It was a beautiful wedding. When Houston’s Bracewell & Patterson called a press conference at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel two years ago to introduce its new partner, Rudolph Giuliani, the firm’s lawyers beamed. Their trophy mate was a real catch, someone who would bring instant name recognition for Bracewell’s fledgling New York office. Like a good traditional bride, the firm changed its name to Bracewell & Giuliani. The hard-nosed New York politician and the savvy Texas firm cast their relationship in terms that might make a Hallmark card writer blush. Their union, they said, was ignited by a burning passion for the law. “I wanted to practice law,” said Giuliani, 63, during an interview in late February. “I really enjoyed it. It’s who I am.” Or, as Patrick Oxford, Bracewell’s managing partner, said in 2005: “It was really his love of the law that really drove our conversations.” It’s entirely possible, of course, that at an age when many lawyers ease into retirement, Giuliani felt an unquenchable desire to plunge back into motions to dismiss and conflicts checks. It’s also an unavoidable fact that politicians have to create the right story. Giuliani is a presidential candidate whose campaign story masks some rough edges in his personal and professional life. The Bracewell chapter of this candidate’s tale likewise has some awkward angles. Giuliani, the quintessential New Yorker, could walk into practically any major law office in Manhattan and shake hands with a partner he’s known for years. Yet he chose a 332-lawyer Texas firm where he had known no one longer than a few months and that was barely visible in New York. Is it possible that political considerations were a factor in Giuliani’s choice? No, insist Giuliani and Oxford. “That would be a silly way to run for president,” says Giuliani. “You don’t join a law firm to run for president.” Adds Oxford: “We never discussed that one single time.” They might not have had to. Oxford is close to President George W. Bush and Karl Rove and has been a top fund-raiser for Bush’s presidential campaigns. And during the last 35 years, Oxford has been a behind-the-scenes force in Texas politics. If Giuliani’s arrangement with Bracewell has nothing to do with politics, then he is benefiting from some extremely lucky coincidences. Oxford is now serving as Giuliani’s campaign chairman, and in the first three months of the year, Giuliani has received more money from Texas-$2.2 million-than any other Republican or Democratic candidate. The list of Texas donors includes former Bush supporter and billionaire T. Boone Pickens, Jr. (who has helped raise $500,000, according to The Wall Street Journal), Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks, and Richard Kinder, the chairman and chief executive officer of Bracewell client Kinder Morgan, Inc. But politics can test the best of unions. In recent months the political spotlight trained on Bracewell has become increasingly uncomfortable for Giuliani, the firm, and its clients. Recent articles have scrutinized the firm’s work for energy companies like Ven ezuela-owned Citgo Petroleum Corporation, forcing Giuiliani to explain his firm’s connections to Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. The firm has also had to defend its work for companies accused of fighting environmental regulation. In addition, Bracewell has had to concern itself with Federal Election Commission rules that would penalize Giuliani and the firm if his compensation is considered a campaign contribution. Shortly before this article went to press, Oxford disclosed that Giuliani would soon be “stepping back” from Bracewell. “As he becomes more involved in his campaign, public appearances on behalf of the firm can be misunderstood,” Oxford said. He added that Giuliani’s status as a partner would not change, but that he would reduce his appearances for the firm and would be less involved in Bracewell’s New York strategy. This move was prompted in part, said Oxford, by an effort to spare the firm and its clients more campaign scrutiny, or, as Oxford calls the attention, “cavity searches.” After a little more than two years, the strain of this marriage is showing. Will love of the law be enough to hold it together? Back in February, Giuliani was all over Manhattan. A close-up of his face hung from hundreds of sidewalk newsstands, filling the cover of New York magazine. The headline wondered: “Him? What America Sees in Rudy. The Weirdness of the Giuliani Juggernaut.” The article-which examined how Giuliani woos voters outside New York by running on the memory of September 11-did not mention Bracewell & Giuliani. Inside Bracewell’s Times Square office, a few touches set the firm apart. A closed-circuit security camera watched the reception area. A room next to reception served as a memorial to September 11; it included flags, a picture of Ground Zero, and a photo of the Statue of Liberty emblazoned with the words “God Bless America.” In the hallway outside Giuliani’s office, two security guards squeezed their large bodies into a small booth. Giuliani sat in a wing chair by the door. Leadership, his 2002 autobiography/inspirational management guide, was positioned next to him on a small table. His tie was dotted with little “R”s, and he had pinned an American flag to the lapel of his blue-and-gray pin-striped suit. One of the firm’s public relations specialists sat to the side. As Giuliani answered questions about his role at the firm, he smiled almost continuously. “My last five to six months in office [as mayor], I thought, ‘What to do next?’ ” he recalled, as he quickly wove in campaign points. “ I had been through prostate cancer, and I was healthy. I wanted to practice law. I wanted to take the principles I used to turn around New York and consult with businesses that needed that kind of help. . . . All of this was in motion, then September 11 happened.” With that tragedy taking precedence, Giuliani said he “turned over” the planning of his postmayoral career to a friend, Roy Bailey. Bailey is not a lawyer and previously ran a large insurance agency in Texas. He helped Giuliani set up a small conglomerate of businesses: Giuliani Partners LLC, and its two units, Giuliani Security and Safety LLC and Giuliani Capital Advisors. A Giuliani Partners spokeswoman said that Bailey, who is managing director of Giuliani Partners, was too busy to be interviewed for this article. Two-and-a-half years later, in the summer of 2004, Giuliani gave Bailey a new assignment. “I had told Roy . . . that I wanted to see if I could get into the law practice,” Giuliani said. That September, during the Republican National Convention in New York, Bailey had dinner with some Republican businessmen and met Oxford for the first time. The two men shared interests in Texas and politics. Bailey, a former head cheerleader at Southern Methodist University, had been finance chairman of the Republican Party of Texas. Bailey asked Oxford to have coffee the next day, and broached the idea of Giuliani joining Bracewell. Giuliani and Oxford had numerous meetings, “to make sure the cultures matched,” said Giuliani during the interview, who said he didn’t talk to many other law firms. Before he left office he had discussions with one firm in depth, and another firm was contacted by others on his behalf, he said. (He declined to identify them.) Oxford informed Bracewell’s seven-person management committee about the talks, but the partnership wasn’t told for roughly two months, until the two sides outlined some terms. In March 2005 Bracewell unveiled its new star. “We share values,” Oxford announced at the time. It was an unusual deal. The firm agreed to pay Giuliani Partners $10 million up front for the services of the former mayor and two lawyer friends he would bring from Giuliani Partners: Michael Hess and Daniel Connolly, who had worked for the mayor in city government. Despite that hefty payment, the three would continue to split their time with Giuliani Partners. Before Giuliani became immersed in campaigning, he typically spent only Mondays and Fridays at Bracewell, allowing him to meet his other obligations. “I think I work two to three normal schedules,” he noted during the inverview. Bracewell also took out a $25 million loan to open the office. During the February interview, Giuliani explained what attracted him to Bracewell. “I know law firms really well,” said Giuliani, who has been a partner at three other firms and served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1983 to 1989. “I wanted to make sure I really respected and liked the people here. I retain the idea that this is more a profession than a business.” He added, “A lot of law firms have made big mistakes by hooking up with the wrong people.” Not everyone saw a natural alliance. Some Bracewell partners were shocked “to the point of disbelief,” says former partner Joseph Ford, who is now at DLA Piper. Bracewell sat a rung below elite Houston firms like Vinson & Elkins and Baker Botts. “People were surprised that a firm like Bracewell & Patterson could attract someone of that stature,” says Ford. Another former partner adds, “We all asked, what’s in it for him? . . . People raised questions but it was sub rosa. It was not popular to discuss around the water cooler.” In the end, this partner says, the vote to bring in Giuliani and change the firm’s name was close to unanimous: “The prevailing winds were so clear.” The financial disclosure form that Giuliani filed with the Federal ElectionCommission in May shows a highly unusual and lucrative arrangement betweenBracewell and Giuliani. The firm guarantees the candidate a base pay of $1million a year, and in 2006 he received $1.2 million. Most surprising,Giuliani also gets 7.5 percent of the revenues of Bracewell’s