A handsome offer, one would reckon, for a fellow who spent the last four years saying, “How’re ya feeling today?” But no the former Veep spotted an insect in the lanolin. As a partner of O’Connor and Hannan put it in an interview with the American Lawyer, “We made it clear he’d be expected to be an active lawyer here.” It should be noted that the anonymous partner launched that particular spitball after Mondale had spurned O’Connor’s offer, but the point is well enough made: the former Vice President has never been celebrated for his Stakhanovite work habits.
More to Mondale’s liking, evidently, was an offer from the Chicago-based Winston and Strawn, which offered him $175,000 guaranteed plus a profit share in the $65,000 range for an “of-counsel” arrangement. (Of-counsel arrangements can take a variety of shapes, but they always permit the firm to use the coun sel’s name on the stationery and they never oblige the counsel to do any heavy lifting.) Comments the deadly spitballer from O’Connor and Hannan: “It’s going to take a million dollars in billings to break even. There are plenty of direct ways to finance Mondale without hiring his law firm.”
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