接着20世纪70年代来临了。原来人们对诉讼案件的鄙视态度被弃置一旁。

It became easier to borrow money. Federal regulations were relaxed. Markets became internationalized.

联邦条例放宽了贷款限制，借钱变得很容易，市场变得越来越国际化，

Investors became more aggressive, and the result was a boom in the number and size of corporate takeovers.

投资者变得更加有侵略性，结果就是无论是公司兼并接管的事例无论在规模上还是在数量上，都有了前所未有的增长。

"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，假如你参加商务圆桌会议（那些美国公司的管理层经常组织的社交会议）调查恶意兼并是否允许，他们中三分之二的人会说不允许。”弗洛姆说，

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"Now, the vote would be almost unanimously yes."

“如果现在表决的话，全部人都会说当然可以。”

Companies needed to be defended against lawsuits from rivals. Hostile suitors needed to be beaten back.

公司需要在同对手的法律诉讼中得到保护，需要打败那些带有敌意的原告。

Investors who wanted to devour unwilling targets needed help with their legal strategy, and shareholders needed formal representation.

投资人要是想吞食不甘心被吞并的目标，就需要法律策略方面的帮助，股东需要看到正式的法律陈述。

The dollar figures involved were enormous.

其中所需的美元数目是巨大的。

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.

从20世纪70年代中期到20世纪80年代末期，华尔街每年用于达到兼并目标的费用增长了2000%，最高的费用达到了2500亿。

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.

眨眼之间，原先那些老牌法律公司不愿意做的——恶意兼并和诉讼业务——现在成为公司都抢着做的事情。

And who was the expert in these two suddenly critical areas of law?

那么谁是这个突然变得很关键的法律领域的专家呢？

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，在中心城区法律公司没法找到工作的人开的二流法律公司。

"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）一度认为恶意兼并不值得尝试，现在他们却在在这场游戏中落伍了，嗨，他们这才下定决心，认为自己应该参与到这种业务中，此前，他们一直让我陷入孤立的境地，”弗洛姆说，

"And once you get the reputation for doing that kind of work, the business comes to you first."

“一旦你有着处理这类案子的好的口碑，生意最先考虑的自然是你。

Think of how similar this is to the stories of Bill Joy and Bill Gates.

想想这跟比尔·乔伊和比尔·盖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.

他们同样在相关的领域被摒弃，使得干一番事业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——个人电脑革命爆发了，而他们已经在这方面倾注了上万个小时的心血。

They were ready.

他们已经准备好了。