In This Issue
Views from the Column.........2
From the President.................3
Class 30 Nominations............4
From the Foundation Chair...........................................6
From the Pro Bono Committee...............................8
2018 Distinguished Service Award Recipient......................9
Fellows Reflect on the College Induction.................10
Fourth Circuit Regional Moot Court Competition...............12
Book Review..........................14
2018 Patrons & Sponsors.................................16
In Memoriam.........................18
2018 Foundation Donors...19
Focus on Fellows..................20
Upcoming Events.................21
Pat spent his entire legal career in San Francisco. He was a member of what I consider to be the greatest generation of West Coast bankruptcy lawyers. In addition to Pat, I include (in alphabetical order) Barney Shapiro, Jerry Smith, George Treister and Ron Trost, among others. These leaders, each of whom received the Distinguished Service Award, were more than giants in the development of bankruptcy law and practice – they were teachers who pushed their junior partners and associates to be better lawyers than they were. They not only encouraged my generation to write articles, join CEB, ABI and PLI panels and teach at local law schools, but also to give back to the community through service in charitable organizations. I trust that their counterparts around the country – Distinguished Service Award recipients Neil Batson, Ralph Mabey, Harvey Miller and Ray Shapiro, to name a few – did the same. As a result of their efforts, the College is chock full of their mentees.
Sadly, my generation has, by and large, dropped that particular ball. With some exceptions, of course, our firms have focused on metrics that fail to give adequate credit for what the College refers to as Part B activities. The demands on our associates and young partners for production of billables and collections has meant that educating the bar and serving on boards of nonprofits has fallen by the wayside. As a result, while many in the next generation are practicing our craft at the highest levels, these professionals aren’t doing the things that Pat, Barney, Ron and the others encouraged and incentivized my generation to do.
Needless to say, this will have an impact on the future of the College. Like any organization (including any law firm), the College is only as good as its next generation. And the College is aging. Of the 880 active Fellows as of April, 320 are between 65 and 75 years of age and 119 are over 75. For the math challenged that means that almost exactly half of the active Fellows are of what used to be considered retirement age.
Pat Murphy passed away after a long illness on April 14th. Pat, a member of Class 1, was the recipient of the College’s highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award, in 2012. He was a stellar attorney and legal scholar, and more importantly, was a stellar person. But this isn’t an obituary; rather, I’m writing about one of his many strengths and about its importance to the College.
College Columns
May 2018
From the Chair
Marc A. Levinson, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP