FOCUS ON: Marc Simon

MARC SIMON ’01 Associate, Dreier LLP Producer / writer of After Innocence The documentary film, based on Marc’s experience on the Innocence Project, won a special jury prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and will be released in theaters in the fall and broadcast on Showtime in 2006. Marc is a member of the Order of the Coif and was on the Cardozo Arts and Entertainment Law Journal in which he published “Vertical Integration and Self-Dealing in the Television Industry: Should Profit Participants Be Owed a Fiduciary Duty?”

Most memorable (funny) experience while in law school:
My Contracts professor, Larry Cunningham, made fun of my hair in a fiveminute monologue.

Most significant experience in law school:
There are two. My involvement in the Innocence Project and when I walked out of a Criminal Law final in my first year convinced that I had failed. I actually got an A+, which set the tone in realizing that law school is its own animal— you just have to prepare.

Favorite city:
New York! I’ve lived in Gramercy Park since law school, although I think it’s time to upgrade from my studio.

Best thing about being a lawyer:
The doors that are opened. There are so many opportunities with a law degree. I never could have written or produced After Innocence without my degree, and I wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to be a special correspondent on A Current Affair.

What you wanted to be at age five:
A New York Yankee.

Common misconception of the wrongfully convicted:
There are really two. The general public believes that the wrongfully convicted have committed some crime, if not the one for which they were convicted, so they deserve to be in prison. In actuality, many have never committed a crime in their lives. And two, people assume that when the wrongfully convicted are exonerated they get a large monetary award. This is also not true. It is extremely difficult for them to get a monetary award, and the vast majority receive nothing.

Average day:
Wake up. Squeeze in the gym. In the office by 9:30 a.m. and there until after 10 p.m. I have to fit in the law and the film. My to-do list is three columns— personal (the smallest), firm, and film.

Gadget you can’t survive without:
None! I don’t have a Palm or Blackberry—I have no time to figure them out. But I just bought an iPod. Get back to me in a month and I’ll let you know if I figure it out.

Best film seen recently:
The documentary Murder Ball about wheelchair rugby. It’s our biggest competition at film festivals. My favorite movie of all time is Rocky, especially Rocky I and Rocky II. They are about perseverance and fighting for the underdog.

What you hope to accomplish in 10 years:
To be able to continue to combine law and filmmaking. My firm, Dreier LLP, has been very supportive of my moonlighting as a filmmaker.

Professor who made the greatest impact:
Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld of the Innocence Project. I couldn’t have made the movie without their blessing and support.

Travel destinations:
I travel every week right now, but it’s all for the film. April 26 is the Tribeca Film Festival here in New York— After Innocence sold out in two hours.

Hopes for the movie:
I hope it will lead to reform in the criminal justice system, including the implementation of compensation statutes in states that don’t have them. The film was shown to the Florida and Pennsylvania legislatures, neither of which has adopted bills to compensate victims of wrongful imprisonment. It’s being used to educate by affecting people emotionally.

Advice to law students:
What you put in is what you’ll get out of it.

One regret: That I didn’t take more corporate/finance classes. The business sense is invaluable.