AP News, September 20th, 2007
Yale Galanter toiled in South Florida courtrooms for decades in relative anonymity before a single client in a road rage case made him a celebrity.
The defendant was O.J. Simpson, and Galanter's representation of him this week in a confrontation over sports memorabilia at a Las Vegas hotel room has cemented his status as one of the country's most prominent criminal defense attorneys.
Galanter's career before taking Simpson as a client in late 2000 was unremarkable compared to the "Dream Team" that won Simpson's acquittal in the 1994 slayings of his ex-wife and her friend. Johnnie Cochran, F. Lee Bailey and Robert Shapiro were nationally known lawyers well before they assembled at Simpson's side.
Galanter, 50, made only occasional media appearances during his pre-O.J. practice but has parlayed Simpson's problems into frequent guest spots on CNN and Court TV as a legal commentator.
"Galanter is known as O.J.'s lawyer. And being his lawyer keeps Galanter extremely busy," said attorney David O. Markus, president of the Miami chapter of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
Miami defense attorney Milton Hirsch, who worked with Galanter when both were young prosecutors, said Galanter made clear early on that he preferred the rough-and-tumble of the courtroom to the loftier perches of theoretical law and legal research.
"He does mostly the shoot-'em-up, beat-'em-up type of cases," Hirsch said. "It's more about being a terrier in the courtroom."
Galanter moved from Pennsylvania to attend the University of Miami and Nova Southeastern University's law school. He spent much of his early career at the Miami-Dade State Attorney's office.
Now he heads a firm of seven lawyers and acknowledges that Simpson changed his life. He lives in a million-dollar waterfront town house with his wife, Elyse, and often shows up on networks and in a variety of print news outlets.
"If somebody had told me that a kid from Philly would be representing O.J. Simpson I would have told them they were crazy," Galanter said.
Colleagues said the limelight seems to suit Galanter.
"He's a good-looking guy who likes to see himself in the paper," Hirsch said. "He likes to associate himself with cases that get press attention, and the one client who has consistently provided that for him is O.J."
Galanter insisted after Simpson's bail hearing Wednesday in Las Vegas that he doesn't intend to try the latest case in the media.
"You don't fight for your client in front of a television camera," Galanter told a throng of reporters. "You fight for your client in front of a judge and jury, and that's what we're going to do."
Galanter told The Associated Press on Thursday that he is reviewing tapes of TV and radio interviews with the witnesses and plans to use them as part of a motion to dismiss the charges against Simpson, which include kidnapping and robbery.
"I want to compare all of the witness statements because as time went on the stories began to change," Galanter said.
Galanter has represented people charged as drug dealers, money launderers, white-collar fraudsters, robbers and burglars and telemarketing schemers. Some have made it into local and national media, but nothing like the attention paid to Simpson, with whom Galanter says he has a close but professional relationship.
"He is one of the most affable clients I've ever had," Galanter said, "and other than his interest in wanting to get his point of view across (in the media), he always listens to my advice."
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AP Special Correspondent Linda Deutsch in Los Angeles and Associated Press writers Ken Ritter in Las Vegas and Matt Sedensky in Miami contributed to this report.
