Noted criminal defense lawyer — and Westport resident — Joe Tacopina was the subject of Sunday’s New York Times Magazine “Talk” interview.
Among the highlights:
Joe Tacopina
He said the New York Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez — a client in his dispute with Major League Baseball over the alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs — is “very easy to talk to, very intelligent and also — I don’t know if the right word is ‘humble,’ but maybe ‘humble’ is the right word. My first impression was: My god, this guys’s getting such a bum rap.”
Of the New York Post calling him the most hated lawyer in New York City, Tacopina responded:
When you reach a certain level of either success or notoriety, people take shots at you. It was actually a flattering article. It came out after I won the rape-cops case — it was about how I win cases that people say I can’t win.
And when interviewer Mark Leibovich noted that the “street kid from Sheepshead Bay” now lives in Connecticut and owns “a 49-foot yacht,” Tacopina replied: “It’s a boat, it’s not a yacht.”
(To read the full interview, click here.)
Any recollections of his ’11 Staples baccalaureate speech?
Certainly can’t argue with the headlined message: “…success is characterized by ‘having great passion for what you do, combined with hard work.’ He advised: ‘do not make excuses, take responsibility, rejection and failure are part of life.’
(No I’m not an A-Rod fan … or a Yankees fan for that matter.)