The Two Lawyers Who Want To Be Your Next Governor

During the interim between his time as Philadelphia district attorney and mayor, Rendell was a partner at Mesirov Gelman Jaffe Cramer & Jamieson. There he proved a skilled practitioner and charismatic leader.

Pepper Hamilton’s Molly Peckman, who worked her way through law school as a paralegal at Mesirov, said Rendell was a true champion for his staff and associates. She remembered impromptu parties in the office and a generous spirit with a work hard/play hard mentality. Even after he was elected mayor, Peckman recalled, Rendell attended her graduation party and ate meatballs with her father.

Another Rendell fan, Carl Primavera of Klehr Harrison Harvey Branzburg & Ellers practiced at Mesirov with the fun-loving Rendell. “I didn’t know him as a politician because I really didn’t meet him until he came over to the firm and he was no longer the district attorney,” Primavera said. “— Everyone in the office was somewhat curious as to whether he would be aloof or full of himself, and he’s the most regular person that ever walked the face of the Earth. Whether you were a first-year associate — or a young partner, he made everyone feel comfortable. He was like the coach on a team — just extremely accessible and extremely helpful.”

Primavera described Rendell as a confident and credible attorney with tremendous standing in the courtroom. He said that in addition to resonating a powerful personality and heavy charisma, the former district attorney was a quick legal study. “I don’t care what the area of law was, in five minutes he knew what it was all about,” Primavera said. “The bottom line is that for all his jock reputation, the guy’s truly, truly bright and fast.”

The former Mesirov attorney speculated that had Rendell remained in private practice, he would have been one of the city’s heavy hitters. And on choosing politics over law, Primavera said Rendell’s preference was the bar’s loss, but the city and state’s gain.

Most recently, Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll has gained from Rendell’s presence. Former Chairman David L. Cohen said Ballard Spahr was interested in recruiting Rendell due to his stature in Philadelphia’s business and political communities. In addition, he said the firm viewed Rendell as a valuable acquisition because he is a national political figure.

“Obviously we were not expecting him to take depositions and to try cases; we were looking at him as somebody who could develop business and who could help other lawyers in the firm develop business through his web of contacts,” Cohen said. Rendell’s former chief of staff also identified the attorney as a great training resource and recruiting tool. Rendell has added to the luster and allure of the firm, he said. And Ballard Spahr has benefited from direct business generated as well as recruitment and retention of lawyers, he noted.

Interestingly, popular perception seems to indicate that Fisher has far less lawyering under his belt than Rendell. But that perception doesn’t hold up to strict scrutiny. During much of his career as a state legislator, Fisher maintained a private practice with Pittsburgh’s Houston Harbaugh, one of the city’s 20 largest firms.

Founding member Gregory A. Harbaugh described Fisher as a professional and persuasive lawyer. “He did not waste words,” Harbaugh said. “He was very organized in his delivery and he had a tremendous memory for names, facts and details.”

And according to Harbaugh, Fisher had a terrific sense of humor with a flair for telling jokes. He maintained a friendly demeanor, never losing his temper with colleagues or staff.

During his time with the firm, Fisher represented a number of small to mid-size companies as well as doing estate planning for individuals, Harbaugh said. In addition, the attorney general was Houston Harbaugh’s contact person for State Farm Insurance and the Pennsylvania Water Works among other notable clients.

Tobacco Fighter

But Fisher really showed his mettle shortly after taking over as attorney general. It was then, of course, that he was selected as one of a handful of state attorneys general to negotiate a settlement with the tobacco industry. And though his choice of counsel for the state was controversial, ultimately it seems using Duane Morris & Heckscher and Buchanan Ingersoll helped the state secure a large settlement in the massive litigation.

“The attorney general wanted Pennsylvania lawyers to represent Pennsylvania,” Fisher’s First Deputy Jerry Pappert said. “Mike Fisher wanted Pennsylvania to keep its own counsel, so to speak.”

Fisher is described by friends and associates as a deliberate and confident attorney.

“He is a very decisive person,” Pappert said, “but he is not someone who’s going to prejudge an issue. He’ll get the information, study the issue and he’ll use his knowledge and his experience and his instincts to make the decision that he thinks is best, and once he does that, he moves on to the next issue.”

Similarly, Reeder R. Fox, a Duane Morris attorney who worked closely with Fisher during the tobacco litigation, said that once the attorney general figured out how to proceed with a problem, he did not second-guess himself. “He would move on to the next issue, so he was a pleasure to work with in that regard,” Fox said.

According to Fox, Fisher was instrumental in weaving a tight complaint during the dauntingly complex tobacco litigation. The attorney also said Fisher was essentially lead counsel throughout the pleadings and discovery stages of the all-consuming case.

The attorney general then helped negotiate and draft the resulting settlement agreement, Fox said. He was quick to point out that the document has stood the test of time, holding its own under attacks by anti-smoking activists and cigarette companies.

“I don’t think [Fisher] is getting enough credit in this election for the kind of job he’s done as a lawyer and as the attorney general, and I think the tobacco litigation is one of the foremost examples of that,” Fox said.

Mark Lipowicz is another Duane Morris lawyer who said Fisher is a skilled attorney. He described the attorney general’s closing presentation during the settlement approval phase as powerful and effective.

“His style is the style that you see,” Lipowicz said. “I think it’s very deliberate, very bright and [Fisher] has a real presence in the courtroom from what we could see. He’s very good on his feet.”

It seems Fisher’s performance during the tobacco litigation belied an impression he left on Jim Eisenhower, who opposed Fisher when he ran for attorney general. Eisenhower said that during the debates for the office, he found Fisher lacking in understanding or knowledge about the details of what his office was doing in terms of prosecuting cases. “On the other hand,” Eisenhower said, “and I think this goes back to his [years in the state legislature,] he has an encyclopedic knowledge of legislation and legislative history. So that oftentimes when you would debate him on a point that might have to do with the attorney general’s approach to environmental enforcement, for instance, while he didn’t seem to have the details of the cases being brought or what the office was doing, he could tell you [the history of relevant legislation.]“

Eisenhower said he was impressed by Fisher’s knowledge of and interest in the Pennsylvania legislative process. Perhaps accordingly, the attorney said he thinks Fisher approaches issues from a legislative rather than legal background. Eisenhower contrasted Fisher’s more conservative approach with that of Rendell, who he said maintains an executive approach harking back to his days in the district attorney’s office. “On many issues,” Eisenhower said, “Mike will tell you why you can’t do something and often it’s based upon something that the legislature did.” In contrast, he said, Rendell marshals facts to support his position on an issue.

Prosecutors