to New Jersey and taking the New Jersey Bar Exam?
Would I have ever met Judge Graves, the wonderful New Jersey Family Court judge who hired me and became my mentor?
Would I still be living in New York instead of here at the Jersey Shore, the place I've loved for more than 35 years?
Who knows.
Life has a funny way of turning on decisions that don't seem nearly as important when you're making them. I have no idea what would have happened if I had accepted that $10,000 salary and gone to work for Bailey & Broder.
But I know where the decision I did make eventually led me. And I know that yesterday, the legal community lost a legend.
F. Lee Bailey was one of the most famous criminal trial lawyers in American history. For one afternoon in 1984, just a few hours after I became a lawyer, I came remarkably close to beginning my legal career at his firm.
I've never forgotten it.
Rest in peace, Mr. Bailey.
Until next time,
Steve