Stars’ Attorneys Try to Keep Clients Shining

Lawyer Gerry Margolis believes that his clients will get into trouble eventually because, well, that’s the nature of being famous.

“It’s not if; it’s when,” he tells his clients, celebrities who include Robin Williams and singer R. Kelly.

It’s Margolis’ job to make sure that when it happens, he’s there to pick up the pieces and make sure that reputations, families and careers are salvaged.

“Crisis management” is what his firm, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, labels the type of work 12 of its entertainment lawyers engage in. Cleaning up the messes of those who are worshiped--and whose lives are scrutinized--may not be new to legal circles, but the firm has sought to carve out a niche by marketing itself as the expert in handling high-profile litigation.

Controversy follows fame, said Margolis, who deals mainly with civil cases. Although not all of his clients are embroiled in scandal, he aims to give them a dose of prevention, warning them of the pitfalls that come with stardom and how to prevent such problems.

But no matter what Margolis says to keep his clients free from legal woes, things happen.

Kelly is proof. The R&B; singer faces child pornography charges in Chicago. “He’s in the middle of the firestorm right now,” Margolis said of Kelly, whom he has represented since 1994. “You don’t have the luxury of quiet, thoughtful deliberation. You have to do everything at warp speed.”

Margolis has to be more than just a lawyer; he needs to possess a great deal of media savvy to better serve his famous clients. His first rule: Don’t ignore the media.

“Sometimes you need to tell your client’s story, or someone else will,” he said.

Recently, it got back to Margolis that the Chicago Sun-Times had found out about a lawsuit alleging that Kelly had had sex with a minor. The attorney knew the story would get huge play in the newspaper. “So I decided it needed to be announced by us,” Margolis said.

He believes that police and prosecutors are more vigorous when famous people get entangled in legal crises. “While people think celebrities catch a huge break in the criminal justice system, I think it’s the opposite,” he said.

As an example, Margolis cited a 1997 incident involving Kelly. The recording artist had been in a brawl while playing basketball at a Lafayette, La., health club. The fight was between five black men and five white men, the attorney said. One of the white men brought a civil action, which Margolis eventually settled. Criminal charges against Kelly were reduced, and he was given probation.

“I’m not sure he wouldn’t have been convicted,” Margolis said. “He didn’t start [the fight] or inflict injury, but because he was R. Kelly ... he was the only one charged.”

On the East Coast, Abbe Lowell, another partner in Margolis’ firm, manages high-profile cases. Lowell’s clients don’t sing, act or dance for a living. Based in Washington, Lowell deals with those who legislate, govern and head corporations.

Although the public may find Margolis’ clients more fascinating, controversies involving politicians and corporations are gaining interest, Lowell says.

That became evident when he rep- presented Rep. Gary Condit (D-Ceres). Lowell was hired to help the congressman in June 2001, just as questions about whether the politician may have had something to do with the disappearance of intern Chandra Levy grew louder.

Lowell, who handles mostly criminal matters, accompanied Condit to police interviews and advised him to take a polygraph test and provide DNA samples. The lawyer did these things while juggling them with spokesman responsibilities.

“I don’t think I was very effective, but I’m not sure anybody could have been,” Lowell said of those frenzied months. He would have preferred to be working for Condit the minute the crisis began.

But because the firm markets itself as a specialist in damage control, Lowell often finds himself flung into situations as crises gain momentum.

“People come to decide they need advice ... at various times,” he said. “Some people do it only when they’re forced to.”

Lowell said seeking help in the midst of a scandal is like putting off seeking medical attention. “Unfortunately, people don’t get help until they get to the emergency room,” he said.

Lawyer Christopher Murray, chairman of entertainment and media practice at the prominent Los Angeles firm of O’Melveny & Myers, agreed with Lowell on the difficulties of being a spokesman.

He said that to effectively help the famous steer clear of legal mishaps, one must be a lawyer first.

“Sometimes the most effective lawyers are the ones who are the most invisible to the outside world,” Murray said. His clients have included Warner Bros., MGM and Carol Burnett.

Murray said he tries to separate his job from the public relations segment of crisis management. “Most of our clients in that realm are generally disinclined to have us as their spokespeople,” he said.

That’s part of the reason that Manatt, Phelps & Phillips usually employs a public relations firm in high-profile cases. A public relations expert is a crucial part of a scandal-fighting team, said Laurie Soriano, head of Manatt’s entertainment practice. “You’re not just thinking about the legal ramifications; you have to think of career ramifications,” she said.

Soriano advises clients to bring in a publicist from the start--one who specifically deals with crisis management--even if there is no trouble brewing.

Margolis doesn’t see his job as making the world safe for villainy. “I prefer to deal with people who have significant problems but have a sense of decency,” he said.

In 1996, he handled a controversy involving the heavy metal band Slayer. The members were terrified about a lawsuit against them filed by the parents of a girl killed in San Luis Obispo, Margolis said.

Three teenage boys pleaded guilty to murdering the girl and said Slayer’s lyrics inspired them to commit the crime.

“By the time I got the case, people’s tempers were white-hot over the lyrics,” he said.

Margolis filed a motion to dismiss the case on free-speech grounds. In October 2001, a judge agreed to throw it out.

“I’m quite confident that if a jury had to be picked, this would have gone badly,” Margolis said.

He knows that a crisis can creep out from just about anything, so he has learned not to be complacent. “I have not seen it all,” he said. “Every day there’s something new and something challenging.”