Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Ted Grippo, AIDA Advocate, Retiring from Law Firm He Founded

The ANNOTICO Report

 

Ted Grippo is the Attorney that filed a lawsuit on behalf of the American Italian Defense Association, and the Italian American Community. AIDA  brought legal action against Time Warner Entertainment for offending Italian-Americans in its television series "The Sopranos." The suit cited a clause in the Illinois Constitution that condemns "communications that portray criminality, depravity or lack of virtue in ... a group of persons by reason or reference to religious, racial, ethnic, national or regional affiliation." 

 

Unfortunately, the suit was dismissed, although it appeared AIDA had the law in it's favor. Justice is often Blind!

 

 

INSIDE THE LEGAL PROFESSION

Founder to Leave Grippo & Elden

Chicago Tribune
By Ameet Sachdev
December 19, 2006

The boutique litigation firm of Grippo & Elden is losing one of its named partners.

After 53 years of practicing law, Ted Grippo has decided to call it quits. Grippo, 78, will retire at the end of the year to spend more time with his family and finish writing a book on the famous 1920s murder case involving Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti.

"It's time for me to go," Grippo said. "I think I've squeezed as much as I can out of the toothpaste tube."

Grippo's departure on his own terms is a luxury becoming rarer among lawyers of his generation. Mandatory retirement ages are becoming the norm inside large, white-shoe law firms, to make room for new blood.

In a survey last year of 46 law firms with 100 or more lawyers, about 57 percent of them reported a mandatory retirement age, ranging from 65 to 72, according to Altman Weil, a management consulting firm for legal organizations in Newton Square, Pa.

The more corporate- l! ike feel of big law firms was one of the reasons Grippo--with partner Gary Elden--started his own firm when he was 60, an age most others start thinking of retirement. Grippo & Elden started with 14 lawyers and now has about 45.

While he advised his clients on mergers and acquisitions, Grippo's firm has managed to stay independent in an era of intense consolidation among law firms. He said the firm has received inquiries over the years, but never wanted to become part of larger firm.

"I'll tell you, when you have a smaller firm, you get to do what you're comfortable with," he said. "When you're part of 1,000 lawyers, you really don't get to know each other very well."

Before creating the new firm in 1988, Grippo worked at three firms that no longer exist: Keck, Mahin & Cate; Reuben & Proctor; and Isham, Lincoln & Beale. At Reuben & Procter, Grippo represented Tribune Co., owner of the Chicago Tribune, in its initial public offering.
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"I have former partners at every law firm in town," he joked.

Grippo, a graduate of Northwestern University Law School, earned his stripes working on takeover battles as a corporate attorney. He went toe-to-toe with corporate raider Carl Icahn in a 1985 deal involving American Hospital Supply Corp. of Evanston, which was acquired by then-Baxter Travenol Laboratories Inc.

He also helped Frantz Manufacturing Co. of Sterling stave off a hostile takeover attempt in 1986 by Chicago-based EAC Industries Inc.

More recently, he gained attention for an unusual lawsuit he filed on behalf of the American Italian Defense Association. The group brought legal action against Time Warner Entertainment for offending Italian-Americans in its television series "The Sopranos." The suit cited a clause in the Illinois Constitution that condemns "communications that portray criminality, depravity or lack of virtue in ... a group of persons by reason or reference to religiou s! , racial, ethnic, national or regional affiliation."

The suit was dismissed, but Grippo maintains an interest in Italian-American history. He's researching the controversial executions of Sacco and Vanzetti, two anarchists who were found guilty of murdering a shoe factory employee and security guard.

"I got a slant on it of my own," he said without giving away the ending.

 

 

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