Lawyer of the Day: Ira Schacter
When a Biglaw partner is accused of domestic violence, we can't help but honor him with ATL's Lawyer of the Day. But we must note that this article from the New York Daily News drips with lawyer hatred, in describing a case where the attorney was not convicted.
They didn't even spell Cadwalader partner Ira Schacter's name correctly. We've put the perceived lawyer hatin' in bold:
A high-powered Manhattan lawyer was cleared of wife-beating charges Tuesday -- even though cops said his estranged wife was hurt in a scuffle last fall at the couple's East Side townhouse.Ira Schachter, a partner at the white-shoe firm of Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft, was freed despite dramatic photos that appear to show him causing a commotion outside the pricey brownstone on E. 78th St.
Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Larry Stephen also scrapped an order of protection against Ira Schachter, 48, after prosecutors said they couldn't prove the case against him....
Ira Schachter walked out of court surrounded by an entourage of powerful lawyers, including divorce lawyer Raoul Felder and Ira Sorkin, former head of enforcement at the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.
Not to say that beating your wife is okay. His wife claims he choked her, and police photos showed bruises on her head and neck. Schacter claimed it was self-defense after his wife bit his finger "to the bone."
One tipster tells us that Ira Schacter is "awkward, very messy, constantly touching himself, a general slob. But not violent." This tipster opines that Mrs. Schacter is "nuts" and that neither spouse is blameless, but that she was the one who ended up filing charges.
More about Ira Schacter, from a second source:
Very strange guy and hard to describe -- everyone suspected he had Asperger's. He has very quirky mannerisms and a speech impediment.... But he has a ginormous book of business and is probably the only rainmaker in corporate outside of Dennis [Block]....Not a particularly likable guy. Very controlling of his little fiefdom, and very nasty to anyone perceived to be hitting his bottom line.
I am loathe to blame what may be the victim or defend anyone at CWT, but his wife was known around the firm to be extremely abusive to everyone she came in contact with. [She] could be heard screaming obscenities at undeserving secretaries and Ira over the phone.
They sound like they were meant for each other. Now we are going to watch War of the Roses.
Upper East Side wife reels after judge clears husband of wife-beating charges [New York Daily News]
(57) Comments
FIRST to say Kash is hot.
What the hell is the "Nova Center for the Study of Law"?
Man that LLM from NYU can really catapult a third tier guy into the stratosphere. Good for him. She probably had it coming.
"Schacter claimed it was self-defense after his wife bit his finger "to the bone.""
ZOMG zombie!
Another TTT hits the big time. Does NYU take anyone who can pay into the graduate program? Someone tell Loyola 2L?
I don't blame him: she is f-ugly!
The Daily News is pretty much the TTT of NYC newspapers.
maybe they had an argument after she found bed bugs in their East Side apartment
"Mr. Schacter received his B.A. in Economics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook; a J.D. from the Nova Center for the Study of Law, where he was a Notes and Comments Editor of the Law Review; and an LL.M. in corporations law from the New York University School of Law."
where the hell is Nova? I see he tried to cover his TTTTTTTTTT with an NYU LLM. This is an old trick!
Who has a worse 2008?
Paul Hastings or CWT?
Brutal....
"The median LSAT score for the current first year class was 152."
http://www.nsulaw.nova.edu/students/prospective/faq.cfm
I guess a huge book of business covers up a multitude of sins...includuing a 152 LSAT!!
I guess a huge book of business covers up a multitude of sins...includuing a 152 LSAT!!
Nova law is TTTer than American and Thomas A. Cooley. You have to be retarded to go to that school.
NOVA LAW TO 190k.
2:21.....yes it does. a 180 hanging on a wall of someone who cant bring in any money is as useless as the paper it was printed on.
if you are more then 2-3 years out of school and still talking about your grades I suggest you move on, fast.
if the people who work for you think you have a mental disorder that inhibits social relations and that you aren't very likable....
if your wife gets fired from her charity job and gets 'fired' as a customer at her bank and openly states she married you for the money....
if your kids probably are going turn out like 1990s robert downey jr and bijou phillips
YOU MIGHT BE A BIGLAW PARTNER
2:30 -- you obviously went to a crap law school.
HLS, 2004.
2:30
be serious. Yale, HLS, Stanford.
the rest is TTT or close enough.
Ira Schachter and others (like Eric Krautheimer of Sullivan & Cromwell / Aaron Charney case) show that Biglaw partners and other great lawyers can come from outside the top 10 law schools.
