WSJ: A Chat w/Harbaugh's Lawyer - fascinating details

Don't think this has been posted yet -- the Wall Street Journal has an interesting interview w/Jeff Klein of Weil Gotshal & Manges, who represented Harbaugh in the negotiations w/UM. He specializes in handling thorny matters for sports figures (the article offers the example of Joe Torre leaving the Yankees for the Dodgers.)

It'll be interesting to eventually hear all the details of how JH to Michigan came about, but based on this interview and what we heard yesterday, a few things are becoming clear:

• Harbaugh's agent, David Dunn, was essentially out of the loop on this -- which makes it likely he was the one leaking the (incorrect) contract numbers and pushing the "Jim wants to stay in the NFL" stuff to NFL reporters
• JH had decided a while ago that he wanted the Michigan job, and it was Klein's job (and his pal John Denniston's, apparently, as well) to handle all the negotiations w/UM so he could stay focused on finishing things out w/the 49ers' season.

Key excerpts:

To the matter at hand. How did you land Jim Harbaugh as a client?

The short answer: I have no idea. Often, you know how you land a client — who refers you. But not here. I was cold-called by an associate of his. I met that person and then met Jim.

I take it the representation began this fall?

It did. I don’t really want to be more specific than that.

Interpret "this fall" as you will. Sounds to me like JH got the ball rolling through Klein w/Michigan and Hackett a while ago, probably as soon as Hackett was named interim AD.

More:

The whole deal — from leaving the 49ers to joining Michigan — seemed to happen quickly and, at least from the outside, smoothly. What sorts of things did you have to accomplish to get the deal done?

I’m wary about saying too much and stepping into privileged and confidential material. But what I will say is that I focused, as I always try to, on three important touchstones: confidentiality, a strategic sequencing of events, and the client’s desire.

Jim was about to essentially become a free agent. Some free agents like a lot of publicity. But from my perspective, that’s putting ego ahead of outcome. There was no publicity here. I prefer to do my job below the radar screen and like to make deals in the boardroom and not the back pages [of the newspaper]. If you look at how Jim conducts himself, he’s the same way. So from that perspective, I think we were a good fit. In many ways, he was a dream client.

[...]

But it was important to get this done discreetly and with no publicity. Jim needed and wanted to stay focused on coaching the 49ers up through the final game [on Sunday]. If you watched how he coached that game and the way the team played for him up until the very last whistle and the very last play, you can tell where his mind was and where his dedication was. My job was to help him be able to keep that focus.

He left his last position in the manner he wanted to. He was the coach of the 49ers until the very end.

The backroom-detail story of how Jim came home to Michigan will make for a fascinating article/book someday....