Attorney is jazzed about working on Les Paul exhibit

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There are not many people who can appreciate the recent decline in the economy. But for attorney Lawrence J. Glusman, the timing was perfect. Glusman, who primarily does commercial lending at Friebert, Finerty & St. John, S.C., in Milwaukee, took the opportunity during a brief practice lull to help form the Partnership for the Arts and Creative Excellence (PACE) last December. The nonprofit organization recently teamed with Discovery World to showcase a Les Paul exhibit, which will open on June 21. As an accomplished drummer and a dabbler in entertainment law, Glusman relished the chance to be a part of the project. He took time to sit down with Wisconsin Law Journal reporter Jack Zemlicka to discuss his reason for attending law school, the slowdown in business deals and what is was like representing the Grateful Dead.

Wisconsin Law Journal: Prior to becoming an attorney, you worked in radio, television and advertising on the East Coast. What brought you to Milwaukee?

Lawrence J. Glusman: My parents are from here and my grandparents are from here. I was born in New Haven [Connecticut] and moved to Baltimore. I basically came back to work for my uncle, who started Jonathan Mohr Sleep Shops in the early ’70s. They were looking for family to perpetuate the business. I was making like $22,000 when I left, but it was an amazing opportunity to learn about the business and the Milwaukee consumer.

WLJ: You graduated with a public policy studies degree from Duke. When did you decide to go to law school?

Glusman: It was ironic because in college, kids were studying one night and I said, what are you guys doing? They said the LSATs are tomorrow and I said, the what? So I wasn’t really thinking about law school until a couple of years after I started working for Jonathan Mohr. It was just sort of a skill set thing, because I think those you have in the sales arena are similar to those of being an attorney. You are required to sell yourself in the law, although my wife says that is sort of unseemly.

WLJ: Your primary practice area involves commercial transactions and creditors’ rights. What impact has the real estate climate had on your practice?

Glusman: You felt essentially toward the end of last year into this year a seizing up and slowdown. Then you sort of waited for the other shoe to drop. You’ve got less deals coming in and then this lull and sure enough, defaults start to occur and you wind up with a lot more workout work than you had before. But before the workout process, you have this lag, which was a relative novelty in my legal practice. It’s a strange feeling when there just isn’t work. That’s really how I was able to get involved with the Partnership for the Arts and Creative Excellence (PACE).

WLJ: So had you been inundated with work, you may not have gotten involved with PACE, which put together the upcoming Les Paul exhibit at Discovery World?

Glusman: It would have probably just passed me by. I joke in a certain sense that thank God there was a recession because it helped really ignite this idea and had there been a depression, who knows what we might have gotten done.

WLJ: Do you foresee any conflict with the long-gestating plans for a museum exhibit in Paul’s native Waukesha?

Glusman: Clearly they got scooped, but they were ripe for the picking. Les gave us a directive to cooperate with Waukesha, but in good faith he and his people have been waiting a long time for something to happen out there. I know for a fact that PACE has met with people in Waukesha and there will be some degree of coordination of artifacts.

WLJ: You recently flew out to New Jersey to meet with Paul. Does he still play?

Glusman: He does. He plays every Monday night at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City. It seats about 200 people and he plays two shows. They are always sold out. He has a history of people showing up to sit in. It’s kind of like a TV variety show, where Les is funny and maybe a little bit crude, but he’s 93, so he has some level of immunity. Anyone from Paul McCartney to Keith Richards has shown up. The night I was there, jazz saxophonist Stanley Jordan sat in.

WLJ: You also do some entertainment law. What was it like working with the Grateful Dead in a licensing dispute over a planned reunion concert at Alpine Valley?

Glusman: It was fascinating. Our client was Clear Channel, which managed Alpine Valley. The Dead decided they were going to get back together in 2002 and the last time they had played Alpine was in 1989. They played 3 consecutive nights to crowds of almost 50,000 which was about 15,000 over capacity. So there were stories of Dead Heads showing up at people’s farms and doing whatever it is they do. Over almost a three-week period, we put a plan together and did a financial impact analysis and looked at whether Walworth had a leg to stand on in denying these permits in 2002. We had a very good due process argument and the shows went on.

WLJ: Are you a Dead Head?

Glusman: No. The whole concept of two drummers threw me off a bit. I saw the shows [in 2002] and they were great and I had seen them a few times before, but not too many.

WLJ: You play drums and sing in a band called the Riverwest Aces. Are you the only attorney in the band?

Glusman: I am. It’s a four-piece band. We play Americana or roots rock, country rock. We play bands from the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s. Ironically, we play in Riverwest with some frequency. It’s pretty listenable and pretty danceable. Aside from the fact that in most of the songs somebody dies, it’s still just a waltz.

WLJ: Any plans on quitting your day job and touring?

Glusman: None. I'd have to get divorced first. It’s crazy to think that I spent years trying to get backstage at some concert and it almost never happened. And now if things come together, Jimmy Page could be at this benefit show at the Pabst [on June 21] and maybe they’ll even let me take the stage.