New Yorkoffice. The firm claimed it had not yet computed that amount for last yearas of the date of the filing, so Giuliani did not report his share of theNew York revenue. With roughly 40 lawyers in New York and firmwide revenueper lawyer of $605,000 (which is likely low for the New York office), theNew York office likely had revenues of at least $27 million. Giuliani’sslice of that amount would be $2 million. (The filing also showed thatGiuliani had made a loan to New York partner Kenneth Caruso in the range of$250,000 to $500,000. Oxford said he did not know the reason for that loan;Caruso did not return a call.) Still, despite this generous compensation, it was clear from the start thatGiuliani would have a limited role. “My understanding was that he waslending his name and ten to 15 hours a month to this,” says one formerpartner. Ford adds that most partners assumed that Giuliani would have evenless time for the firm in coming years: “Everybody assumed that he would runfor president sooner or later.” During an interview in January, Oxford described the union of Bracewell and Giuliani as a perfect fit, motivated by disappearing old-fashioned values. “We recognize this is a business of law, and profitability you have to be attuned to, but it’s not the essence of what we’re trying to do,” said Oxford. “Rudy was attracted to that. He didn’t think law firms like ours existed anymore.” Sitting in a conference room in Bracewell’s Houston headquarters, the 64-year-old Oxford was pleasant and personable. In a smooth baritone voice, he described how the addition of Giuliani has enhanced the firm’s “world-class value propositions.” He checked off the ways in which Giuliani has contributed: His reputation for leadership and integrity has raised the firm’s profile; his great relationships in the New York business community have given the firm the right entr�es; and his presence has created the excitement to attract top talent. And, in theory at least, Giuliani has been available to do legal work. “We had hopes that with Rudy’s great legal abilities, there would be circumstances where we would use them,” said Oxford. The managing partner avoided specifics, but reported that Giuliani has worked on three or four projects, and has “provided a lot of great judgment” on other matters. “The actual time he’s spent on files I hesitate to estimate,” said Oxford. So did Giuliani. “I don’t count billable time,” he said. “That’s part of the arrangement.” Most important for Oxford, Giuliani has enhanced Bracewell’s “overall patina.” Raising Bracewell’s profile has been a goal of Oxford’s. When he was elected managing partner in 2001, Oxford set a more ambitious agenda than that of his predecessor, Kelly Frels, who heads the firm’s school district practice. Oxford is a competitor-he displays a picture in his office showing him crossing the finish line of the New York City Marathon in 1983. As managing partner, he aimed to shrink the gap between Bracewell and firms like Vinson & Elkins. “He wanted to out-V&E V&E,” remarks one former partner. At one summer retreat, an associate performed a skit that gently ribbed Oxford’s penchant for grand plans. The line “We’re in the big leagues now” got a knowing laugh. Oxford joined Bracewell & Patterson in 1967 out of the University of Texas School of Law, when the firm had 13 lawyers. Throughout most of his career, Oxford has kept his eye on interests outside the law. In 1980 he left the firm to try his hand as a businessman, joining a client’s bank, River Oaks Bank and Trust Company as chairman of the executive committee. In 1983 he left that job to start a real estate investment fund called Western Growth Pool. “The eighties in Texas were very tough,” Oxford says. “We made more than we lost, but did not do spectacularly.” He returned to Bracewell & Patterson in 1988. But Oxford’s main outside passion has been politics. In 1970, when he was just three years out of law school, he worked on his first campaign, George H.W. Bush’s unsuccessful run for U.S. senator from Texas. In 1978 Oxford took a leave from Bracewell to be deputy campaign manager for the late John Tower in his reelection run for U.S. senator from Texas. “I was probably getting a little restless in practice,” Oxford explained. Over the years, Oxford has aligned himself with a series of successful Republican candidates in Texas, including the state’s two U.S. senators. He has played significant roles in all of Kay Bailey Hutchison’s three campaigns for that office and was Texas cochairman of her last campaign, in 2006; he has been treasurer of John Cornyn’s fund-raising committee since 2003. (Cornyn has raised $5.6 million since then.) One Republican insider says that Oxford’s success in politics is partly due to his engaging personality. “Pat’s just a good guy,” he says. “He works hard at maintaining friendships, and he’s very good at it.” While working for Hutchison, a