the truth. I turn down most celebrity requests, and cases involving celebrity clients form a tiny

4.2.12 WC: 191694 the truth. I turn down most celebrity requests, and cases involving celebrity clients form a tiny fraction of my practice over the years, but the few that I do take garner far more publicity than do the many cases involving unknown clients. Is there anything special about famous clients—celebrities? Should “high profile” cases be handled differently from less visible controversies? These are questions I have pondered during my career as a lawyer. Most people see celebrities at a distance — on the screen, stage, television, athletic field, or auditorium. They see them at their best — acting, posing, playing, speaking, being interviewed or participating in charitable causes. I see celebrities close up and at their worst. They come to me when they are in trouble, often deep trouble. Their celebrity is no longer a shield protecting them from the ordinary tribulations that befall most people on a daily basis. When they come to me, their celebrity has been turned into a sword being wielded against them. Celebrities generally live by publicity. When they come to me, they are dying from the publicity and want privacy and anonymity. But they can’t have it, because the very celebrity that brought them fame and fortune now threatens to magnify their problems. I have represented, advised and consulted with dozens of celebrities, ranging from Presidents and Prime Ministers to world famous athletes, actors, writers and financiers. Most have gotten into trouble for one overarching reason: because they were willing to risk what they have limited amounts of in order to obtain more of what they have unlimited amounts of. This may sound self-defeating, if not bizarre—so let me explain. Celebrities share several common characteristics. They have more of something than ordinary people have: great athletes have extraordinary physical skills; good actors have unusual thespian skills; successful politicians have a special charisma; financiers have money and the ability to make more. These special characteristics generally give celebrities access to certain desiderata of life: lots of money and the things money and fame buy, and the benefits that come with these commodities, such as access to numerous sexual partners — if they choose to use their celebrity to obtain such access (and excess!) Many of my celebrity clients, who have unlimited amounts of money or access to sex, have sacrificed what they have limited amounts of — freedom, career, time with loved ones, health — in order to obtain even more money or sex. Let me provide a few examples of such bizarre risk- taking in cases that are a matter of public record. (I could provide many more examples if I were free — which I am not — to disclose confidential information given to me by celebrity clients)*’. Leona Hemsley, the celebrity hotel “queen”, had more than a billion dollars in the bank when, according to the government, she whited out the words “stereo system” on a bill for services and changed them to “security system” in order to have her accountant deduct its cost from her taxes. ® See Larry David’s “Buckner” episode on Curb Your Enthusiasm, where a psychiatrist tells Larry about his celebrity patients, without disclosing the names, while identifying them by unique characteristics: e.g., a well known film director who directed Star Wars. 261 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_017348