No Way Out

Sherman, who until now had been leaning back in a desperate effort to make himself invisible, now sat forward, sensing an opportunity to earn some brownie points with the senior partners.

‘There’s Andi Phoenix.’

All the other heads in the room looked round at him. But it was Jo who spoke – and her tone was audibly defensive.

‘Who’s Andi Phoenix?’

‘She’s from our New York office. We needed someone to fill our victim litigation slot and she took the bait. She knew she wasn’t going anywhere in the Big Apple so she came out here.’

‘Will she do it?’ asked Webster.

‘She’s hot and she’s ambitious. I know she’d just love a piece of the action. If you want a cute piece of ass to sit next to Claymore looking comfortable and keeping shtum, you won’t have any trouble convincing Andi Phoenix to take the seat.’

Friday, 12 June 2009 – 16.30 (#ulink_4f94f88a-5042-5ef9-97a4-37bb83df5e68)

‘I won’t do it!’ said Andi, flatly.

They were in one of the smaller conference rooms: Andi, Paul Sherman and Alex Sedaka.

‘Why not?’ asked Alex. ‘It’ll be great experience for you – and a challenge.’

‘Don’t patronize me, Mr Sedaka. I’m past the stage when I need that sort of a challenge. And I’ve had plenty of experience back east—’

‘Oh, my mistake, I thought you came out here because you hit the glass ceiling in the Big Apple.’

Andi felt like punching him in the face for his sarcasm. She felt like punching Sherman too for exposing her to it. But she contained her anger.

‘That doesn’t mean I have to scramble for the dregs.’

‘No one’s asking you to scramble. I’m coming to you, remember. All I’m asking of you is your help for our client.’

‘He’s your client not mine.’

‘He’s Levine and Webster’s client,’ Sherman stepped in. ‘That makes him your client too.’

‘That doesn’t mean I have to prostitute myself defending him.’

‘We’re not asking you to prostitute yourself,’ said Alex. ‘We’re just asking you to stand up for the principle that a man is innocent until proven guilty.’

‘Oh, come off it, Mr Sedaka. What do you need me for? I’m a civil litigator.’

‘You’ve had criminal experience,’ Sherman cut in. ‘Working both sides of the fence.’

‘There are plenty of criminal lawyers here with a lot more experience. Why do you need me?’

‘Okay, I’ll be honest with you,’ said Alex. ‘I don’t want you to play an active role. I just want you to sit next to him, make him look harmless. Look, you know the kind of pre-trial publicity this case is going to arouse – the sort of publicity it’s already aroused. They’ll drag in every incident from Claymore’s past. They’ve already compared him to O.J. Simpson. They’re going to savage his reputation before the case ever gets to trial. That’s what we’re up against.’

‘And how do you think me sitting there next to him is going to refute the negative pre-trial publicity?’

Alex met her eyes, trying to read her.

‘When the jury sees a beautiful young woman sitting next to him, it’ll dissolve their prejudice. It’ll make him look like a normal, everyday human being. It’ll show them that he’s safe, harmless, inoffensive…not the monster that the prosecution is to going to try and make him out to be.’

‘And you say you’re not asking me to prostitute myself?’

She was looking at him hard; she wasn’t going to make it easy for him.

‘Look,’ he said after a long pause and a deep breath. ‘Claymore has an image problem with Middle America. Everyone knows about his past, how he raped white women and said it was political. How he broke out of prison and fled to Libya. But he has the right to be judged by the evidence in this case – not his past when he was an angry and embittered young man.’

‘I don’t deny that Claymore’s got a problem,’ she conceded, shifting uncomfortably. ‘But asking me to sit next to him and make him look harmless is like…like trying to use my body to sell a product.’

‘What product? We’re talking about a man’s reputation.’

‘Then sell it like a reputation, with reasoned argument – not with a head of bottle-blonde hair and a pair of silicone-enhanced tits.’

Alex was about to argue, but he fell silent as his face melted into a smile. He realized that there was an element of satire in Andi’s description of herself.

‘Okay, you’ve nailed me. We’ve got to use Madison Avenue techniques. But you know what? We’re doing it in a worthy cause.’

‘What you’re proposing goes way beyond Madison Avenue…more like Sunset Boulevard or Old Moulin Rouge.’

‘All right, Ms Phoenix,’ said Sherman. ‘Let me lay it on the line for you. You’re an employee of Levine and Webster and I’m pulling rank.’

‘Pulling rank?’

‘Yes,’ he said stiffly.

Alex said nothing. They were playing the old good cop, bad cop routine, and now it was Sherman’s turn.

‘You seem to think you’ve got something to back it up with.’

‘How about your future at this law firm?’

‘My future?’ she echoed, more amazed than afraid, more puzzled than angry. ‘I have a contract.’

‘That cuts both ways. You’re refusing to work for one of our biggest clients.’

‘Elias Claymore?’ she asked incredulously.

‘His insurance company.’

‘Well if it comes down to it, I have a valid reason for not representing Claymore.’

‘What reason?’ asked Sherman.

‘My…partner…she works at the Say No to Violence rape crisis center. She might even be assigned to this case.’

‘She could agree to hand over to another member of staff.’