At Libby’s Defense Table, a Tough but Deft Lawyer

At Libby’s Defense Table, a Tough but Deft Lawyer - New York Times: "One of Theodore V. Wells Jr.’s past clients slipped quietly into the courtroom recently to watch a day in the perjury trial of I. Lewis Libby Jr. Mike Espy, agriculture secretary under President Bill Clinton, sat watching Mr. Wells, whose defense of Mr. Espy against criminal charges that he had accepted illegal gifts ended in 1998 with a stunning verdict of not guilty on 30 counts."

The Espy case is one reason Mr. Wells is regarded as a celebrated defense lawyer with a reputation for a sure and supple touch with criminal juries. In that case, Mr. Wells prepared himself by asking Mr. Espy to move into his house in New Jersey, where, Mr. Espy recalled, for two months the two men talked “over and over about the facts of the case” until Mr. Espy felt that Mr. Wells had become his alter ego.

Reid Weingarten, another well-known criminal lawyer who shared the defense table with Mr. Wells in the Espy case, said: “The real truth about Ted is that it’s not about the flash, the geniality and the big smile. He is a prodigious worker. He loves facts. No one outworks him. No one.”