Bankruptcy attorney John Genovese wasn’t sure what he wanted to do even after he got to college. He’d flunked out before, been a military policeman, come home and tried again. Then some guys in the dorm started talking about taking the LSAT and going to law school, “and it just sounded kind of cool.”

It was an unpretentious beginning to a career that would include serving as co-counsel in the Enron securities litigation, resulting in settlements in excess of $7.2 billion, and as special litigation counsel for the trustee in the largest Ponzi scheme in Florida history.