BIOGRAPHY -- Page 29
While Matt and Foggy were discussing their future, they received an invitation to meet with Rosalind Sharpe. “Razor” Sharpe was a famous attorney from the Boston area, and Matt was surprised to learn Foggy had a long history with the woman. When they met at the Mason Building, Matt and Foggy learned Rose planned to move her practice to New York, and she was offering them both a position as named junior partners in her firm. Foggy immediately accepted, 
which put Matt in a bind. He preferred the personal touch of a small boutique firm like theirs (not to mention the freedom of movement his other job required). When they spoke privately, however, Rosalind made it clear that Matt Murdock was the prize she was after. If Matt rejected her offer, she would retract Franklin’s offer as well. Matt was unwilling to disappoint Foggy further, given the current state of their friendship, and so he reluctantly accepted Razor Sharpe’s terms.
Almost immediately, Rosalind put Matt in a tricky ethical situation. Daredevil recently fought his old foe Mr. Hyde at an abandoned Osborn warehouse. The body of a 16-year-old runaway named Angela Parish was discovered in Hyde’s hideout, and he was charged with her murder once Daredevil and the police brought him in. Rosalind selected Hyde as Murdock’s first client for their new firm. After meeting with Mister Hyde at Riker’s, Matt was surprised that Hyde’s heartbeat 
never changed when he denied killing Angela. Daredevil returned to the warehouse to look for clues, but it was torched by Pyro and any evidence for or against Hyde’s innocence went up in smoke. Matt started to realize Hyde might actually be innocent, and justice demanded he see the case through to the end. [Daredevil (1st series) #353-355]
Life at Sharpe, Nelson & Murdock wasn’t boring, to say the least. “Razor” Sharpe’s past cases made her a number of enemies, leading to an assassination attempt in the law offices. Only Matt’s “clumsy” blindness act saved Rosalind’s life before their neighbor Misty Knight of Knightwing Restorations stepped in to disarm the attacker. Rosalind made a point of putting Misty’s investigate firm on retainer for that. Meanwhile, Foggy had been growing closer to Liz Allan, current owner of Osborn Industries and able to provide some background on the Hyde case. Liz revealed her late father-in-law (Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin) built secret entrances into many Osborn properties, strengthening Hyde claim that someone else must have entered his lair to kill Angela Parish.
Daredevil and Misty Knight independently scouted the Osborn warehouse’s remains and located a hidden tunnel leading out of the hideout. Daredevil plunged ahead through the underground network of tunnels in search of an alternate perpetrator in Hyde’s case, and he discovered a second den occupied by the low-level thugs-for-hire known as the Enforcers. DD confidently 
waded into the Enforcers, but the mere contortionist Snake Marston was actually the electrified Eel in disguise. Taken by surprise, Daredevil was strung up by Eel and the Enforcers. The Eel explained he was building his own criminal empire, and Hyde had plans to intervene and claim his spoils. It was the Eel who snuck into the Osborn warehouse and killed Angela Parish, framing Hyde and removing him as a potential rival.
