Who knew?

david.frank@exhibitAnews.com

 

On Oct. 27, 2004, as Red Sox nation watched team President Larry Lucchino and General Manager Theo Epstein accept the first World Series trophy in 86 years, few knew that the pair being drenched with champagne share a connection totally unrelated to baseball.

Lucchino and Epstein, two of the most recognizable executives in the game, are both lawyers.

"Whether you're talking about league commissioners or team CEOs, it's not a coincidence that there are a number of us who have our legal degrees in sports," says Lucchino.

Although Epstein never practiced law after graduating from the University of San Diego Law School, Lucchino credits his current position with the Red Sox to the years he worked as a litigator at the law firm of Williams and Connolly in Washington, D.C.

"I wouldn't be in professional sports without my law degree and legal background," he concedes.

When aspiring lawyers receive their diplomas, most do so expecting to work in a traditional legal setting, such as a courtroom or a law firm — not Fenway Park.

And while most of them end up taking that conventional route, a look around Massachusetts reveals that a handful of lawyers have used their degrees to make names for themselves outside the law.

Game on

When it comes to professional sports, Wycliffe "Wyc" Grousbeck, owner of the Boston Celtics, says it makes sense that lawyers have a hand in the comings and goings of many of the major teams in town.

Before he became the youngest owner (at age 42) in the history of the National Basketball Association in 2002, Grousbeck spent several years practicing securities law in the venture capital industry.

"I was a transactional lawyer, and a lot of what I did then, which was negotiating deals and agreements with people, is what I do now," Grousbeck says. "Whether it's negotiating a new lease on the Boston Garden or working out a contract extension with a player or coach, having been around deals my whole life has been very helpful."

Grousbeck, who dreamed of owning a sports franchise when he was a student at the University of Michigan Law School, is in good company in Boston. 

In addition to the Sox's Lucchino and Epstein and the Celtics' Grousbeck, Peter Chiarelli, a former agent for players, calls the shots for the Boston Bruins as that hockey team's general manager.

After graduating from Harvard University in 1987, Chiarelli played pro hockey in Europe before enrolling at law school.

"I think, in general, you'll find that lawyers are focused and driven," says Grousbeck, "and those are two good recipes for success in the sports industry."

'The feel of a cross-examination'

Turn on your television or radio and chances are you'll see or hear Jim Braude, who co-hosts an afternoon talk-radio show with Marjorie Eagan on 96.9 FM before he heads off to the studios of New England Cable News, where he anchors several news analysis programs.

Braude, a former legal services lawyer in New York's South Bronx and ex-president of the National Union of Legal Services, claims to have no idea how he ended up on the air.

"Almost everyone wants to be on radio or television, and I feel wildly lucky to be where I am," he tells Exhibit A. "There are only about a dozen or so of these jobs in Boston, and I have two of them."

One of the reasons for his good fortune may be Braude's ability to conduct pointed interviews — a skill he attributes directly to his training as a lawyer.

"Everything I've done since I handled my last case in the South Bronx, I have done better because of those years practicing law," he says. "Whether it's political campaigns, lobbying, interviewing or writing commentary — all of which I've done — the lawyer in me always sneaks out."

Braude says that practicing law and conducting on-air interviews "aren't as different as you might expect, and there are certainly times … where it can take on the feel of a cross-examination. Much like with a lawyer whose job it is to grab the jury and make them care about an issue, your job [in the media] is to grab the audience and engage them. And that's the function I have on radio, by day, and television, by night."

Like Braude, other on-air news reporters, such as WBZ-TV's Dan Rea and Brian G. Leary, a longtime reporter at WCVB-Channel 5, have taken advantage of their law degrees to pursue non-traditional legal careers.

Leary, a Peabody Award-winning newsman in the 1980s and '90s, who has since returned to being a full-time lawyer, agrees that the skills developed in the courtroom translate well in the newsroom.

"Litigating, in many respects, is quite analogous to reporting because lawyers are asked, on short notice, to become an expert in some area that they may not have known much about beforehand," he says. "Identifying the right people and interviewing them is … quite similar to taking a deposition of a witness."

While local lawyers play an active role in on-air news, they also have enjoyed success in other television ventures.

David E. Kelley, an award-winning writer, executive producer and creator of shows such as "Boston Legal," "Ally McBeal" and "The Practice," apparently found inspiration as a student at Boston University School of Law in the early 1980s.

"He was very creative even back then, but I had no idea he would go on to have such a successful career in television," recalls Wendy Kaplan, an associate professor at BU Law who supervised Kelley in a criminal defense program. "He had a terrific sense of the courtroom, which has absolutely been reflected in some of the shows he has done."

Taking the law in their own hands

Although lawyers traditionally take on the tasks of prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges in the criminal justice system, a few have served in high-profile law enforcement positions locally.

In February 2004, Kathleen M. O'Toole became the first female police commissioner in the history of the Boston Police Department — a post she held for two years before she was named chief inspector of Ireland's national police force.

In addition to bringing the experience of a police officer and secretary of public safety to her job as Boston's top cop, she came with a unique legal perspective.

While serving as a police officer, O'Toole enrolled at New England School of Law, earning her degree in 1982.

"I learned in law school to look at issues from every possible perspective, and I still do that today," she told a Lawyers Weekly reporter. "I don't quickly jump to conclusions or formulate an opinion. I look at the challenge or the issue from every possible perspective before making decisions." 

Two years before O'Toole made history in 2004, Andrea J. Cabral became the first woman, and the second African-American, to hold the position of Suffolk County sheriff.

Cabral, a former state prosecutor, said at the time that being an attorney was an advantage "because everything I've done, I've done for an individual victim in the system and for the public at large. My entire career has been Andrea Cabral for the commonwealth." {EXA}