NAMES IN THE NEWS : Melvin Belli Professes Altruism
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SAN DIEGO — Celebrity attorney Melvin Belli says he went into law to help people, not to make money.
“If you’re going into law to make money you’re going to have a very miserable old age,” Belli, who turns 83 on Sunday, said while in San Diego recently for a seminar.
“But if you’re going into it to help people, what a life it is. I can’t think of anything more rewarding.”
Belli’s clients have included Jack Ruby, who killed John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, and Jim and Tammy Bakker.
Belli has written 62 books and dabbles in acting. He will soon appear in an episode of television’s “Murder, She Wrote” and has made an ice cream commercial.
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