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Then came the 1970s. The old aversion to lawsuits fell by the wayside.
接著20世紀70年代來臨了。原來人們對訴訟案件的鄙視態度被棄置一旁。
It became easier to borrow money. Federal regulations were relaxed. Markets became internationalized.
聯邦條例放寬了貸款限制，借錢變得很容易，市場變得越來越國際化，
Investors became more aggressive, and the result was a boom in the number and size of corporate takeovers.
投資者變得更加有侵略性，結果就是無論是公司兼并接管的事例無論在規模上還是在數量上，都有了前所未有的增長。
"In 1980, if you went to the Business roundtable and took surveys about whether hostile takeovers should be allowed, two-thirds would have said no," Flom remembers.
“在1980年，假如你參加商務圓桌會議（那些美國公司的管理層經常組織的社交會議）調查惡意兼并是否允許，他們中三分之二的人會說不允許?！备ヂ迥氛f，
"Now, the vote would be almost unanimously yes."
“如果現在表決的話，全部人都會說當然可以?！?/p>
Companies needed to be defended against lawsuits from rivals. Hostile suitors needed to be beaten back.
公司需要在同對手的法律訴訟中得到保護，需要打敗那些帶有敵意的原告。
Investors who wanted to devour unwilling targets needed help with their legal strategy, and shareholders needed formal representation.
投資人要是想吞食不甘心被吞并的目標，就需要法律策略方面的幫助，股東需要看到正式的法律陳述。
The dollar figures involved were enormous.
其中所需的美元數目是巨大的。
From the mid-1970 to the end of the 1980s, the amount of money involved in mergers and acquisitions every year in Wall Street increased 2,000 percent, peaking at almost a quarter of a trillion dollars.
從20世紀70年代中期到20世紀80年代末期，華爾街每年用于達到兼并目標的費用增長了2000%，最高的費用達到了2500億。
All of a sudden the things that the old-line law firms didn't want to do-hostile takeovers and litigation-were the things that every law firm wanted to do.
眨眼之間，原先那些老牌法律公司不愿意做的——惡意兼并和訴訟業務——現在成為公司都搶著做的事情。
And who was the expert in these two suddenly critical areas of law?
那么誰是這個突然變得很關鍵的法律領域的專家呢？
The once marginal, second-tier law firms started by the people who couldn't get jobs at the downtown forms ten and fifteen years earlier.
是那些15年前，在中心城區法律公司沒法找到工作的人開的二流法律公司。
"They, the whit-shoe-firms, thought hostile takeovers were beneath contempt until relatively late in the game, until they decided that, hey, maybe we ought to be in that business, they left me alone," Flom said.
那些‘白鞋’公司）一度認為惡意兼并不值得嘗試，現在他們卻在在這場游戲中落伍了，嗨，他們這才下定決心，認為自己應該參與到這種業務中，此前，他們一直讓我陷入孤立的境地，”弗洛姆說，
"And once you get the reputation for doing that kind of work, the business comes to you first."
“一旦你有著處理這類案子的好的口碑，生意最先考慮的自然是你。
Think of how similar this is to the stories of Bill Joy and Bill Gates.
想想這跟比爾·喬伊和比爾·蓋茨的故事是多么相似。
Both of them toiled away in a relatively obscure fields without any great hopes for worldly success.
他們同樣在相關的領域被摒棄，使得干一番事業的前景陷入黯淡之中。
But then, boom! The personal computer revolution happened, and they had their ten thousand hours in.
但——突然——個人電腦革命爆發了，而他們已經在這方面傾注了上萬個小時的心血。
They were ready.
他們已經準備好了。
