STEVEN C. KRANE

KRANE--Steven C. The lawyers and staff of Proskauer Rose LLP mourn the sudden and untimely passing of our longtime partner, colleague, and friend, Steven C. Krane. Steve was one of the nation's foremost and widely recognized leaders in the field of legal ethics and professional responsibility. He was also a wise counselor and confidant, a dear friend, charming colleague and a truly kind and decent human being. The General Counsel of Proskauer, Steve also served as co-head of the firm's Law Firm Practice Group, where he represented law firms and individual lawyers in their most sensitive and important matters. But he will likely be best remembered for his integral leadership role in developing and interpreting the rules governing the professional conduct of lawyers. Steve was a member of the New York State Commission on Public Integrity and the former Chair of the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility. For 14 years, Steve also led the New York State Bar Association committee responsible for formulating the ethics rules governing New York lawyers. In 2007, he was appointed by then-Chief Judge Judith Kaye as co-chair of the New York Judicial Institute on Professionalism in the Law. He also served as vice-chair of the NYSBA Special Committee on the Law Governing Firm Structure and Operation (the MacCrate Committee); chaired the NYSBA Special Committee on Multidisciplinary Practice; and was recently named vice-chair of the International Bar Association Committee on Multidisciplinary Practices. Steve was active in the development of law and policy relating to cross-border legal practice, serving as one of the principal negotiators for the ABA and NYSBA in their efforts to achieve agreements with foreign governments to liberalize restrictions on lawyers. He held numerous positions in this arena, including: chair-elect of the NYSBA Section on International Law and Practice; chair of the NYSBA Special Committee on Cross-Border Legal Practice; and advisor to the ABA Task Force on International Trade in Legal Services. He was recently appointed to the Policy Committee of the Bar Issues Commission of the International Bar Association. Steve also had a distinguished career as a bar leader outside of the field of legal ethics, most notably serving as president of the NYSBA in 2001-2002, the youngest person to hold that post, and as a member of the ABA's Board of Governors. He coordinated the efforts of the organized bar in responding to the terrorist attacks of September 11; successfully represented the ABA in its challenge to the Federal Trade Commission's "Red Flag Rules"; and created and chaired the Student Loan Assistance for the Public Interest program, which provides grants to lawyers in public interest jobs. Active in the community, he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Friends of the John Jay Homestead (Katonah, NY). He previously served as a clerk for Judge Kaye, with whom he maintained a longtime friendship, in the New York State Court of Appeals. In addition, he was a hearing panel member and the hearing panel chair of the Departmental Disciplinary Committee, First Judicial Department, in New York; served as a hearing panel chair for the Committee on Grievances of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York; and was a special referee for disciplinary cases in the Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department. Steve also wrote and lectured extensively on ethics issues, and taught professional responsibility for several years at the Columbia University School of Law. Apart from his extraordinary professional accomplishments, Steve was a remarkable human being: beloved by colleagues; a devoted mentor to numerous young lawyers; brilliant but humble; passionate about the profession; a man of boundless energy, impeccable integrity and filled with abundant cheer. He will be sorely missed and always remembered as a true lawyer's lawyer and a devoted colleague. Our thoughts are with his family. Allen I. Fagin Chairman, Proskauer Rose LLP