Tom Vartanian, Harvey Pitt, David Birenbaum, Leon Silverman, Richard Steinwurtzel, Leonard Zax, Joel Feidelman,
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Joel Feidelman has always been a man of many abilities, and much determination. His abilities are revealed by his magna cum laude degree from Syracuse in 1955, a time when very, very few students received such distinguished awards from universities as competitive and advanced academically as Syracuse. His determination is revealed by his enormous powers of concentration which enabled him to become the very best expert in our country on Government Contracts and The Practice of all legal matters pertaining to such contracts. It is no surprise that he won The Charles A. Dana Award for Distinguished Service in those matters and the rank of Captain in the U.S. Air Force where he worked from 1958 to 1961. I am proud to have graduated from the Yale Law School as Joel did, but his academic record there far exceeded mine. I have only one face-saving factor for my own defense:
I got my L.L.B. from Yale at the same time I went on active duty as Ensign in the U.S. Navy in June 1941, just six months before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. I was on active duty when the Japanese started World War II. In those days, T fear I could not concentrate properly on Law School examinations!
I never got to Washington, however, and the practice of law here till 1971!
The first day I walked down the corridor to find my office I’ll never forget. Down the corridor where I was located the names were: Kampelman, Berryman, Schifter, Sass, Scull, Green, Feidelman, Ehrenhaft, Watson, Shriver.
That’s the way the offices ran along one side of Suite 1000 of the Watergate 600 Building when I joined Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & and Jacobson in the summer of 1971.
If you can remember all those names and people, you’re an old-timer! Let’s have a little bit of applause for all the old-timers!
My office was three down from Joel’s.
He graduated from Yale Law School 20 years after I did. BUT,
He was Partner at Fried, Frank two years before I was!
He was Head of his own Department, one which he, himself, created! I never achieved that distinction! So, I could easily see that competition in our Law Firm was going to be tough for me!
The race for billable hours was on!
I spent most of my first years wooing clients overseas in France, in England, in Russia, in Germany, and Austria.
Joel kept on in Washington, building his client base, the firm’s reputation, and his department, raking up those billable hours. And he was 20 years younger!
The secret is now out! He was way ahead of me.
Now you know why I accepted George McGovern’s invitation to become his running mate in the 1972 Campaign.
Joel Feidelman was tiring me out!
Just watching him walking from his office past mine, through the door to the corridor and into the mailroom several times a day was enough to exhaust anyone!
And Joel has never stopped!
So, we are here to celebrate his energy and determination and devotion to the practice of law. The Government Contracts Department is Joel’s. It comes from Joel’s driving determination. It is his legacy to Fried, Frank and all our attorneys, those who have been fortunate to work with him, those who learned from him, and those who will hear of his work in the decades to come.
And he will always be remembered by Fried Frank staff members as a partner with an open mind, who listened to them, someone to whom they could go if they needed advice or assistance.
Yes, Joel was also accessible to members of our staff. He could always find the time to be helpful to them! Very few hard-working lawyers have that generosity of spirit and of ability!
Would that all lawyers were as generous with their time as Joel has been with his.
I’m sure he will get his proper reward in Heaven if not here on earth.
So, good luck, Joel, and God-speed. We probably never will have another partner as generous and able as you again!
