Prominent Attorney Kenneth R. Feinberg to Speak at New York Law School’s 120th Commencement, May 21
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New York, NY (May 8, 2011)—Kenneth R. Feinberg, one of the nation’s leading experts in mediation and alternative dispute resolution, will address the graduates at New York Law School’s 120th Commencement on Monday, May 21, 2012, at Radio City Music Hall at 11 a.m. Feinberg, who served as Special Master of the Federal September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001, will also receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.
The School will graduate 520 candidates for the Juris Doctor (J.D.), 41 candidates for the Master of Laws (LL.M.), and 1 candidate for the Master of Arts (M.A.) in Mental Disability Law Studies.
The President’s Medal of Honor will be awarded to two recipients: the Honorable Roger J. Miner ’56 (posthumously) and James F. Simon, Martin Professor of Law Emeritus and Dean Emeritus of New York Law School. The award is given to the Law School’s most outstanding and accomplished alumni and its most generous benefactors, and acknowledges those who have made the most significant contributions to the history of the Law School by their exemplary professional lives and their generosity.
About the Commencement Speaker
Kenneth R. Feinberg
is the Founder and Managing Partner of Feinberg Rozen, LLP. He has been a
Court-Appointed Special Settlement Master, mediator, and arbitrator in
thousands of disputes. Feinberg was designated by the Obama Administration
and British Petroleum (BP) to serve as Administrator, Gulf Coast Claims
Facility in 2010. He was appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury in
2009 to serve as the Special Master for TARP Executive Compensation,
responsible for determining annual compensation packages for senior
corporate officials at companies that received the most taxpayer financial
assistance. Feinberg was appointed by the Attorney General of the United
States to serve as the Special Master of the Federal September 11th Victim
Compensation Fund of 2001. In this role he developed and promulgated the
regulations governing the administration of the fund and administered all
aspects of the program. He was also the Fund Administrator responsible for
the design, implementation, and administration of the claims process for
the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund following the tragic shootings at Virginia
Tech. Feinberg received his B.A. cum laude from the University of
Massachusetts in 1967 and his J.D. from New York University School of Law
in 1970, where he was Articles Editor of the Law Review. He was a law
clerk for Chief Judge Stanley H. Fuld, New York State Court of Appeals
from 1970 to 1972; Assistant United States Attorney, Southern District of
New York from 1972 to 1975; Special Counsel, United States Senate
Committee on the Judiciary from 1975 to 1980; Administrative Assistant to
Senator Edward M. Kennedy from 1977 to 1979; Partner at Kaye, Scholer,
Fierman, Hays & Handler from 1980 to 1993; and founded The Feinberg
Group, LLP in 1993. In 2004, Feinberg was named “Lawyer of the
Year” by The National Law Journal, and has been named repeatedly as
one of “The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America” by The
National Law Journal. He is the author of numerous articles and essays on
mediation, mass torts, and other matters, as well as What Is Life Worth?
The Unprecedented Effort to Compensate the Victims of 9/11 (Public Affairs
2005).
About the President’s Medal of Honor Recipients
Hon. Roger J. Miner ’56 (1934-2012), Trustee Emeritus and Former
Adjunct Professor of Law at New York Law School, was a widely respected
senior judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
His name twice appeared on presidential short-lists for possible nomination
to the United States Supreme Court. In 1976, at the age of 41, Judge Miner
became one of the youngest justices of the New York State Supreme Court;
he served there until 1981, when President Ronald Reagan appointed him to
the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York. In
1985, President Reagan appointed Judge Miner to the Second Circuit Court of
Appeals, where he served for nearly three decades. Judge Miner graduated
cum laude from New York Law School in 1956 and served as the first
Managing Editor of the Law Review. He was admitted to practice in New York
and in the United States Court of Military Appeals. He served on active
military duty from 1956 to 1959, and later with the Army Reserve,
obtaining the rank of captain in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps.
Judge Miner was awarded the Commendation Ribbon with Medal Pendant for his
work on the revision of the Manual for Courts-Martial. He was admitted to
the Bar of the Republic of Korea in 1958, a rare honor for an American.
Judge Miner received an honorary LL.D. from New York Law School in 1989;
he subsequently received honorary LL.D. degrees from both Albany Law
School and Syracuse University.
James F. Simon, Martin Professor of Law Emeritus and Dean Emeritus of New York Law School, is a nationally recognized scholar of constitutional law and award-winning author of eight books on American history, law, and politics. He served as Dean of New York Law School from 1983 to 1992. Among the School’s many achievements during that time are: the gathering of the largest, most productive faculty since the institution’s founding; the introduction of numerous academic initiatives; the increasing diversity and quality of the student body; and the expansion and improvement of facilities. A former contributing editor and correspondent for TIME magazine, Dean Simon is the author of seven major works on the modern Supreme Court and its justices, including What Kind of Nation: Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, and the Epic Struggle to Create a United States. His books have won the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award and twice been named New York Times Notable Books. His most recent book, FDR and Chief Justice Hughes: The President, the Supreme Court, and the Epic Battle Over the New Deal, has been praised by historian Jean Edward Smith as a “marvelously written, meticulously researched study.” Dean Simon, a graduate of Yale College and the Yale Law School, served as a Ford Foundation Fellow in India, a Harvard Fellow in Law and the Humanities, and as Visiting Lecturer in American Studies at Yale University. He joined the faculty of New York Law School in 1975, and has taught courses in Constitutional Law, Legal Journalism, and the Modern Supreme Court. A former trustee of NYLS, he received an honorary LL.D. degree from the School in 1992 and was named Martin Professor of Law in 1993.
About New York Law School
Founded in 1891, New York Law School is an independent law school
located in lower Manhattan near the city’s centers of law,
government, and finance. New York Law School’s renowned faculty of
prolific scholars has built the School’s strength in such areas as
constitutional law, civil and human rights, labor and employment law,
media and information law, tax law, real estate and urban legal studies,
international law, financial services and regulation, and a number of
interdisciplinary fields. The School is noted for its nine academic
centers: Center on Business Law & Policy, Center on Financial Services
Law, Center for International Law, Center for New York City Law, Center for
Professional Values and Practice, Center for Real Estate Studies, Diane
Abbey Law Center for Children and Families, Institute for Information Law
& Policy, and Justice Action Center. New York Law School has more than
13,000 graduates and currently enrolls some 1,350 full-time students and
400 part-time students in its J.D. program and its four advanced degree
programs in financial services law, real estate, tax, and mental
disability law studies. www.nyls.edu
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Press Contacts:
Nancy Guida, VP of Marketing and Communications
212.431.2325
nancy.guida@nyls.edu
