A Corporate Lawyer's Anecdotal Journey

Without Footnotes is a narrative non-fiction, which looks into life within multinational companies as experienced from the seventies through the nineties.  Major business transactions form the context for the stories, which contain varying blends of humor, irony, success, and failure.  Many of the episodes were not directly related to the transaction du jour, but were part of the drama unfolding in and around it.  Despite the complex and serious nature of the transactions involved, the human factor almost always emerged, giving rise to many entertaining sideshows.

The core events took place within the computer industry in the United States, France, and Japan.  The events include the author's involvement in the nationalization of the French computer industry, the Honeywell acquisition of General Electric's computer business, Burroughs' hostile takeover of Sperry to form Unisys, Apple's lawsuit with Microsoft over the graphic user interface, a fight over board seats between George Soros and Tektronix, and protracted negotiations at various times in Japan with NEC, Sony, and Mitsubishi. These business dramas are interspersed with personal anecdotes including the juxtaposition of working in a posh dinner club with attending a competitive law school, followed by the court appointed defense of one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.

Without Footnotes significantly differs from the author's 1992 publication, International Joint Ventures: A Practical Guide, which is a highly regarded text that continues to be found in law libraries worldwide.  Unlike the heavily footnoted legal and business reference tool, Without Footnotes is intended to entertain, rather than instruct.