by Kent Jennings Brockwell
Staff Writer
When Robert Morvillo comes to town it is usually a sign that someone fairly famous has been behaving badly. But when the white-collar criminal defense attorney from New York came to Jacksonville last week he wasn’t here to defend a naughty CEO - he was here for some golf and a few speaking engagements.
Morvillo, who has most recently gained public attention as Martha Stewart’s lawyer during her ImClone trial, was invited to town last week to speak at the Chester Bedell Inn of Court’s annual banquet at the River Club. He primarily spoke about Stewart and his time working with the domestic guru.
Morvillo described Stewart as a “not difficult, but demanding” person to work with.
“I wouldn’t call her a difficult client,” he said, “I would call her a demanding client. She is somewhat of a perfectionist and she is very demanding with the people that she works with.”
He also described Stewart as being a very smart businesswoman and an extremely hard worker. Now that Stewart is out of prison and currently on house arrest, she is allowed to leave her home and go to work for up to 48 hours a week. But, Morvillo said that isn’t nearly enough for her liking.
“Forty hours is a drop in the bucket,” he said. “If they doubled that time, it still wouldn’t be enough for Martha.”
Early in the trial, Morvillo was described by New York newspapers as “the last thing standing between Martha Stewart and federal prison.” In the end, Stewart ultimately served a five-month sentence at Alderson Federal Prison Camp but Morvillo said the decision to begin serving time was Stewart’s decision and a wise one at that.
“Obviously it was a very wise business decision,” he said. “I have never had a client double their net worth while they were in prison.”
Though she remained composed throughout the trial, Morvillo said Stewart, like most high-profile CEOs, had some trouble relinquishing total control of her life and future to him as her lawyer during the trial.
“None of these people have had a life experience that lets them do that,” he said. “They have been in control all of their lives. (Stewart) was very much in control of her life and her company. Then she ran into trouble and needed some help and she had a lot of trouble with letting someone else take that control.”
Morvillo was invited to Jacksonville by local attorney and future Florida Bar Association president Hank Coxe. Coxe worked on a case with Morvillo about 10 years ago and said the two have remained in contact ever since.
“(Morvillo) is not only operating on an extremely high level, but he is also a very genuine person,” said Coxe.