Gerald Walpin (center) receivded the American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Second Circuit. Pictured above with Mr. Walpin are (from left) Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court; AIC Foundation president Justice Randy Holland; Chief Judge John M. Walker, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; and Associate Justicve Stephen G. Breyer of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Gerald Walpin, the first recipient of the American Inns of Court Professionalism Award in the Second Circuit, is counsel to Katten Muchin Zavis Rosenman, having been a senior partner of the predecessor firm of Rosenman & Colin for more than thirty years, and Chairman of the Firm's Litigation Department for fifteen years.
Mr. Walpin is an experienced litigation attorney with particular expertise in commercial and securities litigation and white-collar crimes. He has represented a wide range of clients, including large public corporations, securities brokerage firms, accounting firms, law firms, and individuals, both American and foreign, in securities litigations, criminal prosecutions, and investigations by the United States Securities & Exchange Commission.
Before joining the Firm, Mr. Walpin was Law Secretary to two Federal District Court Judges, served three years as J.A.G. in the United States Air Force and then served for five years as the Chief of Special Prosecutions for the United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York. There he successfully prosecuted the then longest criminal jury trial (which was a securities fraud prosecution) in the history of the United States courts. He also worked under Robert Kennedy and Robert Morgenthau as attorney in charge of prosecution of organized crime in the Southern District of New York; supervised grand jury investigations into Cosa Nostra families and into Bonanno "kidnapping;" and was referred to in the book Green Felt Jungle for prosecution of several Las Vegas gambling figures.
Mr. Walpin is a frequent lecturer and writer on legal topics, including class actions and derivative lawsuits, and while-collar crimes. He has been named in all editions of the published compilation of The Best Lawyers in America. He is President of the Federal Bar Council, the bar association of attorneys practicing in the Second Circuit federal courts, having previously served as Chairman of the Program Committee, the Modem Courtroom Committee, and the Court/Bar Liaison Committee of the Federal Bar Council, and as Vice-President of that bar association. He served as a member of the Advisory Committee to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, to implement provisions of the Civil Justice Reform Act of 1990.
Gerald Walpin graduated from City College of the City of New York in 1952 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, where he was elected President of the student body. In 1955, he graduated cum laude from Yale Law School, having served as Managing Editor of the Yale Law Journal.
He is a member of the Board of Visitors of the Federalist Society, having previously served as Chairman of its National Litigation Practice Group. He is a director of Center for Individual Rights, a national legal pro bono group involved in the protection of individuals' constitutional rights. He is also a trustee of the Parker Jewish Institute for Health Care and Rehabilitation, of which he was formerly Chairman of the Board. For four years, he served as Co-Chairman of the Lawyers Division in New York of the Anti-Defamation League.
Mr. Walpin considers his role as a mentor as both an obligation and an opportunity. In the good natured, straight-forward style known to all who come into contact with him, Mr. Walpin summarizes his view of mentoring: “Immediately out of law school, I was very fortunate in having clerked for United States District Judge Edward J. Dimock, who, epitomized to me the high qualities of a judge and of a human being: careful analysis of each issue, a sense of fairness, sensitivity towards others, a willingness to help others, and a modest gentleness. He was unstinting in his time and attention, both while I clerked for him and thereafter, to assist and, where requested, to advise this then young lawyer. If I have been able, in a small way, to reflect that experience in my relationship with young lawyers with whom I have come in contact, I will have attempted in a small way to repay Judge Dimock for what he did for me.”
Mr. Walpin has been married for 46 years to his wife Sheila, and they have three children (Amanda Leath, Edward and Jennifer) and four grandchildren. The Walpins are world travelers and have loved visiting such places as Afghanistan, Mongolia, Iran, New Guinea, Philippines, and Australia to see how other people live. He is active in many charitable and community organizations as well as providing leadership to several national social, political and legal groups.