law school classmate, Oxford got to know the senator’s chief strategist, Karl Rove. “Karl and I became fast friends,” said Oxford. “I love Rove, I honestly do. He’s one of the finest, most insightful gentlemen I’ve ever known.” Oxford and Rove continued to work together on other campaigns, including those of George W. Bush. Oxford met Bush in the 1970s through common friends, and has worked on all of Bush’s elections since, including his two runs for Texas governor and his two presidential campaigns. Oxford helped raise $100,000 for Bush in 2000, which qualified him as a Bush “Pioneer.” But his efforts for his fellow Texan went beyond fund-raising. During Bush’s two presidential elections, Oxford organized a volunteer effort that he named the Mighty Texas Strike Force. “That was my brainchild,” said Oxford about the 1,500 volunteers who were dispatched from Texas to battleground states. In November 2004 Oxford described one of the group’s principles to Newsweek: “We move to the sound of guns.” In the 2000 election Oxford joined the extensive network of Republican lawyers who set up camp in Florida during the vote recount. “I ran Broward County,” said Oxford. “Some people would say the recount came down to what happened in Broward. It was quite a thrilling experience.” Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale, was one of three counties where Democrats focused their recount efforts, and-because it was the most Democratic of the three-it offered arguably their best chance to pick up enough votes to tip the state to Al Gore. In the end, the tallying failed to put enough votes in Gore’s column. Michael Madigan, a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld who also worked on the recount for Bush, calls Oxford “probably the most valuable strategist down there,” and notes that Oxford was frequently in contact with Bush, who stayed in Texas. Madigan credits Oxford with the idea of bringing famous Republicans, like former senator Robert Dole, into the vote-counting room as “celebrity observers.” In 2004, when Ohio was the key battleground state, Oxford’s strike force came under scrutiny when one member was accused of voter intimidation in Ohio. This incident was related in a report by Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee entitled “What Went Wrong in Ohio” and was reported in Robert Kennedy, Jr.’s June 2006 article in Rolling Stone, “Was the 2004 Election Stolen?” Oxford insists that the strike force was never instructed to intimidate voters. “When I read the report in Rolling Stone, that was all fiction to me,” said Oxford. “That was all bullshit to me.” The Mighty Texas Strike Force will not regroup for the next presidential campaign, according to Oxford. When Bush was running, Texas was solidly behind him, and Texas volunteers needed an outlet for their activities. This time, he said, Texas volunteers will be needed in Texas. “The strike force was an aberration of the Bush years,” he said. Bracewell has also come to the defense of one of the most controversial Republicans in recent years. Beginning in 2000, the firm defended former Republican House majority leader Tom DeLay against various ethics charges. (It is not currently representing Delay in a criminal money laundering case brought by the Travis County, Texas, district attorney.) As of 2004, DeLay’s legal defense fund had paid Bracewell more than $800,000 and owed the firm between $100,000 and $250,000. (The fund did not have to file public reports after DeLay left Congress.) Giuliani is not the first Republican politician that Oxford has lured to Bracewell. Texas’s current attorney general, Greg Abbott, joined Bracewell in 2001 after stepping down from the state supreme court. He spent 17 months at the firm while running for attorney general, and Oxford served as cochairman of his campaign. The biggest political catch before Giuliani was former Montana governor Marc Racicot, whom Oxford helped bring to the firm’s Washington, D.C., office in 2001. While at Bracewell, Racicot served as chairman of the Republican National Committee (from 2002 to 2003), and was chairman of the Bush-Cheney 2004 election committee. (Racicot left the firm in 2005 and is now the president of the American Insurance Association.) Like many firms, Bracewell has a political action committee, which donated $412,323 in the 2004 and 2006 political cycles to Republicans and Democrats, according to Opensecrets.org, a nonpartisan database run by the Center for Responsive Politics. Since 2004, the firm’s PAC has given about 60 percent of its money to the GOP. Oxford and his wife have donated more than $90,000 to Republican candidates and committees since 1993. Thirty-eight individuals at Bracewell have contributed $60,000 to Giuliani, with Oxford giving $5,000. Oxford supervises fund-raising for Giuliani, but says he’s not really active in soliciting money. In the first quarter of this