Mellon was the most spectacular of Duveen's catches, but he spied on many a millionaire. By secretly putting members of his clients' household staffs on his own payroll, he would gain constant access to valuable information about their masters' comings and goings, changes in taste, and other such tidbits of information that would put him a step ahead. A rival of Duveen's who wanted to make Henry Frick a clint noticed that whenever he visited this wealthy New Yorker, Duveen was there before him, as if he had a sixth sense. To other dealers Duveen seemed to be everywhere, and to know everything before they did. His powers discouraged and disheartened them, until many simply gave up going after the wealthy clients who could make a dealer rich.
Interpretation
A man as ambitious and competitive as Joseph Duveen left nothing to chance. What's the point of winging it, of just hoping you may be able to charm this or that client? It's like shooting ducks blindfolded. Arm yourself with a little knowledge and your aim improves.
Mellon was pleasantly surprised: This was not the Duveen he had expected. The man was charming and agreeable, and clearly had exquisite taste. When they returned to New York, Mellon visited Duveen's exclusive gallery and fell in love with the collection. Everything, surprisingly enough, seemed to be precisely the kind of work he wanted to collect. For the rest of his life he was Duveen's best and most generous client.
Duveen's valet hurriedly helped Duveen with his own overcoat. Seconds later, Duveen entered the life, and lo and behold, there was Mellon. "How do you do, Mr. Mellon?" said Duveen, introducing himself. "I am on my way to the National Gallery to look at some pictures." How uncanny that was precisely where Mellon was headed. And so Duveen was able to accompany his prey to the one location that would ensure his success. He knew Mellon's taste inside and out, and while the two men wandered through the museum, he dazzled the magnate with his knowledge. Once again quite uncannily, they seemed to have remarkably similar tastes.
In 1921 Mellon was visiting London, and staying in a palatial suite on the third floor of Claridge's Hotel. Duveen booked himself into the suite just below Mellon's, on the second floor. He had arranged for his valet to befriend Mellon's valet, and on the fateful day he had chosen to make his move, Mellon's valet told Duveen's valet, who told Duveen, that he had just helped Mellon on with his overcoat, and that the industrialist was making his way down the corridor to ring for the life.
Duveen's friends said this was an impossible dream. Mellon was a stiff, taciturn man. The stories he had heard about the congenial, talkative Duveen rubbed him the wrong way he had made it clear he had no desire to meet the man. Yet Duveen told his doubting friends, "Not only will Mellon buy from me but he will buy only from me." For several years he tracked his prey, learning the man's habits, tastes, phobias. To do this, he secretly put several of Mellon's staff on his own payroll, worming valuable information out of them. By the time he moved into action, he knew Mellon about as well as Mellon's wife did.
Pose As A Friend, Work As A Spy
Observance Of The Law
Joseph Duveen was undoubtedly the greatest art dealer of his time from 1904 to 1940 he almost single-handedly monopolized America's millionaire aire art-collecting market. But one prize plum eluded him: the industrialist Andrew Mellon. Before he died, Duveen was determined to make Mellon a client.
Do not be shy. Give them that opportunity. It's not as if you are conning them by asking for help it is really their pleasure to give, and to be seen giving. You must distinguish the differences among powerful people and figure out what makes them tick. When they ooze greed, do not appeal to their charity. When they want to look charitable and noble, do not appeal to their charity. When they want to look charitable and noble, do not appeal to their greed.
(b) The entire practice, or the entire area of practice, is sold to one or more lawyers or law firms;
There is a general presumption that a judge is impartial. A judge's impartiality might reasonably be questioned when, for example, personal familiarity with the facts of the particular case or a judge's relationship with the particular parties may establish judicial bias or prejudice. But judges are presumed to be able to put aside general preferences, and to follow the law. Therefore, judges are not required to recuse themselves simply because of past professional experience working on behalf of a particular policy, because of a prior association with an organization that reflects particular political, social, or philosophical preferences, or because of previously expressed opinions on the generally applicable law.
(A) A judge shall disqualify himself or herself in any proceeding in which the judge’s impartiality* might reasonably be questioned, including but not limited to the following circumstances:
The work-product doctrine broadly protects any material prepared by a lawyer in anticipation of litigation, including witness statements as well as the lawyer's opinions and mental impressions.
When an evaluation provided to a third party presents no significant risk to the client, the lawyer may be impliedly authorized to disclose information to carry out the representation.
A lawyer shall not bring or defend a proceeding, or assert or controvert an issue therein, unless there is a basis in law and fact for doing so that is not frivolous, which includes a good faith argument for an extension, modification or reversal of existing law. A lawyer for the defendant in a criminal proceeding, or the respondent in a proceeding that could result in incarceration, may nevertheless so defend the proceeding as to require that every element of the case be established.
The name of a lawyer holding public office may not be used in the name of a law firm during any substantial period in which the lawyer is not actively and regularly practicing with the firm.
The attorney-client privilege requires that the communication be made in confidence. A client communication is made in confidence if the communicating person reasonably believes that no one except a privileged person will learn the contents of the communication.
The prosecutor in a criminal case shall: (a) refrain from prosecuting a charge that the prosecutor knows is not supported by probable cause;
(a) Subject to paragraphs (c) and (d), a lawyer shall abide by a client's decisions concerning the objectives of representation and, as required by Rule 1.4, shall consult with the client as to the means by which they are to be pursued. A lawyer may take such action on behalf of the client as is impliedly authorized to carry out the representation. A lawyer shall abide by a client's decision whether to settle a matter. In a criminal case, the lawyer shall abide by the client's decision, after consultation with the lawyer, as to a plea to be entered, whether to waive jury trial and whether the client will testify.
Model Rule 4.1 prohibits a lawyer from knowingly making a false statement of material fact to a third person; however, Comment 2 states that under generally accepted conventions in negotiation, certain types of statements are not taken as statements of material fact, including estimates of price or value or statements of a party's intentions as to an acceptable settlement of a claim. The attorney's statements with respect to the amount the buyer was willing to pay clearly fell within these conventions.
(c) A lawyer shall not solicit any substantial gift from a client, including a testamentary gift, or prepare on behalf of a client an instrument giving the lawyer or a person related to the lawyer any substantial gift unless the lawyer or other recipient of the gift is related to the client. For purposes of this paragraph, related persons include a spouse, child, grandchild, parent, grandparent or other relative or individual with whom the lawyer or the client maintains a close, familial relationship.
