Eddie Hayes (lawyer)
| Edward W. Hayes | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 3, 1947 |
| Alma mater | University of Virginia Columbia Law School |
Edward Walter Hayes is an American lawyer, journalist, and memoirist. He is known for his role in settling the estate of Andy Warhol and representing several organized crime figures.
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[edit] Early life
Hayes grew up in Queens, New York, and graduated from the University of Virginia and then, supporting himself first as a bartender and later as a law clerk, Columbia Law School, where he formed a close friendship with former New York governor George Pataki. In his memoir, Mouthpiece, he recalls the regular beatings he received from his father as well as other children in the neighborhood.
[edit] Legal practice
Hayes worked as an Assistant District Attorney in the Bronx before opening a private practice.
In the matter of the Warhol estate, he was hired by the artist's foundation for a fee proportional to the value of the estate. His appraisers valued it at nearly $700 million, in contrast to the $100 million figure that Christie's auction house had given the foundation. The Court found the estate was worth $500 million. The Foundation is required to give away 5% of the value of its assets so this decision was important to the public as well as to Hayes. After several rounds of litigation between him and the foundation, an Appellate Court ruled he had been overpaid and owed them over a million dollars, and he came close to filing for bankruptcy. Hayes filed a complaint against the Appellate Judge who ruled against him, Justice Francis Murphy, on the grounds that Murphy had a relationship with the lawyer for the Foundation that he should have disclosed. Murphy resigned rather than answer the complaint.
In the 2000s, Hayes collaborated with Bruce Cutler, best known as John Gotti's former attorney, in defending a pair of New York police officers accused of organized-crime-related murders.
[edit] Pop culture
Tom Wolfe met him socially and they became close friends. In addition to dedicating his 1987 novel The Bonfire of the Vanities to Hayes, Wolfe has acknowledged that he based the lawyer character Tommy Killian on him.
Andy Warhol had met the lawyer briefly in the fall of 1980 and wrote in his diary,
defense lawyer named Ed Hayes who looked like he was from Laverne and Shirley, like a plant that people invite to parties to wear funny clothes and jump around and make things ‘kooky.’ Sort of forties clothes, really crew cut, about twenty-nine. He said, ‘I can get ya outta anything.’
He appeared in the 1990 film Goodfellas and has been named to Vanity Fair's International Best-Dressed List Hall of Fame.
[edit] Other work
In 2006, when Hayes published his memoir Mouthpiece: A Life in—and Sometimes Just Outside—the Law (written jointly with Susan Lehman), describing his life and law career, Wolfe wrote its introduction.
Hayes is a weekly contributor to the Sunday Supplement show on the Irish radio station Today FM.[1][2]
[edit] Personal life
He married Susie Gilder, model and actress, on 31 May 1986. Their wedding was covered in Vanity Fair.
He has two children, Avery and John.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.todayfm.com/Article.asp?id=265339 The Sunday Supplement - contributors
- ^ http://www.todayfm.com/Article.asp?id=495827 The End of the Mob
