In the sentencing memo, under a heading called "The Extraordinary Life of William Lerach," we learn that his father "died suddenly," when Lerach was just a freshman in high school in 1963. The memo adds that Lerach's childhood was "difficult" because his father had lost an inheritance during the Depression "and struggled financially until his death."

Lerach lived with his widowed mother while he attended college, and then law school at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, where he graduated second in his class in 1970. The memo added that as a student he worked as a laborer at a nursery, a "gofer" at a funeral home, and a credit reporter at Dunn & Bradstreet to supplement scholarships.

He always began faxes to his mother with "To the World's Greatest Mom."

Gene Carney, Lerach's kindergarten classmate, who lost touch with him after high school, writes: "Especially in touch-football or baseball or basketball, you always wanted Bill on your side, because he was a fierce competitor who hated to lose. But he was a fair player."

And we learn other heretofore-unknown tidbits about the life of Bill. He loves plants and fish, and likes to support community causes "devoted to helping abused women and animals," according to the brief. The job at the nursery apparently began a lifelong love of gardening.

"Bill has a great love of plants and actively works in his own garden," according the owner of Weideners' Gardens in Encinitas, California, whose letter points out that, for his fourth and most recent marriage, Lerach directed that contributions be made to the Community Resource Center Women's Shelter in lieu of wedding gifts.

Part-time New York Times economics columnist Ben Stein weighs in with a letter in which he introduces himself thus: "How are you? I hope this letter finds you well. I am a law teacher (at Pepperdine but retired,) writer, economist, writer, TV Game show host, and actor." He's a writer twice, or perhaps he did not have an editor. In any case, Stein says he got to know Lerach while penning a column for Barron's.

"It would not be an exaggeration to say that I learned more about the law from Bill Lerach than I learned in my three years at Yale Law School," Stein writes. After Stein did a spot for the CBS Morning Show on abandoned dogs and cats in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, Lerach sent him a check for $10,000 "for those dear creatures," which Stein forwarded to the International Fund for Animal Welfare.