year, Giuliani raised $16.6 million nationwide, second to Mitt Romney among Republicans. Notably, several wealthy Texans in Giuliani’s camp-such as Pickens, Kinder, and Hicks-have been longtime donors to Oxford’s political allies, Senators Hutchinson and Cornyn. Oxford dismissed the notion that Bracewell’s political connections could help Giuliani. “It’s sort of a compliment that people think our firm has that type of clout,” he said. He also downplayed his own political influence: “I am a medium-sized political functionary.” The money contributed by Bracewell lawyers and employees to Giuliani’s campaign pales next to the compensation the candidate is getting from the firm. Bracewell has recently sought legal advice on whether the comfortable financial arrangement Giuliani enjoys at Bracewell is in compliance with federal election law. If a partner spends most of his time campaigning, his compensation could be considered an illegal contribution. “No employer can pay someone to run for office,” says former Federal Election Commission chairman Michael Toner, who is now a partner at Bryan Cave. The same analysis applies to compensation paid to anyone at the firm working on the campaign, such as Oxford. In April, Oxford said the firm was consulting with a couple of law firms on how the FEC might view these issues, but was confident that Bracewell was in compliance with the law. He added that the firm has not reduced his compensation or Giuliani’s because of their campaign activities. Toner, who has not been consulted by Bracewell, says the commission examines whether a firm is paying fair market value for the partner’s activities for the firm. Toner notes that the FEC considered this issue in 2002 when James Talent ran for U.S. senator from Missouri while he was a partner at Arent Fox. The FEC’s general counsel concluded that Talent’s compensation was appropriate because he had attracted clients and provided legal services, and his pay was comparable to similarly qualified lawyers. In addition to campaign finance issues, Bracewell has also had to worry about which client might be hauled out next for political inspection. Like most Houston firms, Bracewell represents a lot of oil and energy companies, which can make for easy targets by opponents. Among the firm’s clients are: Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Kinder Morgan (a successor to some of Enron Corp.’s operations), Valero Energy Corporation, the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association, and the Gas Processors Association. In early May the firm came under fire in a New York Times front-page article as a foe of environmental groups. “We believe we’ve been part of this country’s success in making sensible environmental policy,” Oxford told The American Lawyer, noting that the firm also represents alternative energy providers. “The best results happen when all sides are represented professionally and capably.” The poster child for disgraced clients, Enron, was not long ago Bracewell’s biggest client, and Bracewell partner Carrin Patman is married to Enron former general counsel James Derrick, Jr. The firm had to give back $5 million in preference payments after the company went bankrupt. Oxford doesn’t apologize for the connection. “We had a great relationship with Enron until 2001,” he said. “I joke that’s we’re the only certified clean law firm in the whole thing. We came through with flying colors.” (Unlike Vinson & Elkins and Kirkland & Ellis, Bracewell was never sued over its work for Enron; the firm is also not mentioned in the extensive reports by Enron’s bankruptcy examiner and the board’s special committee.) In March, Giuliani and Bracewell had to defend the firm’s Texas lobbying for the Citgo, a U.S. subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company. Giuliani’s campaign quickly distanced its candidate from that country’s anti-American president, Hugo Chavez, saying that Giuliani did not work on this lobbying and that Chavez was “no friend of the United States.” Since then, Oxford has said that the firm and Citgo have been winding up the relationship, but he insisted that this had nothing to do with politics. Instead, the Venezuelan government had been nationalizing companies represented by Bracewell, creating a conflict with continued representation of Citgo. “It’s not because of Rudy, but plain old conflicts,” Oxford said. At least one Bracewell client has been dropped directly because of Giuliani. When partner Kenneth Caruso joined Bracewell’s New York office from Chadbourne & Parke in 2005, he represented Saudi businessman Yousef Jameel. Jameel is one of more than 200 defendants sued by victims of the September 11 attacks in Burnett v. al Baraka, which accuses the defendants of having funded or supported Al Qaeda. Upon joining Bracewell, Caruso stepped aside as lead counsel, but continued to work on the case, and listed it on his Bracewell Web site biography. During an interview with Caruso, in which a Bracewell public relations person was present, the partner fielded questions about the case. Soon after, Oxford told Caruso to get rid of it. “It’s an emotional issue for Giuliani,” Oxford explains, adding, “We had a little bit of a misunderstanding with Ken. When I found out about it, I said, ‘Look, buddy, you need to wind this up.’ ” Oxford sounded surprised to hear that the case was promoted on Bracewell’s Web site: “ Oh, shit!” he exclaimed. In his two years at Bracewell, Giuliani’s main contribution has been to serve as a living, breathing icon. “He’s done a wonderful job for me at some client dinners,” says management committee partner Mark Evans. He notes that when Bracewell hired corporate partner Mark Palmer from Linklaters, Giuliani agreed to meet with the lateral’s top five clients in the first 48 hours. The former mayor can also be a hiring magnet, Evans adds: “When you’re recruiting fourth- or fifth-year associates, it’s helpful for them to be able to see him.” Oxford said in March 2005 that he hoped Giuliani would recruit more than 50 lawyers in two years. “We’ve grown considerably faster than projected,” Giuliani said in February. “Next year we will be three times ahead of where should be.” At the end of March 2007, though, the office had 32 lawyers, not 50. The recruits included lateral partners from McDermott Will & Emery, Chadbourne & Parke, and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman. Bracewell has since picked up a significant practice with the hiring of Evan Flaschen, the cohead of Bingham McCutchen’s financial restructuring group, and three partners who followed him from that firm. (The firm had to open a Hartford office for Flaschen.) When it comes to Giuliani’s actual workload, the firm at times seems confused about what its name partner is doing. In September 2006 Bracewell prepared a press release for its role representing Spanish bank Banco Santander Central Hispano, S.A., in a $651 million purchase of a majority stake in Drive Financial Services, a subprime auto lender. The firm cited Giuliani first in the list of Bracewell lawyers who worked on the deal. One lawyer representing Drive Financial was surprised to hear of Giuliani’s role. “If he was involved in the transaction, that’s news to me,” says James Skochdopole of Dallas’s Bell Nunnally & Martin. “I didn’t see or hear of him at all.” Oxford called the press release a “mistake,” clarifying that Giuliani was not involved in that deal to his knowledge. Instead, he said, Giuliani played a role in another project for Banco Santander, helping to ease some regulatory concerns arising from its acquisition of a stake in U.S. bank Sovereign Bancorp, Inc. The New York partners all emphasize how busy that office is. Corporate partner Palmer does private equity work for MatlinPatterson Global Advisers LLC and represented it in its acquisition of bankrupt Varig’s air freight division. Litigation partner Caruso represents The Bank of New York Company, Inc., in litigation over BP shutting down the Prudhoe Bay, Alaska oil pipeline. Marc Mukasey, who joined the firm from the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan and heads its white-collar group, led an independent investigation into stock option backdating for Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. Connolly represents a Sutton Place apartment building in an appeal stemming from a dispute with New York over structural repairs. Connolly and Hess-whose services were part of the $10 million payment from Bracewell to Giuliani Partners-continue to split their time with that business. Hess, 66, initially served as managing partner of the New York office, but now does little for Bracewell. A former New York corporation counsel (the city’s top lawyer), he was not made available for an interview. Connolly, 43, took over as office managing partner in 2006, although he had never worked at a law firm before. He notes that when he served as special counsel to the New York City corporation counsel’s office, he had management duties over an 800-lawyer office. At Bracewell, he spends most of his time on management. The New York office isn’t yet in the black, but it’s “trending in the right direction,” Oxford said. Last year, he said, it lost $2-3 million less than expected. The office initially depressed equity partner profits throughout the firm; they fell from $620,000 in 2004 to $595,000 in 2005. Revenue also slipped. Oxford said the firm endured a bad first quarter in 2005, and jokingly attributed part of it to “water cooler talk” about Giuliani’s pending move to Bracewell that distracted partners and decreased billings. Those numbers rebounded last year, with profits per equity partner increasing 16 percent, to $689,000, and revenue rising 17 percent, to $202 million. Bracewell still trails far behind its bigger Houston