We finished in that order.
I mean, Erwin, Bella and myself were the top three in the Law School
graduating class. The time for triumph was at hand. Job interviews. Offers.
Pleas. Snow jobs. Everywhere I turned somebody seemed to be waving a flag
that read: "Work for us, Barrett!"
But I followed only the green flags. I mean, I wasn't totally crass,
but I eliminated the prestige alternatives, like clerking for a judge, and
the public service alternatives, like Department of Justice, in favor of a
lucrative job that would get the dirty word "scrounge" out of our goddamn
vocabulary.
Third though I was, I enjoyed one inestimable ad-
vantage in competing for the best legal spots. I was the only guy in
the top ten who wasn't Jewish. (And anyone who says it doesn't matter is
full of it.) Christ, there are dozens of firms who will kiss the ass of a
WASP who can merely pass the bar. Consider the case of yours truly: Law
Review, All-Ivy, Harvard and you know what else. Hordes of people were
fighting to get my name and numeral onto their stationery. I felt like a
bonus baby-and I loved every minute of it.
There was one especially intriguing offer from a firm in Los Angeles.
The recruiter, Mr. (why risk a lawsuit?), kept telling me:
"Barrett baby, in our territory we get it all the time. Day and night.
I mean, we can even have it sent up to the office!"
Not that we were interested in California, but I'd still like to know
precisely what Mr. was discussing. Jenny and I came up with some pretty wild
possibilities, but for L.A. they probably weren't wild enough. (I finally
had to get Mr. off my back by telling him that I really didn't care for "it"
at all. He was crestfallen.)
Actually, we had made up our minds to stay on the East Coast. As it
turned out, we still had dozens of fantastic offers from Boston, New York
and Washington. Jenny at one time thought D.C. might be good ("You could
check out the White House, Ol"), but I leaned toward New York. And so, with
my wife's blessing, I finally said yes to the firm of Jonas and Marsh, a
prestigious office (Marsh was a former Attorney General) that was very
civil-liberties oriented ("You can do good and make good at once," said
Jenny). Also, they really snowed me. I mean, old man Jonas came up to
Boston, took us to dinner at Pier Four and sent Jenny flowers the next day.
Jenny went around for a week sort of singing a jingle that went "Jonas,
Marsh and Barrett." I told her not so fast and she told me to go screw
because I was probably singing the same tune in my head. I don't have to
tell you she was right.
Allow me to mention, however, that Jonas and Marsh paid Oliver Barrett
IV $11 ,8oo, the absolute highest salary received by any member of our
graduating class.
So you see I was only third academically.