The Rabbi and The Rebbetzin (39 page)

When
the two men met in the afternoon, Abe Levine spelled out the requirements more
specifically. He claimed that five of the floors would have to be contiguous and
one floor for reception should be as close to the building entrance as
possible. “Any financial agreement will require the signatures of three
founders of the company, and if you need a deposit, you’ll let me know.”

The
broker was pleased to know that he was dealing with an experienced business man
and offered to take him on an immediate tour. If Levine would be interested in
any of the properties he would arrange appointments with the owners.

On
the tour, Abe saw a number of properties and one of them in particular caught
his eye. It was a twelve-story building with commercial space on the ground
floor. He asked the salesman to park near the building and the two men entered
the lobby and headed for the information desk. The broker knew the building official
and he introduced Abe Levine to the man.

The
man explained to Levine that the remaining offices of the building were
occupied by two firms, each of whom occupied six floors of the building. One of
the firms had given notice that it needed more space and they were intending to
move. The six upper floors that they had were already vacant.

The
next meeting of the founders committee presented a summary of Levine’s report
and the general discussion was favorable. The vacant space ran from the seventh
to the twelfth floor. On the highest floor there would be an office for Abe
Levine and a board room for the founders. Bill Mazer and his associates would
be on the eleventh floor and Shulamit and her associates would be on the tenth
floor. Andrea and her associates would be on the ninth floor. The seventh and
eighth floor would be held for future expansion. They were given assurance that
they could sub-lease the seventh and eighth floors subject to the approval of
the owners.

After
completing the tour of the proposed building, the founders resumed their
meeting and were satisfied with the location. They told Abe Levine to begin
negotiating for immediate occupancy. While they weren’t planning to leave their
present jobs before August 15
^th
, they needed time to complete the
paperwork and furnishings. If any of the associates had to start working before
that time, they would rent temporary quarters for them.

The
founders met with the owners a few nights later and reached an agreement on the
rental fees. The lease of the current occupant expired on May 31
^st
and
the premises were vacant. Abe Levine rented from June 1
^st
and signed
a five-year lease with a five-year option. The agreement specified that the new
firm would pay a rental of 10% above the rent paid by the previous occupant. The
owner agreed to ask the current company to have its electrician meet with
Levine and provide him full details as to the electric and electronic structure
of the floors. The owner was satisfied because the building could remain vacant
for a long time before a higher paying tenant could be found. The property
market in Philadelphia was fairly stable and there was no sharp rise in demand
for corporate space. Levine put down a deposit of $50,000 to hold the space.

The
meeting with the electrician was held a few days later. The electrician was a
little skeptical about Levine because Abe was formally dressed and didn’t look
much like a manual worker. “Are you sure you will understand the directions I
give you?”

Levine
smiled. “Is a Ph.D. in electronics from MIT sufficient?”

“I’m
not quite sure,” the electrician answered. “Do you have any actual experience
with electronic systems?”

Levine
took his time. “Is the fact that I hold the patents on half of the electronic
systems that you had in the building sufficient?”

The
electrician smelled a rat. “You are not Abe Levine from Telacomp by any chance?”

“That’s
me. I just sold Telacomp this year and I will be working as the managing
director of the Adler Cohen firm that is moving in.”

“Sorry,
Mr. Levine, I didn’t recognize you. Are you going to install the equipment
yourself?”

“No,”
Levine answered. “The Telacomp branch in Philadelphia will take care of that.”
Levine listened to the directions of the electrician and asked enough questions
to be able to direct the Telacomp crew as to what he needed.

Since
the new employees of the firm were coming to work on July 1
^st
,
Levine had only one month to set the building up. When he realized that it
couldn’t be done in a month, he developed a plan whereby the executive offices
on the 11
^th
and 12
^th
floor would be wired in July. The
new workers would be given temporary locations until the rest of the floors
could be furnished.

Levine’s
next task was preparing to move his family from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia. He
wanted to live near the shul where the supply of good apartments was limited.
There were however a few larger size estates still standing near the university.
At the present time he was flying into Philadelphia every Sunday and returning
to Pittsburgh every Friday. This enabled him to take care of the business in
Philadelphia, but it deprived him of some of the time that he wished to spend
with his wife. In the meantime he was living in the new home that his daughter
and son-in-law had built.

Shulamit
had three siblings, Malka, Esther and Sammy. Sammy was just about finished with
high school and would start Yeshiva University in the fall. Esther was already
admitted to Stern College. Malka, who had majored in psychology, was planning
to attend NYU in New York.

The
only problems that Levine had in leaving Dunberg were the organizations that he
supported. The most important one was his shul, Beth Israel, where he served as
president and the yeshiva, Ohr Moshe, where he was the major donor. Not only
did he support these groups from his own funds but he helped solicit funds from
others.

For
the organizations, he planned to establish trust funds from which money could
be drawn to cover deficits. As for the Pittsburgh federation, he could transfer
his donation to the Philadelphia federation instead. He contacted the Kaplan
real estate agency and asked him to find a six- or seven-bedroom two-story
home. If nothing could be found, he could move into the Shapiro house on a
temporary basis.

From
then on, Levine was busy buying furnishings for the building and installing the
electronic equipment for the workers and management.

