Robert Brandt von Mehren (August 22, 1922 – May 5, 2016) was an American lawyer. As a young lawyer in 1949, he participated in the Hiss-

Chambers Chambers may refer to: Places Canada: *Chambers Township, Ontario United States: *Chambers County, Alabama * Chambers, Arizona, an unincorporated community in Apache County * Chambers, Nebraska * Chambers, West Virginia * Chambers Township, Hol ...

Case, and later became a leading expert in international arbitration in a career spent at the law firm of

Debevoise & Plimpton Debevoise & Plimpton LLP (often shortened to Debevoise) is an international law firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1931 by Harvard Law School alumnus Eli Whitney Debevoise and Oxford-trained William Stevenson, the firm was original ...

Background

Von Mehren was born in

Albert Lea, Minnesota Albert Lea is a city in Freeborn County, in southern Minnesota. It is the county seat. Its population was 18,492 at the 2020 census. The city is at the junction of Interstates 35 and 90, about south of the Twin Cities. It is on the shores of ...

. His father was a civil engineer from Denmark; his mother was American. He won a national scholarship to Yale University and graduated summa cum laude. He then studied at Harvard Law School, where he graduated magna cum laude in February 1946. He also served as president of the Harvard Law Review.

Career

In April 1946, von Mehren joined Debevoise, Plimpton, Lyons and Gates (later Debevoise, Plimpton & McLean; now Debevoise Plimpton), where he worked his entire career. He clerked for Judge

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 ...

at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals during the October 1946 term and for Supreme Court Justice

Stanley F. Reed Stanley Forman Reed (December 31, 1884 – April 2, 1980) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1938 to 1957. He also served as U.S. Solicitor General from 1935 to 1938. Born in Mas ...

during the October 1947. He served on the defense counsel team for Alger Hiss during his two trials for perjury in 1949; the team also included

Edward Cochrane McLean Edward Cochrane McLean (October 16, 1903 – October 12, 1972) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Education Born on October 16, 1903, in Hoosick Falls, New York, McLean ...

, namesake of Debevoise, Plimpton & McLean. He worked on the case from 1948 into 1950, attended every day of the two Hiss trials, and remained in touch with Hiss until the latter's death in 1996. He supported a Scottish law verdict: "not proved." He became a full member of the firm in April 1957 and remained a partner there up until 1993 (or 1995). He was admitted to practice before numerous courts: US District Court for the Southern District of New York (1949), US Circuit Courts of Appeal for Second (1950) and Third Circuits (1953), US Supreme Court (1954), US District Court for the Eastern District of New York (1971), US Tax Court (1972), and US Circuit Court of the District of Columbia (1974). In the Fall of 1957, he served as legal counsel to the Preparatory Commission of the

International Atomic Energy Agency The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was established in 1957 ...

and helped composed the agency's guidelines. He consulted to the

Rand Corporation The RAND Corporation (from the phrase "research and development") is an American nonprofit global policy think tank created in 1948 by Douglas Aircraft Company to offer research and analysis to the United States Armed Forces. It is financed ...

on disarmament (1960–1966) and to the

Hudson Institute The Hudson Institute is a conservative American think tank based in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1961 in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, by futurist, military strategist, and systems theorist Herman Kahn and his colleagues at the RAND Corporat ...

on international law (1962–1966). He was a senior lecturer in law at the

Wharton School The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in P ...

. Pro bono work served: the

International Law Association The International Law Association (ILA) is a non-profit organisation based in Great Britain that — according to its constitution — promotes "the study, clarification and development of international law" and "the furtherance of international ...

, the

Practising Law Institute Practising Law Institute (PLI) is a non-profit continuing legal education (CLE) organization chartered by the Regents of the University of the State of New York. Founded in 1933, the company organizes and provides CLE programs around the world. It ...

, the American branch of the

, committees of the City Bar Association of New York, and the

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 ...

Association of New York. He was an honorary member of the Commercial Bar of London and the Singapore Bar. He was also on the board of the American Arbitration Association; a fellow of the American Bar Foundation; the vice-president emeritis of the Axe-Houghton Foundation, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the

Century Association The Century Association is a private social, arts, and dining club in New York City, founded in 1847. Its clubhouse is located at 7 West 43rd Street near Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. It is primarily a club for men and women with distinction ...

and the University Club.

