It was the summer of 1976 and Jack Sutro, managing partner of the firm then known as Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro, was hosting a cocktail party at his grand Presidio Heights home. As formally dressed waiters served hors d’oeuvres to partners, associates and spouses, two lawyers began debating an issue of constitutional law.
Pillsbury partner Bruce Ericson doesn’t remember the precise point, but he hasn’t forgotten who was debating it: Sutro, the firm’s gruff managing partner, and a summer associate named Merrick Garland.