On
the following weekend, the articles planted by Andrea appeared in the national
magazines. The
Time
article was focused on the meteoric career of
Shulamit Adler who advanced from an inexperienced law school graduate to a
founder of a law firm bearing her name as the lead founder. The
Newsweek
article was directed at the story of a new major firm being established in
Philadelphia by the employees of existing firms.

At
the next meeting of the founders, the subject of hiring the new employees was
considered. After Andrea’s articles appeared in the national magazines, there
was a flood of applicants from both attorneys and support personnel. Hiring the
support personnel was not a major problem. Writing and typing skills could be
tested easily. Character and personality could be judged in interviews. Criteria
for selecting members were determined by the founders at the meeting. The new
firm would be an equal opportunity employer. A significant number of employees
would represent minority classes and a substantial number of women would be
included. Discrimination on the basis of age or religion would be strictly
prohibited. A cursory examination of the applications revealed that there was
sufficient representation from all the various population groups. Andrea, Bill
and Shulamit were very familiar with the details of the anti-discrimination
laws on the federal state and local levels.

Shulamit
then volunteered that she had made one offer to an employee who met all of the
qualifications of anti-discrimination laws. She had made an offer to Amanda
Collins to join with her in the new firm. She hadn’t expected a positive
response, but Amanda surprised her with a biblical quotation. “Whither thou goest,
I shall go, and only death shall part us.” Amanda’s response was based on the
fair and warm treatment she was receiving from Shulamit. Bill then asked if
anybody else had already started to work on this question.

Andrea
responded that she had one woman on the Finkel Nash PR staff who was actually a
crackerjack writer. If she couldn’t persuade her to join the new firm, she
would have to do all the writing herself.

Bill
Mazer then said that he had one worker in the Haber Green criminal law
department who was a real specialist in writing appeals and motions. “With such
considerations, we have to be ready to offer specially-talented people a
significantly higher salary than they earn at their present jobs.” The founders
also agreed to offer signing bonuses to the three highest scoring lawyer
applicants who were at the head of the class at U-Penn.

Shulamit
admitted that she had consulted with Dr. Silverman, the placement director at
U-Penn, as to the quality of the current graduates. The director told her, “We
had never had a class with three graduates like Bill, Andrea and you, and I don’t
think that we ever will again. That includes marks and talents. No one in this
year’s class has marks anywhere close to yours and Bill’s. As far as talent is
concerned, there is no one anywhere close to Andrea. She is a unique creature
and has nerves of iron and steel.”

After
some discussion as to the progress of the new firm, the director asked her how
he could help her.

Shulamit
said, “I could use two students for my department which deals with family law.
We have a very high percentage of black men and women whose economic status
caused strains in the family relationship. We need an intelligent and
soft-spoken woman who could put such families at ease and tell them how our
firm can help their case. My second need is for a legal scholar who knows
family law and can research relevant cases and precedents. While I’m telling
you of my department needs, I might also mention that Bill Mazer could use two
men. He needs a legal scholar in the area of criminal law, and a first-rate
actor for courtroom litigation. Andrea needs a first-rate writer for motions and
especially for grants.”

The
director assured her that he could help her in certain areas. “As far as a
black woman attorney with a social work background, we have the perfect
candidate. In the graduating class, we have a black student by the name of Althea
Jefferson. She’s from New York City, and before she came to U-Penn, she picked
up a Master’s in Social Work from the Wurzweiler School. She realized that with
social workers being so poorly paid she would be better off economically studying
law. She set about researching the affirmative action law schools that offered
loans and grants to attract minority students. U-Penn was in the forefront of
such programs. The financial department helped her arrange loans and granted
her a very good scholarship. She has done wonderful work at Penn and has an
above-average academic record. Most important of all is her special character,
a warm and cheerful personality.”

“That
sounds very good, give me her school telephone number.”

“I
will give you all the numbers together when we finish our list. For your legal
scholarship, I can recommend Dorothy Goldman who finished the law school in
second place in the academic ranking.”

“Who
came out first, and why aren’t you recommending him or her?”

“I
am saving Joseph Epstein for Bill Mazer. He has a special problem with regard
to the firm that he will select that Bill can handle better than anyone else. I
will look through the records for someone who has dramatic experience as soon
as I can. We have all the outside talents of our students on computer. Please
remember that my nominations are for recent graduates without legal experience;
they therefore will have to be trained and supervised by you.

“I
can’t help find anyone for Andrea who is in the same ballpark as she is. While
I have no one to recommend for her, I may suggest that she look for a Harvard School
of Journalism graduate who then entered law school.” After he finished naming
the candidates, he provided Shulamit with a list of their phone numbers at school.

When
Shulamit finished with her report, Andrea asked Bill, “How many applications do
we have?”

Bill
answered, “I haven’t counted, but I would estimate that there are over a
hundred. Let’s take thirty-five each. We can discount the meaningless
applications and send them the standard rejection form. For the ones who need
more consideration, we will set aside time at next Sunday’s meeting. When
Shulamit finishes tracking the two candidates for tonight’s interviews, she
will also help with the remaining applications. Shulamit, please schedule Joseph
Epstein for 7:00 PM, Althea Jefferson for 8:00 PM, and, if Andrea finds someone
among the applications, schedule him for 9:00 PM.

“The
placement guy is really smart. He knew that I needed a legal genius first and
foremost. As far as an actor, if I can’t get my colleague Henry to join us, I
will look for someone who has experience in dramatics from his college days.”