Governor Eliot Spitzer is in deep trouble over his escapades as "Client 9." But he's lucky in one respect: He has hired lawyer Michele Hirshman, a partner at Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison.

Hirshman had served as Spitzer's first deputy when he was New York attorney general.

More important, she spent 11 years as a federal prosecutor in Manhattan. During that time, she served as chief of the Public Corruption Unit—the very unit that brought the criminal complaint that was unsealed last Thursday, charging four people over their roles as organizers of an international prostitution and money-laundering ring called Emperors Club V.I.P. The New York Times has identified Spitzer as Client 9, as he is called in the affidavit filed with the criminal complaint.

A Paul Weiss spokeswoman confirmed that Hirshman "is leading the representation" of Spitzer.

Hirshman, a 1983 graduate of Yale Law School, where she was articles editor of the Yale Law Journal, focuses on "internal investigations and white-collar defense matters" in her practice at Paul Weiss, according to her entry on the law firm's website. After her move to Paul Weiss, Hirshman was one of several Spitzer alums featured in a May 18, 2007, Times article tracking where Spitzer's  Wall Street warriors had landed as an "encore." At the time, Hirshman said, "I had a great job in the public sector, but what I learned about myself is that I liked being a lawyer, and what I liked most was negotiating and counseling."

The fate of Hirshman's former boss is now, in part, in her hands. In her time as the Public Corruption Unit's chief at the U.S. Attorney's office, she handled major investigations and prosecutions of government fraud and political and police corruption. The word graft comes to mind. Public corruption is generally considered a white-collar matter, but in this instance, there are shades of red.



Also on Portfolio.com:

• Slideshow: Spitzer's Foes: A look back at some of Eliot Spitzer's most prominent enemies.
• Follow the Money: What did it take to uncover Spitzer's involvement in a prostitution ring?
• Parsing Spitzer: Jack Flack pulls apart the governor's public apology. 
• Spitzer's Mixed Signals: Just what was Governor Spitzer doing in Washington?
• Spitzer Hurts Hillary: Matt Cooper looks at the impact on the Democratic presidential race.
• Legacy on Wall Street: Felix Salmon looks back on Spitzer's days fighting corruption.