Gandolfo V. DiBlasi ’78, Partner, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
(From left) Roberta Romano ’80, William DiBlasi, Gandolfo V. DiBlasi ’78, Dean Robert Post ’77, Richard DiBlasi, and Robi DiBlasi
At the presentation of the award, Judge Ralph K. Winter ’60, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Professor (Adjunct) of Law and formerly William K. Townsend Professor of Law, Yale Law School, stated:
“Vince has certain precious qualities, and in great abundance. He is down-to-earth and lacks the pomposity so often found in our profession – often as the coin of the realm. He is stunningly brilliant and among the greatest craftsman in the law. He also has wisdom and judgment, qualities not always associated with brilliance. Vince is the kind of person you look to for both professional and personal advice and do so knowing that it would be generously given. Finally, he exudes self-confidence but is utterly without egotism. When he was my student, I knew he was destined for a great career. After graduation, he was, in virtually the blink of an eye, a major litigator in the new field of corporate takeover law. Every encounter with Vince is a pleasant one. He is interesting, has a wonderful sense of humor, and is an all-around good guy. Someone who doesn’t know him might ask, ‘In what way is he a good guy?’ I would answer that generosity is his key quality. His generosity extends to material things but also to his spirit. He is generous in his kindness to people, his willingness to share his wisdom, and his ability to entertain. Vince strikes a spark with people that causes them to feel affectionately toward him in a way not ordinarily generated by big-time lawyers, of which he is certainly one. Roberta Romano has already told you who Simeon E. Baldwin was and described his importance to the Yale Law School. Vince richly deserves this award.”
Robert J. Giuffra, Jr. ’87, Partner at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, added:
“Starting in the 1980s, Vince has been one of the handful of lawyers who have been the go-to litigators in the most high-profile white-collar and securities cases. Vince’s career reads like a history of corporate scandals over the past 35 years. He represented clients in the insider trading cases of the 1980s. The Solomon Brothers Treasury auction scandal. Pay-to-play in the muni securities markets. The Orange County muni bond scandal. Enron. Back-dated options. And more recently all of the financial crisis litigation. Most big-time Wall Street litigators don’t have much good to say about the competition. But if you took a poll among the litigation bar, I think Vince would be voted most popular – by acclimation. And, that’s why Vince was selected by his peers to serve as lead counsel for all the big Wall Street firms in the massive IPO allocation case, arising out of the dot com bust. Vince has been a great mentor to me, and many other partners at S&C. He helped to build our litigation practice. He’s been a great friend of Yale Law School, serving as chair of the Yale Law School Fund. But I think Vince’s greatest accomplishment is that he’s been a model for many lawyers, including myself. No matter how busy he was. He always was going to games at his son’s school. Congrats Vince. I can’t think of a more deserving recipient of the Baldwin Award.”