A LAWYER'S JOB

General Greenbaum (who earned this rank in World War II but also served in World War I) has recently been prominent in the press again since he personally squired Svetlana to Harper & Row. However most of his long career in the law has been spent pro bono publico, and certainly in this memoir he is as self-effacing as he has been in his dedication to national affairs and public service (from the American Jewish Committee to the U.N.). Greenbaum grew up on the fringes of ""our crowd"" (the Sulzbergers, Cardozos, Warburgs, etc.), went to Williams where he first met Morris Ernst, Columbia Law School where he met Herb Wolff, and with the two formed the now (publishing) trade-marked firm of Greenbaum, Wolff & Ernst in 1915. There are famous court cases here (Ivar Kreuger's fraud), cases which were also issues (Sacco and Vanzetti) and certainly many famous people figure in these annals. At the close, the Colonel gives a few gratis opinions on recent legal headliners, (Sam Sheppard, or The Book) and continuing jurisprudential matters. He is almost totally taciturn about his personal life.... Popularly speaking, this won't serve a summons to the readership which was attracted by showy Melvin Belli but, like the man, it is quietly distinguished.