A couple comments from people purporting to be the wife's former friends make her out to be a real nut job. Check this one out:
"The poster who lives in their neighborhood has most of the facts right. I (used to be) Janice's good friend. I say used to be because it's difficult to support a woman who.... - Has such a temper that absolutely no one - and I mean no one - will have anything to do with...she's been "fired" as a client at her bank, at least 5 housekeepers have quit on her, and she even got fired from the "association for the deaf" that is mentioned in the article. - Made it very clear to anyone that would listen for over 20 years that she was only in the marriage for the money....she could care less about her children, as evidenced by the fact that she was the one who clearly planted this story....I know for a fact that the only reason her husband is holding a videocam in these pictures is so he could document for the courts how much of a screaming maniac she is whenever he comes to pick up the kids to go to school (which the courts allow him to do and, in fact, suggested he videotape her) - K"
What a fucking retard this guy is. His firm had better can his sorry ass. Is there any surprise that a fucking parner at Cadwalader would do shit like this?
Quick question:
How can you be a "very strange guy [who] everyone suspected had Asperger's [with] very quirky mannerisms and a speech impediment" and have any book of business at all?
Help me out here. How does that work?
His wife "got fired from the "association for the deaf""
LMAO! When even deaf people are sick of hearing (or not hearing) your shit...it is time to shoot yourself. Maybe this TTT partner is not such a bad guy....
I love that she got fired from her bank - no ma'am, we don't want your money - and from teh association for the deaf - nobe mamb we don wan yu munee
2:11 - CWT. PH thing will blow over after people get the emotions out of the situation and remember that--while PHJW was callous--this is all about firing one 10th-year in a down economy.
"How can you be a "very strange guy [who] everyone suspected had Asperger's [with] very quirky mannerisms and a speech impediment" and have any book of business at all?"
Because clients are silly geese.
2:34 / 2:36 - So sad that you still haven't a clue as to how law firms operate. 2:30 is 100% correct. The ability to generate meaningful business trumps a hot law school degree any day. Stellar grades and a top law school degree are a dime a dozen in major markets.
And you (s) are a total tool.
2:34 & 2:36 - Nobody gives a shit where you went to law school when you have a book of business like Schacter.
Darnit 2:51, I laughed so hard my water came out my nose.
Any serious thoughts on how a socially awkward, slovenly, unlikeable guy from TTT schools managed to get an incredible book of business??
Law ought to be a learned profession. Anyone who goes into law solely to see how much they can make is a fool. It's a lousy way to get rich. It once was an excellent way to become comfortable and pleasantly plump while thinking hard and adding knowledge-based value.
CWT gave us commoditized subprime work and now wife-beating. And it's a place where guys with social problems and low LSATs can have a huge book of business. They must be proud.
NB, I went to the same law school as Ted Kennedy, so what do I know?
True story - his wife used to perform duets in karaoke bars with Jerri the CP Comic
im against spousal abuse but it seems like she's the one who is reaming him...quoted on NY paper comments page by someone who knows them:
We have witnessed you outbursts in school, in the neighborhood and in court. You are a poor excuse for a mother and a disgrace to your family. Your fall from your privileged life will be watched with glee. To think you have no conscious when it comes to your children or family is despicable. The only failing of the authorities in this case is that neither the DA, the Courts or the Child Welfare System have looked beyond your hystronics toremove the children form your "care".
im against spousal abuse but it seems like she's the one who is reaming him...quoted on NY paper comments page by someone who knows them:
We have witnessed you outbursts in school, in the neighborhood and in court. You are a poor excuse for a mother and a disgrace to your family. Your fall from your privileged life will be watched with glee. To think you have no conscious when it comes to your children or family is despicable. The only failing of the authorities in this case is that neither the DA, the Courts or the Child Welfare System have looked beyond your hystronics toremove the children form your "care".
3:12 - that powerful Aspergers cabal that runs law firms?
"Law ought to be a learned profession."
Yeah that was before law students graduated with debt the size of a mortgage.
It is well known that, except for a very few top dogs, any firm will take on a partner no matter where he/she went to school if the book is big enough and it fits a need. For the biggest generators, the name of the game is really more sales and management, rather than dazzling technical skill. Said generator then gets Ivy Leaguers to be service partners on the accounts. At least, that's the model I've seen.
2:34 - Doubtful…
His bio says he's all about sec'z'n, but a Lat emailer says that he is a "corproate" rainmaker. Which is it?
Oh, and don't try to pull that TTT stuff on Gibson Dunn; they'd totally ignore you with a $50mm book if you went to Nova.
