“True.” Judy frowned. “But it would put you in direct opposition to Bennie. Your partner. What if she takes the case herself?”
“Oh God no.” Mary’s mouth went dry. She didn’t relish the prospect for personal reasons, not to mention the fact that Bennie was the best lawyer she ever met, or maybe that ever lived. Then she thought again. “She’s got a big trial next month, with Sam. She wouldn’t take it herself. Plus, like you said, Dumbarton farms out the work. They’ll send it to one of the big firms.”
“Even if it’s not literally her case, it pits you against her, politically.”
“I know but I can’t help that.” Mary thought of Simon and Rachel, in such dire straits. It was a matter of life or death. A child’s life was more important than a business relationship, especially when the child was Rachel.
“But won’t it be weird between you two?”
“I can deal with it, if she can,” Mary said, meaning it. “I’m friends with opposing counsel in my cases. And Bennie’s the one who always says that business isn’t personal.”
“Why don’t you give the case to somebody else? Refer it out?” Judy’s blonde eyebrows sloped down with concern.
“I can’t, I have to do it myself.” Mary felt a wrench in her chest at the thought of sending Simon away. “Nobody will care about this plaintiff the way I do. It’s kind of, for family. And not corporate family.”
“It’s somebody from the neighborhood, isn’t it?” Judy met her eye sympathetically, and Mary knew that she would understand. Judy was like an honorary daughter to Mary’s parents and she adored The Tonys, too.
“Simon.”
“Oh no.” Judy sighed. “Then get him somebody awesome. You do so many favors that somebody has to owe you one. It doesn’t have to be you.”
“But I wasn’t going to charge him. He doesn’t have that much money.” Mary brought her up to date about the bone marrow transplant, since Judy already knew about Rachel’s cancer.
“Maybe you can get Simon a discount, out of professional courtesy?”
“Nowadays?”
“I can try and call some of my friends.”
“And piss Bennie off? I don’t want to put you in that position.”
“Mare, this sucks. But you shouldn’t take this case.” Judy touched her arm. “Tell Simon why. He’ll understand.”
“No, he wouldn’t, and even if he did, Feet wouldn’t. Neither would my father.” Mary couldn’t imagine telling Simon she was referring him out, much less Feet, The Tonys, or her father. The word would spread. She couldn’t let the entire neighborhood down.
“So what are you gonna do?”
“I don’t know,” Mary said, though she did. Her chest went suddenly tight. She felt as if a curtain had fallen between them. “I’m just surprised you would take her side.”
“I’m not taking her side,” Judy shot back, pained. “But I don’t want to see you get in trouble with Bennie—”
“I won’t get in trouble with her. She’s not my boss anymore, she’s my partner. And we used to get in trouble with her all the time. We were a united front.”
“Okay, then I meant square off against her. Cross swords with her. You know how tough she is.” Judy recoiled, stung. “Besides, we’re still best friends. We’re united. We just disagree.”
“Is that possible?”
“Of course,” Judy answered, finding a reassuring smile. “Don’t get all Godfather on me. I’m your bestie. I love you.”
“I know.” Mary felt torn. “Sorry I snapped.”
“You need an emergency muffin.”
“I need to look at that rulebook again,” Mary said, getting an idea.
CHAPTER FOUR
Bennie sat at her desk and stared at her notes without really seeing them. She usually felt jazzed before a deposition because it was the first time she would encounter her adversary. Plenty of lawyers played nice, warming up the witness only to work him over at trial, but she wasn’t built that way. Her litigation strategy was to assert her dominance from the outset and never let up. There was a reason she had a coffee mug that read I CAN SMELL FEAR. Actually, she had two of them. One was a gift, and she’d bought the other one in case the first one broke.
But this morning, Bennie didn’t feel jazzed. She tried again to concentrate on her notes, which she’d handwritten on yellow legal pads with a ballpoint pen that made satisfyingly bumpy ridges on the paper. She loved computers as much as everybody else, but there was something about a fresh legal pad that got her juices going. Bennie Rosato loved everything about being a lawyer and she was born with what lawyers called a “justice bone,” which ached whenever somebody was being treated unfairly. For that reason, she’d been looking forward to her deposition today, but her mind kept wandering. Her fight with Mary gnawed at the edges of her brain.
Bennie’s gaze strayed around her office, with its messy bookshelves stuffed with binders, legal cases, clipped articles, and textbooks from law school, which looked older than usual, perhaps because she herself was vintage. Whatever. Across from her desk were two patterned chairs, and all four walls were covered with awards, citations, and certificates she’d gotten from public-interest law groups all over the country, and the American Bar Association. Acrylic and glass awards filled the entire shelf, and her gaze stopped on one of them, given for exemplifying ethics in the practice of law.
Believe it or not, it’s not a settled question.
Bennie got up from her desk in frustration. She crossed to her bookshelves and started digging through all the crap until she found a copy of the model rules, then flipped to the provisions regarding conflicts of interest and read aloud: “‘A lawyer who represents a corporation or other organization does not, by virtue of that representation, necessarily represent any constituent or affiliated organization, such as a parent or subsidiary—’”
Bennie stopped, surprised. This wasn’t the way she remembered the rule, but it must’ve been amended. She kept reading, “… ‘the lawyer for an organization is not barred … unless the circumstances are such that the affiliate should also be considered a client of the lawyer…’”
“Aha!” Bennie got the gist, reassured. Maybe the rule wasn’t as black-and-white as it used to be, but bottom line, each case had to be analyzed in its individual circumstances. So Bennie was right, and circumstances clearly prohibited Mary from representing OpenSpace against Dumbarton. It was good to be right, and Bennie never tired of it. She closed the book with a satisfying slap and slid it back onto the shelf, just as there was a knock on the door.