For an ex-lawyer/writer, Seth’s recent out-cry for content presents too tempting an offer.
In the 1990’s I was a commercial real estate lawyer in Manhattan. A small, aggressive hotel acquisition/management company called Starwood Lodging was a client of the firm and Mario Cuomo occupied a corner office. “Junior Attorney” comes from that strange and stressful period in my life.
The profession has changed of course. This is a look backward.
Junior Attorney
Maybe it was the cadence. Our cabbie misheard
and dropped us with a gesture in a direction
he assured us was right. Why he’d have
thought that, with us in our silk and wool
finery, is anyone’s guess. Sabotage,
perhaps. It’s amazing how, half-
bellwether, half-wedge, the palaces
of the rich sometimes lean on poorer
neighborhoods. Though holding
documents worth millions we had
nothing to worry about. The home-
less guy wanted to help and knew
where the Ritz was. We’d soon stand
in thirsty terrycloth on steamy marble.
It was a supervised closing. For a bill
too big to tip with I substituted change.