Well, of course, I'd go into trial work, any kind of trial work. I think a hell of a future's in patents and copyrights, if you've got a bent for engineering...
The thing to do, if you can, when you get out of law school, is to get a job in the District Attorney's office, or the public defender's office, where you can start going right in, trying them day in and day out.
Who was your most interesting client?
I represented once Muhammed Ali...I met him over at a hotel in New York here, the Hilton. And he knocked on the door and said, "Quick, open up, close it." I opened the door, and just as I closed it, there were about five gals chasing him down the hallway, black and white, and he says "They'll tear me to pieces." He came in and we talked for about two hours. He's very intelligent, and not at all flamboyant...I had it worked out that they were going to dismiss [the draft evasion charges] if he would go around and talk to youth clubs...and also do some work for Nixon...Mitchell turned it down...Two years after that I got back at poor John when I was representing Martha for a divorce.
Martha Mitchell was one of 'em...She was just a hell of an interesting gal, and she was with all the power and everything. She was very strong in the White House--Nixon was taking a lot of her advice when he was really down and out.
Do you ever wish you had gone to Harvard?
Sometimes, yeah...I would've had more East Coast friends and more East Coast orientation...But as I look back now, Cal, or Boalt Hall, was the best law school in the country, even better than Harvard.
What do you think of Harvard lawyers?
I think that they get good training. You get good background; I think that's awfully important, because you don't know what the hell you're going to do till you get out of school. I never thought that I'd go into as much personal injury work as I've gone into. I thought I wanted to do all criminal work. Then when I got out of law school, I saw that criminal work was dangerous...The things lawyers had to do to survive, you were just on the same level as the criminal, and you'd end up in the bucket with your client.
Which of your cases was the most fun?
I guess the one that was the most fun was when we sued the Giants for having a cold ball park, and we got the price of a season ticket back. I remember they didn't pay so I executed [a lien] on Willie Mays...The jury was out in one minute...I got some soldiers who were on the icecap up at the North Pole, with the Arctic Survival Team, who came in wearing their arctic survival gear, and they said they had been out to Candlestick Park a couple of nights before watching a night game, and they were colder at Candlestick Park than they were on the icecap...I argued the case with a parka on...
You're probably best known at Harvard for your role in Gimme Shelter.
Oh, really? God, I've forgotten that one...They cancelled the place that they [the Rolling Stones] were going to do it, so they had to get another place...I remember they had to fly the outdoor toilets by helicopter from the one place to the other. We looked out the window, there were about five helicopters and five of these great big johns flying across San Francisco Bay.
Who's the best trial lawyer in the country?
If I had a choice, I'd like to represent myself.
If I were Melvin Belli, I'd agree.