Lawyer: A Life of Cases, Counsel, and Controversy

High-powered trial lawyer Liman became a face known to millions when, as chief counsel to the Senate committee investigating the Iran-Contra affair, he grilled Oliver North and John Poindexter in televised hearings. In this earnest, energetic autobiography, Liman, who died last year at 65, portrays a Reagan White House out of control, run by zealous aides. He lambastes the Reagan administration for its disdain for constitutional procedures and its use of covert actions circumventing our system of checks and balances. A lifelong liberal Democrat, Liman voices his opposition to capital punishment because of the discrimination and racism he sees in how the death penalty is applied. His experience as head of an independent investigation into the 1971 Attica prison rebellion, in which 29 inmates and 10 hostages were killed in upstate New York, convinced him that U.S. prisons, dens of institutionalized racism, systematically degrade and brutalize blacks and Hispanics. Liman has had some controversial clients, notably convicted junk-bond trader Michael Milken, whom he lamely defends here as a scapegoat ""vilified as the symbol of greedy and uncaring capitalism."" This memoir combines genuine courtroom drama and frank insights into trial lawyers' tactics, as Liman replays cases involving such clients as Steve Ross of Time Warner and flamboyant entrepreneur Charles Bluhdorn, who created the Gulf + Western conglomerate. 8-page b&w photo insert. Agent, Wallace Literary Agency. (Sept.)