FRED ALTSHULER

ALTSHULER--Fred H. Fred H. Altshuler, a lawyer who worked for labor unions, environmental groups and an impeachment inquiry concerning Richard Nixon, died peacefully in San Francisco on November 20, 2024, at the age of 81. He co-founded Altshuler Berzon LLP, a law firm with a goal of furthering social justice. Fred was known for his integrity, decency and intelligence. He was devoted to his wife, Julie Cheever, and their children, Norma and George. Fred was born in Detroit in 1943 and was the only child of Louis Altshuler and Norma Siegel Altshuler. In the early 1950s, the family moved to Pasadena, California, where Fred played the clarinet in the Pasadena High School band. Fred got his undergraduate degree at Stanford and his law degree at the University of Chicago. After law school, he served in a one-year clerkship with 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge John Godbold in Montgomery, Alabama. Fred next worked for California Rural Legal Assistance for four years, at first as directing attorney of the group's four-lawyer office in El Centro and later in its headquarters in San Francisco. Years later, Fred received CLRA's Community Leadership Award, which is given to social justice advocates with a life's work of public service. A former coworker recalled the time that Fred stood up for her against a prejudiced client who refused to work with her. In 1973, Fred joined the U.S. House Judiciary Committee's bipartisan special staff for an inquiry into the possible impeachment of President Richard Nixon. The inquiry was a formative experience through which he gained lifelong friends. It ended in 1974 when Nixon resigned just before the House was due to vote on three articles of impeachment. Fred then returned to San Francisco and worked for three years for a private law firm. In 1978, when both were ten years out of law school, Fred and Stephen Berzon founded their own law firm, Altshuler Berzon LLP, with a vision of working for social and economic justice in public interest cases. They were initially joined by Marsha Berzon. The firm grew to comprise 30 lawyers today. Fred worked for more than three decades at Altshuler Berzon until his retirement in 2010. In one union case, Fred and Stephen Berzon won a jury trial that restored health insurance to 5,000 retired Idaho miners who had been denied the promised insurance. Through lawsuits filed under California's Proposition 65, Fred contributed to a reduction of lead poisoning. He participated in a case that led to the restoration of the San Joaquin River. Fred had a specialty in attorney's fee litigation in cases won by public interest groups and for a number of years was the co-chair and then chair of the San Francisco Bar Association's Amicus Curiae Committee. Stephen Berzon described Fred as being "smart as a whip, with impeccable judgment, and a wonderful mentor to many young lawyers." Another partner, Michael Rubin, said that Fred "taught me, often through example in his gentle but firmly grounded manner, what it meant to be an ethical, committed and old school (in a good way) lawyer." Fred and Julie, a legal affairs journalist, married in 1983. He enjoyed going to classical music concerts and operas with Julie, going on weekend bike rides with his children, and travelling with his family, especially to France, where he spent a semester while in college. He liked reading about medieval and modern European history and the history of the Jewish people. Fred served on the boards of several nonprofit and civic organizations, including Public Advocates Inc. and California Rural Legal Assistance. Fred is survived by Julie, daughter Norma Altshuler and spouse Chayan Chakrabarti, son George Altshuler and spouse Kate Bass, and three grandchildren. Coincidentally, he died on his and Julie's 41st wedding anniversary. A memorial service and Celebration of Life was held at Congregation Sherith Israel in San Francisco on December 15, 2024.