November 11, 2009 Blank Lecture Robert H. Mundheim, Esq., Of Counsel to Shearman & Sterling, LLP, in New York City, and former Dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, speaks on "Enduring Ethics, Changing Ethics Rules: Is there a Contradiction?"   >> View lecture video        >> View lecture photos

SYNOPSIS

Robert H. Mundheim has been a government lawyer, the general counsel of an investment bank, a lawyer in private practice, an academic, and chair of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility. The Philip B. Blank Memorial Lecture will draw on his varied experiences to highlight ethical issues he has encountered and to spell out lessons he has learned from them. 

BIOGRAPHY

In 1977, President Carter appointed Mundheim as General Counsel of the U.S. Treasury. He served until September 1980 and received the Alexander Hamilton Award. During his service at Treasury, he was in charge of the Anti-dumping and Countervailing Duty programs administered by Treasury, represented the Treasury in the first Chrysler bail-out, and in the renewal of the New York City bail-out. He returned briefly to government service in January 1981 to lead the Treasury team in Algiers in the successful negotiation for the release of the US hostages in Iran.

In 1992, Mundheim joined the Buffett team in the successful rehabilitation of Salomon Brothers. After Salomon was sold to Travelers and then to Citigroup, he retired and joined the global law firm of Shearman & Sterling. During his Shearman & Sterling days, he also served for six years as the President of the American Academy in Berlin and helped build that institution into a significant venue for cultural exchanges. His contributions were recognized by the German government which awarded him the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Mundheim has served on a number of boards of public companies and has written and lectured widely on the subject of corporate governance and was an Adviser to the Institute's Restatement of the Law Governing Lawyers. He serves on the Executive Committee of the Council of the American Law Institute and chaired its Corporate Governance Committee which instituted far reaching changes in that institution's governance. He presently chairs the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility..

Mundheim is a Trustee of the New School University, a member of the Board of Governors of the New School for Social Research, and a Trustee of the Curtis Institute of Music.

BLANK LECTURE HISTORY

The Philip B. Blank Memorial Lecture on Attorney Ethics was established by the family, friends and colleagues of the late Philip B. Blank, Associate Dean for External Affairs and Professor of Law at Pace University School of Law. In honor of Dean Blank's commitment to legal ethics, the Blank Lecture has presented distinguished members of the legal community recognized for their leadership in the area of attorney ethics and practice.

Dean Blank was a member of the Law School's faculty from 1979 until his death in 1989. He taught courses in Professional Responsibility, Wills, Estate Planning and Legal Methods. He is remembered as an outstanding teacher of the law and a caring mentor to his students. A model citizen of Westchester County, Dean Blank served as Chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals for the Town of Mount Pleasant and held leadership positions in the Westchester County and White Plains Bar Associations.
 

PAST BLANK LECTURES 

	November 11, 2009 Robert H. Mundheim, Esq. Of Counsel to Shearman & Sterling, LLP, in New York City, and former Dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law  School  "Enduring Ethics, Changing Ethics Rules: Is there a Contradiction?"
	January 27, 2009 Alvin J. Bronstein, Esq. Pace Law School Practitioner-in-Residence "Ethical Obligations When the Client is a Worthy Cause."
	March 4, 2008 Steven C. Krane, Esq. Partner, Proskauer Rose LLP "Taking the Red Pill: A Search for the Intersection Between Ethics and Morality"
	March 5, 2007 Jonathan G. Blattmachr Partner, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP "Suicide of the Guardians: The Executive Branch, Tax Regulations, and the Attorney-Client Relationship"
	February 28, 2006 Louis A. Craco Chairman, New York State Judicial Institute on Professionalism in the Law "Carpe Diem: An Opportunity to Reclaim Lawyers' Independence"
	September 21, 2004 Robert J. Grey Jr. American Bar Association President "Legal Ethics in the 21st Century"
	November 12, 2003 James B. Comey United States Attorney, Southern District of New York "Fighting Terrorism and Protecting Civil Liberties"
	January 22, 2003 Stanley L. Cohen, '83 Attorney of Law "Deconstructing Ethical Considerations 2-26, 2-27, 2-28, and 2-29: A textual and historical analysis"
	October 11, 2001 Professor William H. Simon Saunders Professor of Law, Stanford University Visiting Professor, Columbia University "The Role of the Public Official's Lawyer: A Case Study from the Clinton Era"
	October 11, 2000 Carrie Menkel-Meadow Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center "Private Lives and Professional Responsibilities? The Relationship of Personal Morality to Lawyering and Professional Ethics"
	November 9, 1999 The Honorable Roger J. Miner United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit "Professional Responsibility in Appellate Practice: A View from the Bench"
	April 16, 1998 Ronald K. Noble Professor of Law, New York University School of Law; Former Under Secretary for Enforcement, U.S. Department of the Treasury "Investigating Leaks: A Necessary Undertaking for Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr"
	April 3, 1997 Bill Wagner, Esq. Past President, Association of Trial Lawyers of America; Senior Partner, Wagner, Vaughan & McLaughlin, P.A. "Legal Ethics in a Confrontational Society"
	March 28, 1996 Monroe H. Freedman Howard Lichtenstein Distinguished Professor of Legal Ethics, Hofstra University School of Law "Ethical Obligations of Prosecutors in Death Penalty Cases"
	April 27, 1995 Linda Fairstein, Esq. Chief, Sex Crimes Prosecution Unit, New York County District Attorney's Office "Sex Crimes and the Media"
	April 5, 1994 The Honorable E. Leo Milonas Chief Administrative Judge, State of New York "Matrimonial Lawyers and Ethical Problems"
	Nov. 19, 1992 The Honorable Robert Johnson Bronx County District Attorney
	April 8, 1992 Stephen Gillers Professor of Law, New York University School of Law "The Owl and the Fox: The Transformation of Legal Work in a Commodity Culture"
	May 3, 1990 The Honorable Guy J. Mangano Presiding Justice, Appellate Division, 2d Dept.
	Louis Gerstman, Esq. Chief Law Clerk, Appellate Division, 2d Dept.
	Gary L. Casella, Esq. Chief Counsel, Grievance Committee, Ninth Judicial District
	Jerome Karp, Esq. Attorney to attorneys in disciplinary hearings