Misty Knight arrived and rescued Daredevil from the Enforcers, allowing Matt to capture the Eel. At Hyde’s trial, Foggy refused to throw Matt under the bus for his absence despite Rosalind’s urgings. His stalling enabled Daredevil to make it to court with the Eel and enough evidence to ensure charges against Hyde were dismissed. Even so, Daredevil was there to meet Mister Hyde when he was released from jail. Just because Hyde was innocent of one crime, Daredevil had no 
illusions about his character. He made sure Mister Hyde knew a network of informants surrounded him everywhere he went in New York, prepared to report back any wrongdoing to his lawyers at SN&M. Unwilling to return to prison again so quickly, Hyde was pressured into behaving. For now. [Daredevil (1st series) #356-357]
After Onslaught struck New York, the devastation and the loss of Manhattan’s heroes weighed 
heavily on those who remained. Even Foggy was drawn to supporting a new client, Citadel Insurance, who purportedly specialized in coverage following super-powered attacks. Instead, Daredevil discovered that Citadel was a scam enacted by Mysterio. The master of special effects used a combination of robots, holograms and hallucinatory gas to make people believe they faced threats like Juggernaut and even a returning Onslaught, driving them to give Citadel their money. When he beat Mysterio and his pawn Garrison Peabody at a Citadel dinner at the Plaza, Matt played up Daredevil’s “friendship” with Foggy Nelson to give Foggy partial credit for the bust. Fun aside, Matt also tried to reach out to Natasha, who had been Avengers chairwoman during the battle with Onslaught and one of the sole survivors of the final conflict. Unfortunately, he was unable to locate her as the Avengers imploded in the aftermath. [Daredevil (1st series) #358]
Karen hadn’t been happy to learn from the news that Matt visited his ex-girlfriend at Avengers Mansion. She withheld sharing her new job with him as radio personality, Paige Angel, working for WFSK. Matt eventually overheard her voice and, though WFSK was shady due to being founded as part of Fisk’s media empire, he gave Karen his blessing regardless. In the meantime, Daredevil found himself being everywhere in the city, trying to make up for the loss of Avengers and Fantastic Four. A victory against the powerful Avengers foe Absorbing Man went a long way towards reassuring the public. Paige Angel focused a broadcast on the public’s opinions of Daredevil, which gave Rosalind Sharpe an opportunity. She was furious at Foggy for disobeying 
her at the Hyde trial, so she decided to exploit his alleged friendship with Daredevil for the firm’s benefit. She forced Franklin on the air discussing Daredevil and their connection, leading to a media blitz surrounding Daredevil’s “friend and partner,” Franklin Nelson. It was following this stunt that Matt and Karen finally learned the truth: “Razor” Sharpe was Foggy’s birth mother, and his inspiration for becoming a lawyer. [Daredevil (1st series) #359-360]
Murdock found himself representing another super-villain when Sharpe tapped him to defend the recently captured Eddie Brock, also known Venom. Rosalind thought the high-profile pro bono would be good PR, but Matt agreed because he saw the legal implications of Eddie’s case. The symbiotic merger of Eddie and his costume placed his mental health and fitness for trial in question, and Counselor Murdock tried to convince Brock of the benefits of an insanity plea. D.A. Gracia Hidalgo pulled out all the stops to convict Venom of murder, kidnapping and numerous other crimes. For his case, Matt subpoenaed Spider-Man for an expert opinion on the symbiote’s possible influence. However, the case went off the rails when Hidalgo brought in Cletus Kasady to testify about his time as Brock’s cellmate. Carnage perjured himself on the stand and the chemical 
restraints used to contain Venom and Carnage failed, leading to a fight in the courthouse. Venom helped recapture Carnage and willingly resubmitted to custody for the trial to continue. Final word on Murdock’s case failed to come, due to the federal government taking custody of Venom for a secret, independent program. [Venom: On Trial #1-3]
Rosalind’s new scheme to paint Foggy as the media’s first contact for anything Daredevil related started having an effect. Liz Allan sought Daredevil’s aid through Sharpe, Nelson & Murdock to help her brother, Mark Raxton. Formerly a super-villain called the Molten Man, Raxton reformed to act as site manager for Osborn Chemicals. A recent series of thefts made him look bad (even suspicious) before the board, and Liz and Mark hoped Daredevil could help. Rosalind naturally promised Foggy and Daredevil’s assistance to curry long-term favor with Osborn Chemicals as a client. Matt conducted a stakeout as Daredevil and ran across the Grey Gargoyle burglarizing the 
plant. The Black Widow showed up as well, but she was in no mood for a “team up” with Matt. Natasha was drowning in guilt over being the last Avenger and “widow” of the team. She was on a quest to apprehend all the team’s old villains herself to prove the Avengers legacy would remain. Given the opportunity, she nearly killed Grey Gargoyle rather than bring him in, showing Matt just how close to the line Black Widow was walking at the moment. [Daredevil (1st series) #361]