Quotes from the New Yorker Magazine "The Misery Broker"

". . . much of the publicity that he has received he has earned. In forty-one years as a marital attorney, he has sued more famous men than any other divorce lawyer in America. The list of his targets includes Martin Scorsese, Carl Sagan, Tom Jones, Lawrence Taylor, Johnny Carson, Frank Gifford, Peter O'Toole, Al Roker, Brian DePalma and Joseph Heller.

"It would be doing Felder a disservice, however, to portray him simply as a tormentor of famous males . . .

". . . Felder has noticed that it [divorce] ebbs and flows with the economy. During the recession of 2001, and particularly after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, his business dropped off sharply; lately it has rebounded . . .

". . .he oversees them [the cases in the office] all, and he certainly works hard. He gets to the office every morning at seven and often stays for twelve hours or more . . .

"Over the years, Felder has represented more than three thousand clients, a number of whom have retained him more than once . . .

"In the late nineteen-fifties, Felder enrolled at N.Y.U. Law School, and in 1959 he became an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of New York. The job, which was based in Brooklyn, involved investigating frauds, counterfeiting, and organized crime, but it paid less than ten thousand dollars a years. In 1963, Felder saw a chance to make better money through a connection of his brother Jerome, who had become a renowned songwriter, under the name Doc Pomus. Between 1958 and 1965, Pomus and his songwriting partner, Mort Shuman, wrote more than five hundred songs, including "This Magic Moment" and "Save the Last Dance for Me," for The Drifter, "Teenager in Love," for Dion and the Belmonts, and "Viva Las Vegas," for Elvis Presley . . .

"Felder tries to avoid getting caught up in the bitterness and resentment he encounters on a daily basis, but sometimes he can't avoid it . . .

"Felder's knack of reducing complex cases to simple narratives has helped him become a successful media commentator, a role that complements his regular career . . .

"He has a very good shop, and he has people there who work very hard for him", Harriet Newman Cohen said. "He represents his clients very energetically and vigorously," Mel A. Sachs, a New York attorney who has worked alongside and opposite Felder told me, "He's able to size up the legal problem, which is what most lawyers can do, but he's also able to size up the opposing lawyers and the judge. He does a tremendous amount of background research." Sachs worked with Felder when he represented the art dealer Alec Wildenstein, in his acrimonious divorce from the socialite Jocelyne Wildenstein. "The key in any case is preparation, and no stone was left unturned," Sachs said. "He handled the case like a general . . .

"Despite appearances to the contrary, Felder can also be discreet, even in cases involving celebrities. Eleanor Alter recalled representing Christie Brinkley, the supermodel, when Felder represented Brinkley's then husband, Ricky Taubman. Although the announcement that the couple was splitting up received a lot of media attention, the divorce itself was settled with little publicity. Newman Cohen recounted similar experiences in dealing with Felder. "I have had cases where the papers would have enjoyed what is going on, and he didn't go to them", she said. "He has clients whose privacy he protects . . .

"Felder's longest-standing client is Rina Kerzner, a Long Island woman who has been battling her former husband for fourteen years. The ex-husband, and electronics distributor, tried everything to avoid giving her money, including declaring bankruptcy in Florida. "I have no time for divorce lawyers," Kerzner told me recently. "They think the clock is ticking and that the clients have to pay. They have no feeling for the client. But Felder, he's a different type of divorce lawyer." Felder eventually won Kerzner a judgment of almost one and a half million dollars, which she still hasn't collected, because her ex-husband is fighting it. The case is now in the New York State Supreme Court. "Everybody sees Felder as a big-shot lawyer and a guy who's just after the money," Kerzner said. "But when I needed help he was there . . .

"When I started out, I was on the outside looking in," he told me recently, in one of our final conversations in his office. "I was never in that inside group." Now, despite the occasional setback, Felder is where he always wanted to be. In addition to his legal career, he is working on an autobiography, a mystery novel, and a Broadway musical featuring the compositions of his brother Jerome, who died in 1991. Last year, Governor George Pataki appointed him to a statewide Commission on Judicial Conduct, which allows him to sit in judgment on judges. The panel recently recommended the removal of a judge in Troy, and Felder submitted a concurring opinion that ended with a citation from Shakespeare . . .

"Felder has no plans to slow down. "This is a business in which you never have to retire," he said. "As long as I've got my mind, I can keep going." Just before I arrived at his office, an eighty-six-year-old man had called up. He told Felder's secretary that he was blind, he had recently had a quadruple bypass, and his wife had left him, taking the contents of their safe-deposit box with her. Could Felder do anything to help? "It's like Chaucer," Felder said. "Everyone has a story. Every life has a tale."