It’s been roughly five years since famed attorney Robert Shapiro gave his last sit-down interview. He chose to do another with the LA Business Journal‘s Alfred Lee, mainly because he wants to let people know that his focus is now on civil cases rather than criminal.

One big reason Shapiro says he has tended away from interviews is the ongoing barrage of questions he still receivers about the O.J. Simpson case. The 68-year-old Century City titan addresses his work on that case and that of Christian Brando, talks very candidly about the death of one son from a drug overdose, and retraces the origins of some advice given to him during the OJ trial by actor Jack Nicholson – “speak low and speak slow”:

Jack is more of a social acquaintance. I represented [film producer] Robert Evans for years and was involved doing a lot of civil work for him and in trying to put together a movie called The Two Jakes.

He was repeating the best advice he ever got. To the best of my recollection, it was John Wayne.

Shapiro also explains how a boxing habit he took up 25 years ago is very similar to the experience of being in a courtroom. Great interview.