Wikipedia's first sentence called it “highly respected criminal defense attorney based in new york”. Today it says “american criminal defense attorney and founder of the manhattan-based law firm brafman & associates”.
Found by software in Wikipedia's own edit history. Not yet read by hand. The quoted words are Wikipedia's.
Compared with the live article on 2026-08-04.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
Benjamin Brafman is a highly respected criminal defense attorney based in New York.1Ben Brafman's first high-profile celebrity client was Sean "P.Diddy" Combs , who was ultimately aquitted from his 1999 illegal weapons and bribery charges. The criminal charges stemmed from a nightclub brawl, while accompanied by then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez and Combs' usual entourage, and witnessed by over 100 other people. Despite the numerous prosecution witnesses to Comb's culpability, and Comb's fame, Brafman's legal skills produced a unanimous not guilty verdict. Until replaced in April 2004 by Robert Blake attorney Thomas Mesereau , Brafman was an integral part of the Michael Jackson defense team--along with his co-counsel, famed Los Angeles celebrity attorney Mark Geragos --for the 2005 child molestation trial .2
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 17703863.
The opening as it stood in 2010 4 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Benjamin Brafman is a criminal defense attorney based in New York .He maintains a firm focused in criminal defense, Brafman Associates, in New York City and has handled cases for clients including, such Sean Combs , Peter Gatien , and Michael Jackson .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 362761814.
The opening as it stood in 2015 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Benjamin "Ben" Brafman (born July 21, 1948) is an American criminal defense attorney , the founder of the Manhattan -based firm Brafman & Associates, P.C. .Brafman is known for representing many high-profile defendants, including celebrities, accused Mafia members, and political figures.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 650561770.
The opening as it stood in 2020
American criminal defense attorney Benjamin Brafman (born July 21, 1948) is an American criminal defense attorney , the founder of the Manhattan -based firm Brafman & Associates, P.C. . Brafman is known for representing many high-profile defendants, including celebrities, accused Mafia members, and political figures.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 957359682.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
American criminal defense attorney Benjamin Brafman (born July 21, 1948) is an American criminal defense attorney and founder of the Manhattan-based law firm Brafman & Associates. Brafman is known for representing many high-profile defendants, including celebrities, accused Mafia members, and political figures.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1176100349.
The opening as it stood in 2025
American criminal defense attorney (born 1948) Benjamin Brafman (born July 21, 1948) is an American criminal defense attorney and founder of the Manhattan-based law firm Brafman & Associates. Brafman is known for representing many high-profile defendants, including celebrities, accused Mafia members, and political figures.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1290522773. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “highly respected criminal defense attorney based in new york”. Today it says “american criminal defense attorney and founder of the manhattan-based law firm brafman & associates”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
highly respected criminal defense attorney based in new york
Now
american criminal defense attorney and founder of the manhattan-based law firm brafman & associates
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.