The Look Book

Tom Engel, Trial Lawyer

"I’ve been wearing suspenders since I graduated from law school. They just seemed to suit me."

By Emma Rosenblum
Published Aug 3, 2008

(Photo: Spencer Heyfron)

You kind of look like a thirties gangster.
A lot of people tell me I look like Dick Tracy. I’ve been wearing suspenders since I graduated from law school. They just seemed to suit me. And I always wear a hat. It’s a shame that everybody stopped wearing hats in the sixties. I guess I’m retro. Is that the word?

What’s in the envelope?
It’s a letter of congratulations from Franklin Roosevelt to his son Jimmy, when Jimmy was elected a member of the Fly Club, at Harvard. I’m the graduate president of the Fly, and I’m taking it to lunch, where I’m going to see two of my graduate brothers from South America who’ve come up for our New York dinner.

The Fly is one of Harvard’s exclusive clubs, right?
I don’t like to think of it as exclusive. I like to think of it just as a wonderful bunch of guys.

I’ve been there—women have to enter through a side door, don’t they?
Well, yes. But sometimes they can walk in right through the front.

Are you still friends with your fellow Fly members?
Sure, sure. Former governor Weld of Massachusetts is a dear friend and a Fly brother.

Are you also Republican?
I like to think of myself as very open-minded. But I’m also conservative enough to have standards that I am loyal to.