Wall Street’s Go-To Lawyer Describes his ‘Five Weeks in Hell’
H. Rodgin Cohen has so many financial clients that he had to turn some away as Wall Street faltered. The Sullivan & Cromwell chairman in demand for his intricate knowledge of the banking system says his “five weeks in hell” began with a phone call.
Cohen told the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) that he answered the phone on Sept. 5 and learned he was needed in emergency meetings about the future of Fannie Mae. He ended up helping put together the deal that placed Fannie and Freddie Mac into a government conservatorship.
The lowest point for Cohen was Lehman’s bankruptcy filing. He told the newspaper he had represented the investment bank in talks with two potential buyers. “To an extent, you feel you have failed,” he said. Cohen says he warned of the dangers of a Lehman failure, and notes that the Wall Street crisis deepened after the bankruptcy filing.
Cohen also represented Wachovia, the story says. He reportedly advised its board of directors that its duty to shareholders required it to entertain a $15 billion buyout offer by Wells Fargo, even though it apparently violated an exclusivity contract with Citigroup in its $2.2 billion bid for the bank.
Other clients of Cohen’s include Barclays, American International Group, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs. According to the story, he is able to “summon his folksy West Virginia roots” as he counsels clients, drawing on his expertise as a lawyer who helped draft the rules that molded the banking system.
