Eat What You Kill : The Fall of a Wall Street Lawyer

by Regan, Milton C.

• ISBN13: 9780472114375
• ISBN10: 0472114379
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-10-10
• Publisher: Univ of Michigan Pr

Summary

"A wonderful character study of someone whose cognitive dissonance ('I am brilliant, therefore I must be doing everything correctly') led directly to his downfall. Students would do well to read this book before venturing forth into a large firm, a small firm, or any pressure-cooker environment." -Nancy Rapoport, University of Houston Law Center "Eat What You Killis gripping and well written. . . . It weaves in academic commentary and understanding of professional ethics issues in a way that makes it accessible to everyone." -Frank Partnoy, University of San Diego Law School He had it all, and then he lost it. But why did he do it, risking everything-wealth, success, livelihood, freedom, and the security of family? Eat What You Killis the story of John Gellene, a rising star and bankruptcy partner at one of Wall Street's most venerable law firms. But when Gellene became entangled in a web of conflicting corporate and legal interests involving one of his clients, he was eventually charged with making false statements, indicted, found guilty of a federal crime, and sentenced to prison. Milton C. Regan Jr. uses Gellene's case to prove that such conflicting interests are now disturbingly commonplace in the world of American corporate finance. Combining a journalist's eye with sharp psychological insight, Regan spins Gellene's story into a gripping drama of fundamental tensions in modern-day corporate practice and describes in perfect miniature the inexorable confluence of the interests of American corporations and their legal counselors. This confluence may seem natural enough, but because these law firms serve many masters-corporations, venture capitalists, shareholder groups-it has paradoxically led to deep, pervasive conflicts of interest.Eat What You Killgives us the story of a man trapped in this labyrinth, and reveals the individual and systemic factors that contributed to Gellene's demise.

Author Biography

Milton C. Regan, Jr. is Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center.

Table of Contents

From "nobody starves" to "eat what you kill"	p. 15
Portrait of a young lawyer	p. 50
Rust Belt meets Wall Street	p. 71
Rolling the dice	p. 97
A new battlefield	p. 136
Bankruptcy trials	p. 173
Nowhere to hide	p. 205
Gellene on trial	p. 235
Feeling pressure	p. 291
Justifying concealment	p. 325
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.