Pierre Nelson Leval (born September 4, 1936)
is a
senior United States circuit judge of the
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory comprises the states of Connecticut, New York and Vermont. The court has appellate ju ...
. At the time of his appointment by
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
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Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
in 1993, he was a United States District Judge of the
.
Education
Born in New York City, Leval received his
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
degree from
Harvard College
Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...
in 1959 and his
Juris Doctor magna cum laude in 1963 from
Harvard Law School, where he served as note editor of the ''
Harvard Law Review''.
Career
Leval served in the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
in 1959. He was a
law clerk for Judge
Henry Friendly
Henry Jacob Friendly (July 3, 1903 – March 11, 1986) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as a circuit judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1959 until his death in 1986. Friendly was one of the most p ...
of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1963 until 1964. Leval was an
Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York from 1964 until 1968, serving there as chief appellate attorney from 1967 to 1968. From 1969 until 1975, Leval was in private law practice as an associate and then a partner in the New York firm of
Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP (known as Cleary Gottlieb) is an American multinational law firm headquartered at One Liberty Plaza in New York City. Known as a white shoe law firm, Cleary employs over 1,200 lawyers worldwide.
History
The ...
. He joined the New York County
District Attorney’s Office in 1975, where he served first as first assistant district attorney, and subsequently as chief assistant district attorney.
Federal judicial service
Leval was nominated by President
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 1 ...
on October 17, 1977, to a seat on the
vacated by Judge
Dudley Baldwin Bonsal. He was confirmed by the
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
on October 29, 1977, and received commission on October 31, 1977. During his tenure on the Southern District, he presided over the 1985-87
Pizza Connection Trial
The Pizza Connection Trial (in full, ''United States v. Badalamenti et al.'') was a criminal trial against the Sicilian and American mafias that took place before the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in New York ...
, a major prosecution against both the
American and
Sicilian Mafias and the longest criminal trial in the judicial history of the United States.
His service terminated on November 8, 1993, due to elevation to the Second Circuit.
Leval was nominated by President
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
on August 6, 1993, to a seat on the
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory comprises the states of Connecticut, New York and Vermont. The court has appellate ju ...
vacated by Judge
George C. Pratt. He was confirmed by the Senate on October 18, 1993, and received commission on October 20, 1993. He assumed senior status on August 16, 2002.
Leval was a board member of the
Federal Judicial Center from 2002 to 2006.
Other service and awards
Leval was a member of the adjunct faculty of the
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 ...
. He was awarded the Hillmon Memorial Fellowship by the
University of Wisconsin–Madison
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...
in 1988; the Donald R. Brace Memorial Lectureship by the
Copyright Society of the U.S.A. in 1989; the Fowler Harper Memorial Fellowship by
Yale Law School
Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & Worl ...
in 1992; the Melville Nimmer Lectureship by
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
Law School in 1997; the
Learned Hand
Billings Learned Hand ( ; January 27, 1872 – August 18, 1961) was an American jurist, lawyer, and judicial philosopher. He served as a federal trial judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from 1909 to 1924 a ...
Medal of the Federal Bar Council in 1997; and the
University of Connecticut
The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...
School of Law's
Intellectual Property
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...
Keynote Lectureship for 2001. He assumed
senior status
Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...
in 2002.
References
External links
*
*
*"
Toward a Fair Use Standard", 103 ''Harv. L. Rev.'' 1105 (1990) (an influential work of scholarship on the
fair use
Fair use is a doctrine in United States law that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is one of the limitations to copyright intended to balance the interests ...
exception to
copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...
infringement, arguing that the transformativeness of a work, discussed in the first fair use factor, is the most critical element of the fair use analysis)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leval, Pierre Nelson
1936 births
Living people
20th-century American judges
Assistant United States Attorneys
Copyright scholars
Harvard Law School alumni
Harvard College alumni
Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
New York University faculty
Lawyers from New York City
Military personnel from New York City
United States court of appeals judges appointed by Bill Clinton
United States district court judges appointed by Jimmy Carter
People associated with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
21st-century American judges