Feirson Lectureship Focuses on Invaluable Real-World Perspective
A generous endowment gift to the Law School from Steven B. Feirson, ’75, has led to the creation of the Steven Feirson Distinguished Lectureship. The current Feirson Lecturer, former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, taught a class on national security law in the spring quarter this year, and he has also participated in many activities at the Law School. Fitzgerald, among other things, led the investigations that resulted in the convictions on corruption charges of Illinois governors George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich. He will continue to hold the Feirson Lectureship, teaching classes and engaging with the Law School community, in future years.
Steven Feirson has been at Dechert LLP, in Philadelphia, since he graduated from the Law School. He is a deputy chair of the firm. He says that the lectureship he has endowed will serve an important purpose: “The University of Chicago Law School is the preeminent theoretical law school in the world. There’s no faculty anywhere thatthinks about cutting-edge issues more critically or more influentially. My goal in establishing the Feirson Lectureship is to add the seasoning of real-world experience and perspective to the Law School’s superb scholarly tradition.”
Feirson remembers one of his own first real-world lawyering experiences, which occurred not long after he joined Dechert: “About two months after I passed the bar,I walked into court to try my first case. Looking back on it now, I realize it was a small case and of no particular importance—except to a brand-new lawyer who had never spoken in a courtroom. I showed up early on the first day with my carefully prepared direct and cross-examination outlines, my meticulously marked exhibits, having repeatedly rehearsed my opening and closing. I was ready—until I realized that I had no idea where to sit. So, fighting off panic, I planted myself in the spectator section until my experienced opposing counsel came in. When he sat down at one counsel table, I made the quick deduction that the other table had to belong to me.”
It didn’t take long for Feirson to show that he could find his way around a courtroom with the very best, as he earned the praise that various legal journals have directed at him: “a premier litigator with incredible legal skills”; “a stellar reputation for complex cases”; “amazing in all respects.”
Those skills have been manifested in many client relationships over the years. For example, beginning in 1984 he represented Getty Oil Company and its officers and unaffiliated directors for five years during and after the Pennzoil-Texaco battle that culminated in a $13 billion jury verdict against Texaco. His recent activities have included representing JP Morgan in defense of a billion-dollar claim arising from the collapse of a subprime lender; representing the independent directors of a Jersey Isle corporation in a multi-billion-dollar derivative action filed in Jersey; and defending Starwood Capital against a multi-hundred-million-dollar claim relating to its $2.1 billion acquisition of Taittinger’s assets in France. He has also argued two cases before the US Supreme Court.
“I learned many important things at the Law School,” Feirson says, “but one has really stood out. I would describe it as always asking the next question—always pushing to go that one extra step along the path that brings you to a new idea. Among many great faculty members, David Currie in particular was masterful at that. He’d always ask great ‘Why?’ questions, and when you thought he couldn’t go any farther with them, he did. While I would never pretend to have Professor Currie’s box of intellectual gifts, all of us in his classes were exceptionally privileged, even if only for a brief moment, to reach into that package and extract lifelong insights.”
During Feirson’s tenure at Dechert, the firm grew from a primarily Philadelphia-centered firm into a national and international legal powerhouse, with 26 offices and a third of its lawyers based outside the United States. He has been widely credited as one of the principal leaders of that transformation. “We saw earlier than a lot of firms that the marketplace was changing and that we needed to get out ahead of that change,” Feirson recalls. “The problem was, there was no great road map for doing that. We found our way, in part because the firm had the talent to grow, and in part because we so often asked that crucial ‘next question’ before proceeding.”
“The Law School challenged me and stretched me in ways that have helped me throughout my legal career,” Feirson says. “I’m grateful for that, and I’m grateful for the financial aid I received that made it all possible. I feel very fortunate to be able to give back now to help the Law School maintain its position as one of the world’s great educational institutions.”