Personal and death

In 1948, von Mehren first married Mary Katharine Kelly (died 1985), who was daughter to physicist

Mervin Kelly Mervin Joseph Kelly (February 14, 1894 – March 18, 1971) was an American industrial physicist. He worked at Bell Labs from 1925 to 1959, in which time he held positions such as director of research, president, and chairman of the board of direc ...

. In 1988, von Mehren married Susan Heller Anderson, a writer and reporter for the ''New York Times''. He was an avid sailor and raced on Martha's Vineyard, where he owned a home in Chilmark bought from

James Cagney James Francis Cagney Jr. (; July 17, 1899March 30, 1986) was an American actor, dancer and film director. On stage and in film, Cagney was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. He ...

in 1957. He died at his home in Manhattan from congestive heart failure at age 93. He was survived by wife Susan, and all four of his children

Works

Legal articles written by von Mehren include: * "The Eco-Swiss Case and International Arbitration" Volume 19 Number 4 ''Arbitrational International'' (2003) * "An International Arbitrator's Point of View: Chapter III", ''International Business Litigation & Arbitration Practising Law Institute'' (March 2003) * "An International Arbitrator's Point of View: Chapter II", ''International Business Litigation & Arbitration Practising Law Institute'' (February 2001) * "An International Arbitrator's Point of View", ''International Business Litigation & Arbitration 2000'' (February 2000) * "An International Arbitrator's Point of View", ''International Business Litigation & Arbitration 2000'' (February 2000) * "The Enforcement of International Arbitral Awards," 13.4 ''Diritto del Commercio, Internazionale 811'' (Oct.-Dec. 1999) * "Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards in the United States", ''PLI'' (1998) * "Book Review, Dealing in Virtue: International Commercial Arbitration and the Construction of a Transactional Legal Order – 8" ''American Review of International Arbitration'', 117 (August 1998) * "Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards in the United States", Vol. 1, Issue 6, 18, ''International Arbitration Law Review'' (Oct. 1998) * "International Control of Civil Procedure: Who Benefits?", 57, ''Law and Contemporary Problems'' (1994) * "Burden of Proof in International Arbitration", 7, ''ICCA Congress Series'' (1994) * "Arbitration in Central and Eastern Europe: A Practitioner's View", 47, ''Arbitration Journal'' (1992) * "Rules of Arbitral Bodies Considered from a Practical Point of View", 9, ''Journal of International Arbitration'' (1992) * "From Vynior's Case to Mitsubishi: The Future of Arbitration and Public Law", ''Brooklyn Journal of International Law'' (1986)* "Extra-Territorial Application of Laws and Responses Thereto", ''Extra-Territorial Application of Law and Responses Thereto'' (1984) * "Points of Disagreement", ''Harvard Law School Bulletin'' (Winter 1984) * "Discovery Abroad: The Perspective of the U.S. Private Practitioner," 16, ''New York University Journal of International Law and Politics'' (1984) * "Transnational Litigation in American Courts: An Overview of Problems and Issues", 3, ''Dickinson Journal of International Law'' (1984) * "Discovery of Documentary and Other Evidence in a Foreign Country: Perspective of the US Private Practitioner", ''Extra-Territorial Application of Laws and Responses Thereto'' (1984) * "The Iran-U.S.A. Arbitral Tribunal", ''American Journal of Comparative Law''(1983) * "Discovery of Documentary and Other Evidence in a Foreign Country", ''American Journal of International Law'' (1983) * "The Enforcement of Arbitral Awards Under Conventions and United States Law", ''Yale Journal of World Public Order'' (April 1983)

Legacy

Papers by or about von Mehren regarding the Hiss Case are available as follows: * Stanley F. Reed Oral History Project *

Stephen Salant Stephen W. Salant (born c. 1945) is an economist who has done extensive research in applied microeconomics (mostly in the fields of natural resources and industrial organization). His 1975 model of speculative attacks in the gold market (with Da ...

: Successful Strategic Deception * Alger Hiss Papers

References