The prosecutors these days are younger than Ben Brafman's children and the criminal defense lawyers who have operated in his orbit for the last four decades are all retired or dead. But don't expect Brafman, 69, to fade from the limelight.

Why? “It's kind of too late in my life to start a second career,” he said during an interview in his Midtown Manhattan office, proving once and for all that he doesn't understand the concept of retirement.

Surrounded by framed newspaper clippings of his proudest achievements, Brafman recounted the victories that prompted The New Yorker to call him “The Last of the Big-Time Defense Attorneys.” But, he said, he still agonizes over the defeats and still struggles with the public humiliation that accompanies losses in high-profile cases.