Corporate lawyers’ real value lay in transactional skill, not courtroom advocacy

Evidence

Lawyers were valuable to big business not because of any gift of gab but because they were shrewd at business deals, creative in drawing up papers, nimble at finance and the secu­ rities market, sophisticated about government and rules. Railroad receiverships, deeds of trust, municipal-​bond issues—​none of these had the glamour of a murder trial or the homely interest of a suit to replevy a horse. But Wall Street was built on these drab, essential pillars of paper, sweat, and guile. — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law, 1228

Categorization

• CANDY: “Wall Street was built on these drab, essential pillars of paper, sweat, and guile” is a quotable line.
• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
• XREF: connects to: Once court-centered, lawyer work now chiefly keeps clients out of litigation — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law: An Introduction, 1218; The practice of law shifted from courtroom litigation to transactional work — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 3621; Most practicing lawyers serve as counselors rather than courtroom litigators — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 892 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• The practice of law shifted from courtroom litigation to transactional work #corroborates (0.95) — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 3621
• Most practicing lawyers serve as counselors rather than courtroom litigators #corroborates (0.90) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 892