White Shoe: How a New Breed of Wall Street Lawyers Changed Big Business and the Amer ican Century

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The rollicking true tale of how an ambitious new class of attorneys devised and implemented the strategies that made American business synonymous with big business, and helped make Wall Street the center of the financial world. The legal profession was once one of fairness and justice, humble lawyers arguing cases in court before a judge and jury. But around 1890, a new type of lawyer was born, one who understood business as well as the law, and employed his expertise to guide corporations, to find loopholes and foresee legal roadblocks in the way of profits. These lawyers were held on retainer as virtual business partners, negotiating on behalf of their companies and steering the way through thorny legal fights. The result was the unprecedented rise of the power of big business, the establishment of a new class of corporate titans. White Shoe focuses on three leading lawyers of the era. Paul Cravath revolutionized how corporate law was practiced, and guided his client George Westinghouse in his war against Thomas Edison over control of electric power. Frank Stetson fiercely protected the fortune of J.P. Morgan when the government attempted to break up Morgan's gigantic railroad trust. William Nelson Cromwell orchestrated a revolution to create the new nation of Panama, then secured the U.S. as the overseer of a new canal connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific-the lawyer "who taught the robber barons how to rob." Author John Oller gives us a richly written glimpse of turn-of-the-century New York, from the grandeurs of private mansions and elegant hotels and the city's early skyscrapers and transportation system, to the depths of its deplorable tenement housing conditions. This is an entertaining tale that includes some of the biggest names of the era, including J.P. Morgan, E. H. Harriman, Theodore Roosevelt, and Elihu Root, exploring the decadent lifestyles of the nation's richest titans while spotlighting the foundation of America's corporate capitalism.

Reviews

Entertaining.The Wall Street Journal

Captivating If Oller once wrote dry, impenetrable legal briefs, theres no hint of it here. His narrative sparkles with details that set this study of the legal professions influence on big business into a fascinating historical context.BookPage

"One of the most anticipated books of Spring 2019"Publishers Weekly

A valuable addition to the literature on Americas transformation during the Gilded Age.Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A lucid account of the rise of the modern law firm and the concomitant rise of the modern corporation . . .insightful and revealing."Kirkus

"This fast-paced history of the period from the white shoe perspective will be both entertaining and enlightening for most readers."Library Journal

InWhite Shoe, John Oller traces Americas earliest super lawyers, hard-charging Wall Streeters who tilted history in the building of the Panama Canal, the birth of gargantuan American businesses, and the pursuit of world peace.A riveting portrayal of the swaggering advocates who deftly pulled the most important strings while raking in the biggest fees.David O. Stewart, author ofThe Summer of 1787andImpeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincolns Legacy

John Oller has written a book both unique and valuable: a secret history of the original White Shoes, the lawyers of the Gilded Age. Everyone has heard of J.P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller, but few are aware of the attorneys who did their bidding, figures such as Paul Cravath,Francis Stetson, William Cromwell, and Elihu Root. In sparkling prose, Oller captures their clever courtroom connivances, but also their surprising commitment to reforming the very system they fought to uphold. A highly illuminating read.Justin Martin, author of Greenspan: The Man Behind Money

Well written and meticulously researched, White Shoe documents the rise of the big American law firm, the modernization of its management, and the men who led them during the early twentieth century. It should be on the shelf of anyone interested in the development of the American legal profession.Herbert Hovenkamp, Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania School of Law andThe Wharton School, and author of Antitrust Law

Author Bio

John Oller is a retired white shoe Wall Street lawyer, having spent thirty years as an associate and then partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher, one of New York City's most venerable law firms. He lives in Manhattan.