Before he had even stepped into my receptionist's office,
he was complaining.
“I couldn’t believe it, What happened to Mrs. Bernstein.
The streets are such a mess.
And he reiterated the list: the broken glass, the abandoned buildings.....
And then he stepped into the main office -
And stopped dead in his tracks.
Two fat Morroccan rugs on the magnificent dark stained 12-inch pine board floors.
Light grey velvet-ish sectional sofas,
The desk: a magnificent Scandanavian designer table -
a slab of thick white glass poised treacherously over a massive concrete square base - off-center - surrounded by burgundy velvet Parson chairs
And behind the table on the wall facing the entrance
Two ceiling-to-floor length, hand made...
BATIKS!!!!!!!!
The client’s breath was taken away
He forgot about the broken glass and desolate buildings.
His faith in the brilliance of his lawyer was reaffirmed!
The Lord Reading Yacht Club, where husband Saul was a member (turned out to be phenomenal client hunting ground.
My first "new" clients came from the yacht club
where i had pulled off a feat of creating a club-wide sailing training day.
when I barely knew how to sail!
Followed by an equally staggering display of stunning sailing ignorance
by creating and organizing the First Ladies Regatta on Lake St. Louis...
when I still could barely sail!
The guys who wanted to be my clients must have figured if
"that's what she can do when she knows nothing
she'll be very successful as a lawyer!
They were completely right. But they would never know how I was so successful as a lawyer!
For the first 3 years in the practice, my clients had the most amazing legal advice in the city!
I didn't tell them where it came from
I consulted my legal friends - who were the top lawyers in the city!!!!!!!!!
All my money went to Gibby's Restaurant.
In the summer, where should one run the day-to-day operations of a law practice?
Where else, but on Gibby's outside terrace in a magnificent court yard which dated back to the reign of the Grey Nuns! That's where I gave dictation to my secretary while we were sipping our coffees.
And winter or summer, if your office is sitting on top of one of Montreal's top restaurants, what do
you do for lunch?
Invite all the fun people you know - or would like to know!
(Any money I made practicing law over and above paying the rent went for the lunches!
I followed the model of my idol, Iris Apfel: "You've got to have fun. If you don't have fun, you
might as well be dead!")
One of the people i invited was a judge who was delightfully unique.
He knew how to have fun while he was sitting on the the bench! (legal bench in a courtroom!)
I watched this scene as I was waiting my turn to present my case.
The clerk intoned. "Your name." The witness on the stand replied, " Marie Claire."
"And how old are you?"
"36."
And with no prompting she spontaneously burst out. "And today is my birthday!"
A broad grin hit the judge, "How marvelous, Marie-Louise.
Allow me to wish you a ‘Happy Birthday!”
Yup, very definitely. He qualified for lunch!
This judge was madly in love with another judge - a beautiful woman who was very volatile,
and who ruled by her passionate belief in youth.
Suitably, she was a judge sitting in youth court.
The image of this exuberant judge greeting this beautiful judge on arrival at the airport with a
most passionate embrace still lives on in my mind's eye!
And one day she disappeared from the scene.
I never found out whether she was tossed out...was she too volatile in speaking out for the youth?
(but then again, how do you toss out a judge?)
Practicing law in Youville Stables was a touch surreal. It was a practice like in the movies.
And I was playing the key role!
One evening, several clients, who were interested in investing in new ideas,
were gathered together to listen to a young man making his pitch about a collapsible toothbrush he had invented. His wife and child sat patiently behind him as he extolled the toothbrush's salability!
His was a sad ending. My clients didn't invest. And he went bankrupt, His faithful wife and son were left without support.
But there was no question.
There was a glamour about practicing on top of Gibby's Including the first car
I bought with my own money:
A second-hand RED Volkswagon Beatle convertible - with a Carmen Gia body
I couldn't have felt more glamorous....while i froze in hell in winter!
But, let's face it. There was nothing glamorous about the practice itself until....
Out of the blue.......
