Alan Schwartz ’64, Sterling Professor of Law, Yale Law School
(From left) Seth Schwartz, Stacey Finkelstein, Leah Medway, Alan Schwartz ’64, Stephen Fraidin ’64, Roberta Romano ’80, Daniel Markovits ’00, Dean Heather Gerken, and Robert J. Giuffra, Jr. ’87
In presenting the award, Center Director Roberta Romano ’80 said “Alan is a pillar of the law school and a leading scholar in the world. He is extraordinarily rare among scholars for making pioneering and continuing contributions in numerous fields: product liability, contracts, commercial law, secured transactions, bankruptcy, corporate takeovers (most scholars are fortunate to do so in one field).”
In honoring his classmate and co-teacher, Stephen Fraidin ’64, Partner, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, stated: “Three major factors distinguish Alan’s contributions: First, the pursuit of truth. Alan is relentless in his objectivity. The whole world might be going one way, but he will hold firm in his belief that this does not mean the whole world is correct. He has never been afraid of taking an unpopular position if it means upholding the truth. Second, a unique understanding of the law as a living, nimble thing that should flow easily from the classroom to the boardroom. I have been practicing law for more than five decades, and it was from Alan that I learned how to apply theory to my practice. To give you just one example, in 1991, in the Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Alan and Peter Cramton wrote a paper on ‘Using Auction Theory to Inform Takeover Regulation’, and any M&A lawyer who reads it knows that it has powerful applications. Third, an unwavering commitment to excellence that inspires others to work at the same level. Like a great point guard, Alan makes everyone around him better. It is a great personal joy, and also a tremendous privilege, to help honor Alan for the indelible contributions he has made to the law and to Yale Law School. I cannot think of a more worthy recipient of Simeon E. Baldwin Award.”
Daniel Markovits ’00, YLS Guido Calabresi Professor of Law, added: “Alan Schwartz’s scholarship is exceptional—literally—for its efficient use of technique. He generates deep, powerful, and counterintuitive results from a spare and elegant use of formalisms, with never a gratuitous equation or other complexity. At the same time, Alan constantly attends to the real problems and practical circumstances that legal scholarship addresses, and his models stand out not just for their spare elegance but for their vivid verisimilitude.” He concluded on a personal note: “It has been one of the blessings of my life to count him as colleague, co-author and friend.”