He received a call from Martin Whitman, a fund manager, and he suggested that he consider hiring Robert E. Rubin, the son of Alexander Rubin, a lawyer whom Whitman had known in New York. Bob Rubin was then working at Cleary Gottlieb, a New York law firm, but was considering a move to Wall Street. Rubin had worked for Fowler Hamilton, one of Cleary Gottlieb’s name partners, and a former antitrust lawyer in the Justice Department. Tenenbaum figured Rubin knew his way around antitrust procedures pertaining to mergers, an important skill in Goldman’s prospering arbitrage department. “There’s only one problem,” Whitman told Tenenbaum. “I think he’s going to go work at Lazard for Felix Rohatyn.” Tenenbaum called Rubin. “Marty Whitman called me,” he said he told Rubin. “He’s a good friend of your dad. I know you want to come to the Street. Give me a shot. Let’s have lunch.” Rubin agreed to have lunch with Tenenbaum at a restaurant near Wall Street. Tenenbaum used the idea that Rubin might work for Rohatyn against the impressionable youth.
