His own unsuccessful race for New York City mayor in 1985 ran into a bruising legal brawl over minor addition errors.

Mr. Gore sought to project that he was above the legal brawls that have marked both campaigns and that he was calmly thinking about the nation and the Constitution.

Court documents detail legal brawls in which investors accuse Cerberus of orchestrating secretive deals that transgressed legal and ethical boundaries, accusations the firm denies.

The distraction of her high-profile legal brawl with the publishers of her defunct magazine.

But evaluating what may be reasonable and how to determine what is unreasonable are fodder for a messy legal brawl.

It was an unprecedented rebuke for a prosecutor in the middle of a legal brawl.

But, given the event's limitations, the legal brawls over the years have provided the only reliable source of tension.

"If you were in a brawl, a legal brawl, you would want him in your corner," Mr. Rubenstein said.

After making headlines five years ago as a key slugger in the Haft family's legal brawl, the eldest son, Robert M., has re-emerged selling vitamins in cyberspace.

The company is currently involved in legal brawls in Australia and the U.S. over the alleged use of KaZaA to infringe copyrights.