competitors. Vinson & Elkins grossed more than twice as much, $532 million, and reported profits per equity partner of $1.125 million; Baker Botts collected $503 million in revenue, and had profits per partner of $1.094 milion. Oxford said he did a “tremendous amount of due diligence” on Giuliani before inviting him into the firm. The managing partner acknowledged that Giuliani once had a reputation as a “hard charger,” and years ago “probably was perceived as being more ambitious.” But Giuliani is different now, said Oxford. “Rudy had been through a couple things. He subsequently learned he had prostate cancer, and [then came] September 11. He’s never shown any of the characteristics here that irritated people at the U.S. attorney’s office and [his former law firm] White & Case. He’s just a human being who has made mistakes and learned.” In the past, Giuliani’s attempt to juggle a law firm partnership with a political campaign has created problems for his partners. In 1989 he stepped down after six years as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and prepared for his first (and unsuccessful) run for mayor of New York. At the same time, Giuliani joined White & Case as a partner. “It didn’t work out,” says James Hurlock, who was then managing partner of White & Case and is now retired. Hurlock calls the hiring a mistake and says that Giuliani didn’t contribute enough, adding, “He was busy running for public office.” Giuliani discusses his time at White & Case in Leadership, in a chapter called “Surround Yourself with Great People.” He didn’t fit in at the firm, he writes, because it lacked that “sense of adventure” he craved. In 1990 Giuliani joined Anderson Kill & Olick. Giuliani reminisces fondly about that time in Leadership, and describes a series of interesting cases he handled. But according to Wayne Barrett’s book, Rudy! An Investigative Biography of Rudy Giuliani, Giuliani spent the bulk of his time at Anderson Kill on his second run for mayor. In 1992 he billed 177 hours, the lowest of any partner in the firm, according to Barrett. In early 1993 Giuliani’s name was placed on a list of partners who should be asked to leave, and he departed soon after. Today all seems forgiven. “We were honored to have him be our colleague and wish him the best,” says Jeffrey Glatzer, the firm’s president and chief executive officer. Asked about the problems Barrett cited, Glatzer responds, “I don’t have any real comment on that at all. . . . Whatever is in the public record is there.” Several lawyers who have known Giuliani for decades treat his tenure at Bracewell as a topic they dare not, or care not, to broach. John Gross, a partner at Proskauer Rose, is treasurer for Giuliani’s campaign. He’s known Giuliani since they were federal prosecutors together, and they were both partners at Anderson Kill. Asked if Giuliani considered coming to Proskauer before choosing Bracewell, Gross scoffed: “To do what? He’s got two other businesses!” Gross sounded uninterested in why his longtime friend joined the Texas firm: “I have no idea whatsoever.” When queried on how Bracewell is doing in New York, he responded: “I know nothing about it whatsoever, other than they have a nice reception area and a conference room. I haven’t a clue.” Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partner Randy Mastro, who was deputy mayor under Giuliani, says, “I’m helping him in any way he needs me.” But Mastro has not discussed Bracewell with him: “I have not really talked to him about his business affairs or law practice.” As Giuliani continues his run for president, it’s likely that most of the talk will likewise be focused elsewhere. But, politics being politics, Giuliani is finding that his Bracewell connection is creating some awkwardness. Earlier this year, however, Giuliani sounded completely unconcerned. “There’s not a single negative in it,” he said in February about his tenure at Bracewell. “If I do not win, I would like to stay here for the rest of my life.” Love will find a way. E-mail: [email protected] Joins U.S. attorneys office in Manhattan after graduating from New York University Law SchoolMoves to U.S. Department of Justice as an associate deputy attorney generalBecomes a partner at Patterson BelknapReturns to Justice as associate attorney general, the number three postAppointed U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New YorkJoins White & Case as partnerLoses in first campaign for mayor of New YorkReturns to a private firm as a partner at Anderson Kill & OlickElected mayor of New York (reelected in 1997)Ends term as mayor a few months after 9/11; starts consulting businessesJoins Bracewell & Patterson as a partner; firm changes its name to Bracewell & Giuliani332165167$201.5 million$74 million$605,000$690,000$600,000Almaty, Kazakhstan; Astana, Kazakhstan; Austin; Hartford; Dallas; Houston; London; New York; San Antonio; Washington, D.C.