Herbert Maurice Wachtell (born May 24, 1932) is an American lawyer. He is the co-founder of the law firm

Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is an American law firm in New York City. The firm is known for corporate law, regularly handling large and complex transactions. On both a profit per lawyer, and profit per equity partner basis, it is the most p ...

Education and early career

Herbert Maurice Wachtell was born on May 24, 1932 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. His parents were the children of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

immigrants from present-day

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

and

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

. Wachtell attended public schools in New York City, including

The High School of Music & Art The High School of Music & Art, informally known as "Music & Art" (or "M&A"), was a public specialized high school located at 443-465 West 135th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York, from 1936 until 1984. In 1961, Music & Art and the High ...

, (now part of Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School), followed by

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

in Manhattan. He graduated from

(B.S. 1952),

New York University School of Law New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in N ...

(LLB 1954,

Order of the Coif The Order of the Coif is an honor society for United States law school graduates. The name is a reference to the ancient English order of advocates, the serjeants-at-law, whose courtroom attire included a coif—a white lawn or silk skullcap, whi ...

), and

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

(LLM 1955). From 1955 to 1957 he was an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York prosecuting federal crimes including racketeering. In 1957–1958, he served as deputy chief counsel to the

House Subcommittee on Legislative Oversight The House Subcommittee on Legislative Oversight was a special subcommittee of the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, responsible for the oversight of federal regulatory agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission. Dur ...

, investigating corrupt activities at certain of the government administrative agencies. Upon leaving public service, he founded a small law firm specializing in litigation and lectured as an adjunct professor at NYU School of Law and authored a single-volume text, ''New York Practice under the CPLR'', which then went through six editions.

Later career

In 1965, he and NYU Law alumni

Martin Lipton Martin Lipton (born June 22, 1931) is an American lawyer, a founding partner of the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz specializing in advising on mergers and acquisitions and matters affecting corporate policy and strategy. From 1958–1 ...

Leonard Rosen Leonard M. Rosen (November 19, 1930 – April 16, 2014) was an American bankruptcy lawyer, and a co-founder of the prominent New York firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.Tiffany Kary, Phil Milford and Linda Sandler, Leonard M. Rosen, Wachtell Lipt ...

, and George Katz joined together to found

. The firm is known for big risk and complex transactions and litigation. Wachtell has handled a wide range of litigation including, notably, landmark takeover fights in the Delaware courts involving

Time-Warner Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

and

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...

. His international profile was enhanced by his role representing

Silverstein Properties Silverstein Properties, Inc. (SPI) is a family held, full-service real estate development, investment and management firm based in New York City. Founded in 1957 by Chairman Larry Silverstein, the company specializes in developing, acquiring, a ...

in litigation to secure rebuilding insurance proceeds following the World Trade Center attacks.

Boards and awards

Wachtell is a recipient of the Chambers Lifetime Achievement Award in Litigation in 2006. He and his wife are active in a variety of the philanthropic and cultural areas. He is a former co-chair of the board of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, former chairman of the board of

Phoenix House Phoenix House is a nonprofit drug and alcohol rehabilitation organization operating in ten states with 150 programs. Programs serve individuals, families, and communities affected by substance abuse and dependency. History Phoenix House was ...

Foundation and member of the boards of NYU School of Law and the former

New York City Opera The New York City Opera (NYCO) is an American opera company located in Manhattan in New York City. The company has been active from 1943 through 2013 (when it filed for bankruptcy), and again since 2016 when it was revived. The opera company, du ...

Personal life

Wachtell is discussed in

Malcolm Gladwell Malcolm Timothy Gladwell (born 3 September 1963) is an English-born Canadian journalist, author, and public speaker. He has been a staff writer for ''The New Yorker'' since 1996. He has published seven books: '' The Tipping Point: How Little ...

’s book ''

Outliers In statistics, an outlier is a data point that differs significantly from other observations. An outlier may be due to a variability in the measurement, an indication of novel data, or it may be the result of experimental error; the latter are ...

''. He is married to Svetlana Stone Wachtell and has five children from previous marriages, as well as nine grandchildren. His daughter Diane Wachtell is the executive director of

The New Press The New Press is an independent non-profit public-interest book publisher established in 1992 by André SchiffrinAndre Schiffrin.

References

External links

Jury Deliberates on Swiss Re's ExposureChambers and Partners profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wachtell, Herbert 1932 births Living people New York (state) lawyers City College of New York alumni New York University School of Law alumni American law firm executives Harvard Law School alumni Law firm founders