American Lawyer Magazine on Irvin ‘The Muckraker’ Muchnick vs. Jerry ‘The Litigator’ McDevitt

The February issue of American Lawyer magazine has an amusing piece in its front-of-the-book section, Bar Talk, about my most recent correspondence (in December) with World Wrestling Entertainment attorney Jerry McDevitt.

The elaborately produced box, written by magazine staffer Victor Li, does not seem to be available online even to subscribers. I have a request in for permission to post the story here. In the absence of such permission, let me describe and quote from it.

The article is headlined “And in This Corner … A lawyer and his nemesis jump back in the ring,” and is built around tale-of-the-tape type graphics. My decapitated mug is photoshopped onto a cartoon muscleman obviously modeled after the Ultimate Warrior; I’m even given his face paint and bicep bands. McDevitt’s own gray pompadour contrasts with my high hairline, and his fantasy hunk is stuffed into a wrestling singlet with a WWE championship belt.

After a preamble, the piece is built around dueling quotes from McDevitt and me: “… ON STEROIDS,” “…ON WRESTLER HEALTH,” “… ON EMPLOYMENT LAW,” “… ON CHRIS BENOIT,” and finally “… ON EACH OTHER,” which I quote in full:

“He’s a great lawyer,” Muchnick tells Bar Talk. “If he wants to sue me, I look forward to it. After all, the truth is always a defense.”

“He’s a vicious man,” McDevitt tells Bar Talk. He declined to say whether he has any plans to sue Muchnick.

Irv Muchnick