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Who

Defense attorney Gerry Lefcourt has made a career of keeping high-profile clients like Russell Crowe out of jail.

Backstory

Lefcourt attended Brooklyn Law and started his career in the Legal Aid office in 1968. He didn't remain there for very long: He says he was fired after he tried to organize a union. Lefcourt went off to pursue a series of liberal causes, representing '60s free-speech icon Abbie Hoffman and Huey P. Lewis of the Black Panthers. (Hoffman, whom Lefcourt represented pro bono, promised, "If you keep me out of jail, I will make a revolution!") He also took on several celebrity clients (Sid Vicious, Sly Stone), before parlaying his reputation into representing some much shadier characters, including fallen politicos, white-collar criminals, drug traffickers, and mob bosses. In the late '80s, he was in the news when he represented Bruce Newberg, a former junk bond trader at Drexel Burnham and close associate of Michael Milken. A few years later, Lefcourt was back in the spotlight when he defended Mel Miller, the former speaker of the New York State Assembly who was indicted on Federal fraud charges.

Of note

Lefcourt continues to manage a busy private practice. In 2005 he represented Murder Inc. co-founder Irv Gotti (his brother, Chris Gotti, was represented by Gerald Shargel) on charges the duo laundered money for a notorious drug gang. When Russell Crowe was charged with assault for throwing a phone at the concierge at Andre Balazs's Mercer Hotel, Lefcourt defended the ill-tempered Australian. In 2006 Lefcourt defended Tracey Morgan against a DUI charge. He also came to the defense of financier Jeffrey Epstein after he was implicated in an underage prostitution scandal in Florida.

On screen

The tanned attorney and past president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is a regular talking head on CourtTV. He's also been portrayed on the silver screen: In the Abbie Hoffman biopic Steal This Movie, Kevin Pollack played Lefcourt, who served as a producer on the film.

Personal

Lefcourt is divorced from Ilene Sackler Lefcourt, the director of the Sackler Lefcourt Center for Child Development in New York and the daughter of Mortimer D. Sackler, who founded Purdue Pharma. They have a son, Jeffrey, a restaurateur. Lefcourt lives on East 78th Street.