Word: genson
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...would take Blagojevich's case - given that the two-term governor reportedly owes another law firm upwards of $2 million, was denied by the Illinois Attorney General state funds to pay for the impeachment hearings and is facing the prospect of having his campaign fund frozen by the feds - Genson was his usual mischievous self. "I take the cases that are fun," he said. As best-selling author and famed lawyer Scott Turow put it in an e-mail to TIME, "He is a great lawyer who would have been almost as good as a circus ringmaster. He will have...
...That much was clear from the moment Genson, a Northwestern University grad, took the case. Right off the bat, he said he was going to trial. During an appearance in Springfield, he mocked the impeachment process, saying that too many of the 21 members on the panel had already made up their minds and that there were no clear standards to govern the proceedings. At one point, a member suggested, "You really should go back to criminal-law school." Genson quickly retorted, "Well, I have been doing it for 44 years, and maybe you should go back to law school...
...Though he has yet to file anything in federal court - no indictment has actually been returned against Blagojevich - Genson did hint at part of his strategy in Springfield on Thursday, saying the wiretaps that make up the bulk of the more salacious charges facing the governor were illegal. The evidence gathered in the taps, he said, was "illegally obtained" and should not be considered. He has also argued that all Blagojevich was doing was talking, not committing a crime. (Read TIME's top 10 political lines...
...Genson's disdain for the impeachment process is typical of how he views practically all proceedings against his clients. The charges are absurd, he'll routinely say, especially political charges, as he describes those lodged against his newest client. In Illinois, he will usually argue, you can't hold someone criminally accountable for simply playing along with a system that dictates - and ingrains the idea - that sometimes you have to pay to play, as the prosecution calls...
...almost a cliché in the Windy City to say that even prosecutors, should they run afoul of the law, would tap Genson to defend them. The son of a bail bondsman and a model-train enthusiast, he's become a rich man by being one of the go-to guys for people caught up in dire legal circumstances...