2:59 you are ignorant.
Lots of people with Aspergers are hugely successful and very kind people. I don't know what Asperger's has to do with anything and whoever thinks that makes someone violent or less worthy should be ashamed of themselves.
3:24,
"I'm against spousal abuse but it seems like she's the one who is reaming him"
Did you think that through?
I too am against spousal abuse...regardless of the gender of the spouse being abused.
All that being said, if you have a crazy wife, the pimp hand must be kept way strong. Ira "Iceberg" Schacter takes lip from no sucka.
What do you call partner-abuse by a CWT rainmaker?
Taking your work home with you.
That didn't quite work. Should have been, maybe,
What do you call abuse of a domestic partner by a CWT rainmaker?
but you get the idea.
you're a pretty sad lawyer if after 15+ years in the profession you still need to ride on your law school's coattails.
If you don't have clients, you are a monkey working for someone else, wherever you went to law school .
It's really hard to feel sorry for a guy who has to resort to hiring an asshat snake like Felder...
3:55 = Jerry Hands Espenson
4:47 - how obnoxious are you to make a stereotype comment in response to a comment challenging stereotypes.
2:34 and 2:36, I'm glad to see that you have been chastised already before i got a chance to.
I figured someone would make such a comment, and frankly I am not as impressed as I used to be with the hot shot schools.
I know many top tier graduates who are teachers and make jack shit, and even more people who came from nothing went to awful colleges and are now doing very well.
So to repeat myself, if you are 2-3 years out of school and still talking about your old school, get a clue.
- 2:30
5:01 = Jerri the CP Comic
3:55 (1) - Well good for Gibson if they really would %&#^ on a $50m book (probably true). I don't think the guy with the $50m book cares what Gibson thinks of him.
2:42 - If you are good at what you do, no one cares. Most IP, patent and finance guys are socially...off.
2:59 - Just because this guy may have Aspergers doesn't mean that Aspergers are violent or vicious. If anything they lean the other way.
They can lash out, but anyone can lash out. Only difference is that an Asperger might lash out for what the person who irritated him thought was "no reason," or a more "normal" partner might not have wound up yelling at you outright and instead would have just quietly undermined and conspired to fire you.
"Oh, and don't try to pull that TTT stuff on Gibson Dunn; they'd totally ignore you with a $50mm book if you went to Nova."
LOL. gibson dunn is as ttt as they come. no one cares what that ttt would do.
"My father used to say there are four things that tell the world who a man is: his house, his car, his wife and his shoes."
53 comments into this and there still doesn't appear to be one commenter that actually knows Ira Schacter or his wife....I do. So let me try to bring a semblance of reality to this.....Yes, Ira is socially awkward and messy. No, he doesn't have Asperger's. Despite the sexiness of this becoming a Daily News story, the facts are these....the guy had enough of a failed marriage he tried to save for his kids' sake (and no, there's no affair) to a woman who is very difficult to be around. Upon telling Janice of his intention to file for divorce, she called the police and claimed battery. What was the battery? Well, he was asleep on a weekend morning when she awoke him by chomping on his finger. The theory being that he'd do something to her in retailiation. He did...he grabbed her head off his hand. Then, while dressing his nerve-damaged hand, she called the police and claimed battery. Keep in mind the kids were home, one of them witnessed this craziness, and told police (and later, a judge) that their mother made it up and their father wouldn't hurt a fly. It took the DA's office six months of carefully investigating the matter - so as to keep blood off the hands, I'm sure - to finally conclude what everyone that knows her already knew - she's absolutely nuts. They dropped all charges. It's understandable the the DN would listen to the pleas of a "victimized wife," but in this case they were taken for a ride as much as the DAs office had been.
Nice storytellin' 938am, but how about signing your name if your so proud of your claimed self-serving facts? Any proof of knowledge of what allegedly happened, or are you just relying on and parroting the defendant's story?
Nova is not a TTT. That is an insult to TTT's.
Having said that, there might be 1 or 2 firms on this planet that would give two shits about this with a $50 million book. Anyone who claims their firm would care is either a law student or a dipshit practicing insurance defense in Topeka.
Worked with Ira many years ago and knew him and Janice quite well. Story is quite surprising and out of character. While Ira is socially awkward and the worst basketball player I ever saw (although he told us before sutiing up for our team that he was terrific and a former football star) he did not strike me as violent or partiuclarly tempermental. They actually seemed to be very happy and quite well suited for each other when I knew them. Hopefully they can manage past this for the sake of their kids. A reconciliation is not out of the question.