Eddie Greenspan has issued a scathing rebuttal of statements contained in the newly published memoir of his former client Conrad Black.
“When I noticed that Conrad Black had thanked and acknowledged thousands of people in his new book and I wasn’t one of them, I sensed that I probably wasn’t going to like it,” Greenspan, who represented Black at his criminal trial in Chicago, wrote in last weekend’s Globe and Mail.
“There is a great deal of the record that should be set straight,” Greenspan goes on to say, “but I’m going to limit myself to a few issues.”
In case you missed it, some highlights from the piece:
- “In his book, Conrad wrote that he doubted Mr. Genson [Chicago criminal lawyer Eddie Genson] had ever represented a respectable client and then said of me: Respectable clients “were not his specialty.” Conrad added that we have a misplaced reverence for the hoods and lowlifes he believes we represent. It is sad to observe this reckless lashing out at his lawyers and those charged with presumably less lofty offences than fraud … He has to know that these petty insults are beneath him.”
- “Conrad’s flawed account of his own trial is a reminder of how seldom an accused person actually grasps what is going on in court. Most defendants in a criminal trial realize that they shouldn’t expect to understand the process. That is what hiring experienced criminal counsel is all about.”
- “In the book, Conrad has an amusing tendency to exalt my performances in court and in pretrial processes, then spin around and attack me with the venom he uses for his adversaries. I am reported to be both a ponderous water buffalo, and nimble as a cougar in destroying witnesses. I’m also a crocodile. I may yet audition for The Lion King.”