Bob Bennett Avoids Exaggeration in Memoir, Except When Bolstering Clients

Criminal Justice

Bob Bennett Avoids Exaggeration in Memoir, Except When Bolstering Clients

Posted Mar 3, 2008, 02:25 pm CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss

Lawyer Robert Bennett’s new memoir doesn’t settle old scores or exaggerate his importance, like some books of this sort, according to a Wall Street Journal book review.

Exaggeration isn’t really needed, since the facts amply support the conclusion that Bennett has a high-profile client list and the smarts needed to serve as their lawyer.

His book, In the Ring: The Trials of a Washington Lawyer, “is the captivating story of a boy who grew up to be one of the nation's top attorneys and who wants to share his wonder at how his life has turned out,” the review reports (sub. req.)

When Bennett exaggerates in the book’s pages, it is instead employed to boost the reputation of his clients, who “have been invariably the victims of over-zealous prosecutors, political machinations and a media eager for tabloid-ready headlines,” the reviewer writes.

Two days after the book’s release, Bennett came out swinging on behalf of one of his famous clients, presidential candidate John McCain, who objected to news coverage of his relationship with a female lobbyist. Bennett told the Washington Post he used broadcast time he had secured to promote his book to instead defend McCain.

Bennett contended a story critical of McCain in the New York Times was "a big piece of cotton candy. When you bite into it, there's not much there."

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