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	Power Lawyer Bennett Explores Pugilist Side in Memoir: Review By Susan Antilla Bloomberg April 1, 2008 http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=aC3YYwOP2Nl4&refer=home Robert S. Bennett was at his desk on April 1, 1998, when word reached him that Paula Corbin Jones's sexual harassment suit against his client, then-President Bill Clinton, had been thrown out. Bennett instantly dialed the White House to share the news with the president, but while on hold he glanced at his calendar and noticed the date: April Fools' Day. Frantic that the news could be a prank, he balanced a second phone on his free ear to verify the information before Clinton came on the line. He got the confirmation just seconds before the president greeted him from Senegal. If you're rich and powerful and wind up getting in a big, public mess, chances are you'll at least consider calling Bennett, a partner in the firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. He defended former U.S. Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, who was indicted in the Iran-Contra affair; Clark Clifford, who was indicted in the Bank of Credit & Commerce International scandal; and Paul Wolfowitz, who resigned as president of the World Bank after a commotion about the pay raises he approved for a bank employee who was also his girlfriend. Now Bennett has written a memoir, "In the Ring: The Trials of a Washington Lawyer," in part to share the personal side of his dealings with everyone from former Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze to Judith Miller, the former New York Times reporter who spent 85 days in jail for refusing to testify about a source. No Dishing When he is imparting strategy or displaying a refreshing human side ("I can't explain to you how I felt. A kid from Brooklyn drinking Georgian cognac with the president of Georgia ... "), the book is great reading. If you expect a tell-all, though, this is not the book for you. Bennett understandably holds back the heaps of confidential information he has about household names. He often goes overboard in flattering those he admires or works for, repeatedly noting that allies are "well-known" or "brilliant" or "world-class" or "eminent." He also has a fondness for insisting that the people he represents -- who include some doozies -- are all good guys. His adversaries, of course, are always rogues. The seeds were planted to make Bennett a fighter early on. At Holy Cross Boys School, "the teachers whacked you in class and your fellow students whacked you after," he writes. It was so bad that his mother and stepfather started paying Bennett a nickel for every day he managed to stay out of a fight. They later put him in a boxing program where, unsurprisingly, he excelled. Thus, the book's title. Family 'Scandal' He also faced emotional battles. His father moved out when Bennett was 7, and he describes watching him pack to leave -- a heartbreaking scene. Further chinks are made in his emotional armor by the Catholic Church: When his father remarried and asked Bennett to be best man, a priest told him it could "bring scandal to the church." He did it anyway. Yet Bennett remains a devout Catholic and was even chosen to lead a review board that examined sexual abuse of minors by priests. The boxer from Brooklyn pulls few punches when he writes about the scandal, which includes some of the most intimate insights in the book. On reflection, though, it isn't surprising that Bennett would work to push the church he loves to address its problems. From the start of his career, he has done whatever it takes to get the job done. When he became an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia in 1967, a distraught woman visited his office to complain that "Jesus was causing problems in the neighborhood," but no one would help her. Knowing that the best he could do was calm her with reassurances, he promised that he would lock Jesus up and "put him someplace so he will never bother you again." She told Bennett he was a "man of action." Not even Bennett's enemies could argue with that. "In the Ring: The Trials of a Washington Lawyer" is published by Crown (391 pages, $27.50). (Susan Antilla is a columnist for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are her own.) To contact the writer of this review: Susan Antilla in New York at santilla@bloomberg.net
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