Quotes
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Arnie Becker : There are a lot of ways I could go at this point. I could become an independent producer. I could become an agent.
Gwen Taylor : I thought you were happy being a studio executive, Arnie.
Arnie Becker : Gwen, in show-business a sense of complacency is a very dangerous thing.
Ann Kelsey : I'm thinking of opening a restaurant.
Jonathan Rollins : A restaurant?
Ann Kelsey : Yeah, these guys that started the California Pizza Kitchen were both lawyers.
Douglas Brackman, Jr. : What kind of restaurant?
Ann Kelsey : I don't know yet.
Stuart Markowitz : What about Fast Food Jewish?
Daniel Morales : Fast Food Jewish?
Stuart Markowitz : Yeah, absolutely. I think it'd be great to be able to walk up to a counter and get a little paper cone filled with kasha varnishkes.
[Melina laughs]
Jonathan Rollins : Well, I know that's something I've always wanted to do.
Douglas Brackman, Jr. : Well, shall we get started? Falcone vs. Falcone.
Arnie Becker : Yeah, another divorce, I'm meeting with the woman for the first time today. I'll try to dispose of it as painlessly as possible. I'm really not up for a fight.
Douglas Brackman, Jr. : People vs. Quinn.
Daniel Morales : That's my murder case. The jury's picked, we go to trial later today.
Ann Kelsey : Are you still holding with the plea of temporary insanity?
Daniel Morales : I don't believe in it, but it's all I got.
Douglas Brackman, Jr. : Samuels vs. San Fernando Psychiatric.
Ann Kelsey : Uh, all I know is the - this is a negligence action and Samuels knows some people in the Clinton Administration.
Douglas Brackman, Jr. : Whether we knew some people in the Clinton Administration. Mickey Kantor and Warren Christopher, both came out of L.A. Law firms. They're tapping all kinds of people from here to do all kinds of things. What do we get? Nothing.
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Leland McKenzie : Are you done, Douglas?
Douglas Brackman, Jr. : Yeah.
Leland McKenzie : Good. I have something I want to say. I've sat by and watched as this place has changed. People have dissipated their time and wasted their talent. You have all, in varying degrees pursued other enterprises and neglected the one that this place was built on: the law. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a law office, and while you're present here, you will practice law. Period.
Arnie Becker : Leland...
Leland McKenzie : I'm not done. What you do on your own time is your own business. But at the work week belongs to me. So you'll all going to have to do a little soul searching. I want to see all the partners in my office at 5:00 today. I will expect either a commitment, or a resignation.
[Law partners and members will figure it out]
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Ann Kelsey : Let me make some introductions. Gerald Samuels, Leland McKenzie, our Senior Partner.
Leland McKenzie : Mr. Samuels.
Ann Kelsey : Douglas Brackman.
Gerard Samuels : Nice to meet you.
Leland McKenzie : Please sit.
Douglas Brackman, Jr. : How's everything in Washington?
Gerard Samuels : Well, at this point, everyone's still getting used to everyone else.
Ann Kelsey : Are you spending most of your time there?
Gerard Samuels : I go back and forth. One aspect of political life is remaining in a state of continual availability.
Douglas Brackman, Jr. : In other words, when your President needs you, they are no excuses.
Gerard Samuels : Right.
Douglas Brackman, Jr. : God, I love that.
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Leland McKenzie : [laughing] What's your background, Mr. Samuels? How did you come to be a part of the Clinton inner circle?
Gerard Samuels : Well, I was pretty much of an academic. I got my doctorate in labor relations and organizational development at MIT. I got to know Bob Reich pretty much through attending conferences. I think I delivered a paper he was particularly interested in at one point. And we got to be friends. Plus when I moved out here I got to know Mickey Kantor.
Douglas Brackman, Jr. : Through Bob Reich?
Gerard Samuels : No, actually, we were introduced by a friend who worked at Manatt, which was also Mickey's firm.
Leland McKenzie : I'm curious, how come you didn't take this to Manatt?
Gerard Samuels : Well, it was our feeling we wanted this to be handled by a firm without Washington connections.
Douglas Brackman, Jr. : And, tragically, that's us.
Ann Kelsey : How can we help you, Mr. Samuels?
Gerard Samuels : For a number of years now, mental hospitals have been releasing patients into the community without making any real adequate provision for follow-up care. As a result, two things are happening: people who are in need of treatment haven't been getting it. And our cities have been inundated with, uh... disoriented, sometimes dangerous individuals who constitute a threat to themselves as well as those around them. I want to bring a test case by suing San Fernando Psychiatric.
Leland McKenzie : Now, generally, you need a relationship or a nexus to the event you're suing over.
Gerard Samuels : I'm a concerned citizen. We believe that's nexus enough.
Ann Kelsey : And when you say we, who are you referring to?
Gerard Samuels : I'm referring to various individuals at the highest levels of the Clinton Administration.
[Douglas was impressive]
Douglas Brackman, Jr. : I think you've got a great case.
[Ann Kelsey will like that]
