Party Like a Lipton

Marty Lipton, who surely invented the poison pill and may or may not have brought "European bottle service" to discotheques nationwide, is known to some as the consumate practical joker. Rumor has it that back in the mid-Seventies, he placed a whoopie-cushion behind the pillow on his friend and partner Herb Wachtell's desk-chair, and when Herb (then the head of WLRK's famed "domestic disputes" practice) sat down, it emitted a real "Bronx cheer"!

In the mid-Eighties, during the height of Lipton's fictional feud with Joe Flom, he is said to have perfected the art of the office prank--not surprising given that he is said to be impervious to conventional weaponry. From the barrage of singing telegrams he sent Flom during tense merger negotiations in 1986, to the petting zoo (including peacocks!) he supposedly had set up in Flom's office during a meeting concerning a hostile LBO, Lipton is thought to have "gotten Flom's goat" more than once--no pun intended!

Although Marty is no longer a spring chicken, we understand that he shows no signs of slowing down. Indeed, we have it on information and belief that he is going stronger than ever, and may have in fact pulled perhaps his greatest prank yet. From a source inside the hallowed halls of biglaw, we are told that when Mr. Flom was out to lunch last week (no doubt frequenting Skadden's new frozen yogurt machine (now serving "Pralines and Cream")), Mr. Lipton snuck into Flom's office and reprogrammed the ring-tone on Mr. Flom's mobile phone. Hours later, when Mr. Flom was back from lunch and sitting at his desk in a meeting with a potential new client, he was more than surprised when, from his cell phone, he heard not the traditional ring that he had grown accustomed to, but rather, the modern dance hit "Party Like a Rock Star." Rumor has it that because of his ring tone, Mr. Flom lost that potential client (to Mr. Lipton, nonetheless--an unintended consequence of what was meant to be a harmless prank), because that potential client is said to HATE the Shop Boyz, who wrote and performed the number.

Follow up calls that we didn't make to Mr. Flom's office were obviously not returned.