WALTHAM, Mass. — Celebrity attorney F. Lee Bailey has died. He was 87. The death was confirmed Thursday by Kenneth Fishman, Bailey's longtime legal partner.
In a career that spanned decades, Bailey defended O.J. Simpson, Patricia Hearst and the alleged Boston Strangler. Bailey had been called arrogant, egocentric and contemptuous of authority. But he also was acknowledged as bold, brilliant, meticulous and tireless in the defense of his clients. Simpson once called Bailey the most valuable member of the legal team that got him acquitted of killing his wife and her friend in 1995.
Bailey was disbarred in Florida and Massachusetts in the early 2000s for mishandling $6 million worth of stock for a client. But won the right to practice law in Maine in 2013.