One of Richard Nixon’s most famous—or infamous—matters at the firm was related to longtime Dominican Republic dictator Rafael Trujillo. Known for his outlandish titles (among his many were: “Undefeated Generalissimo of the Dominican Armies,” “Genius of Peace,” and “First Teacher, First Doctor, First Journalist of the Republic”) and his lack of concern for the rule of law (he once ran in an election where his vote total was greater than the number of eligible voters in the country), Trujillo was assassinated and deposed in a violent coup in 1961. “The Lover of Dominican Women” had not been one of his extravagant titles, but it probably should have been. Trujillo had many, many mistresses and girlfriends, and as a result, he had many children (it’s never been definitively proven how many he had).

When a group of six children of mistresses and girlfriends based in Miami tried to claim some of Trujillo’s estate, they hired Nixon Mudge to help. Nixon got plenty of press for his involvement in the case, however others at the firm disputed how much he actually did. The firm recovered some money from Trujillo’s son Radames. However Nixon Mudge was unsuccessful when it went after the biggest fish of them all—Trujillo’s oldest son and political heir, Ramfis.

Nixon in New York is the first book written by Victor Li, an assistant managing editor at the ABA Journal.

Read an excerpt from Nixon in New York in the May 2018 issue of the ABA Journal.