mediarelease

Robert D. Joffe, the former Presiding Partner of Cravath, Swaine & Moore
LLP, has died of cancer, according to a Firm spokesperson. He was 66
years old.

Mr. Joffe, who died on Thursday, January 28, was regarded by the legal
profession as both a preeminent litigator and a preeminent boardroom
adviser. His high-stakes work with clients such as Time Warner, as well
as his efforts in furtherance of civil liberties and justice, placed him
at the pinnacle of the profession. Mr. Joffe was well-known nationally
and internationally, both for his tenacity in handling landmark
litigation and for his ability to provide highly sensitive counsel in
the boardrooms of corporate America. Whether dealing with a challenging
antitrust, securities or corporate governance issue or a complex
contractual arrangement, Mr. Joffe excelled at all matters he undertook.

Counseling Boards

Mr. Joffe represented the Boards of Directors of some of the world’s
most prominent companies in connection with their most pressing
challenges, especially during the recent financial crisis. He was a
long-time advisor to the non-management directors of Fannie Mae. From
October 2007 through its acquisition by Bank of America in January 2009,
he represented the independent directors of Merrill Lynch. Mr. Joffe was
also counsel to the independent directors of Citigroup, General Electric
and General Motors, among many others.

Time Warner Relationship

Since 1978, Mr. Joffe was the primary outside lawyer for Time Warner and
led the merger of Time Inc. and Warner Communications Inc. through the
FTC review. He was the principal litigator for Time Inc. in successfully
rebutting Paramount’s 1989 attempted takeover, when he argued and won
Paramount v. Time in the Delaware Chancery Court and Delaware Supreme
Court. This case was considered a milestone case in M&A litigation, as
it reaffirmed directors’ control over company affairs. Mr. Joffe
represented Time Warner at the FTC in connection with its merger with
AOL. He also represented Time Warner in connection with its acquisition
of Turner Broadcasting Systems, Inc. in proceedings before the FTC and
in the Delaware courts, and also represented Time Warner in both
antitrust litigation with Fox News and First Amendment litigation with
the City of New York. In the latter case, he obtained a temporary
restraining order against the City that was later converted to a
preliminary injunction and affirmed by the Second Circuit. Mr. Joffe
also advised Time Warner in connection with Carl Icahn’s stock ownership
and proxy fight.

Passionate About Human Rights

Even as a student at Harvard Law School, Mr. Joffe was interested in
human rights and the justice system. It was there that he served as Case
Note Editor of the Harvard Civil Rights/Civil Liberties Law Review.
From 1967 to 1969, after just a few months as a Cravath associate, Mr.
Joffe left New York to serve in the Ministry of Justice of the
Government of Malawi on an Africa Asia Public Service Fellowship funded
by the Ford Foundation. It was in this position that he assisted the
Commissioner for Law Revision in rewriting the country’s laws and
instituting a framework for supervision of the local courts for this
African country. He continued his interest in civil rights and, in 1989,
he argued Martin v. Wilks, a pro
bono civil rights case in the United States Supreme Court in which he
represented black and women municipal employees in Birmingham, Alabama,
in an effort to secure equal opportunity in employment. During the same
year, he participated in a 1989 mission to Kenya on behalf of the
Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. He was also asked to testify before
Congressional subcommittees regarding the human rights issues in Kenya
and his support of the Civil Rights Act of 1991. In later years, as
Cravath’s Presiding Partner, he was a strong promoter of the need for
lawyers to treat pro bono clients with equal regard and concern as they
would accord any paying client.

Mr. Joffe was widely recognized by the legal community for his work on
these causes. In 1992, he was honored by The Lawyers’ Committee for
Civil Rights Under Law for Distinguished Leadership in helping secure
passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1991. In 2004, 2005, and 2006,
respectively, he received the American Jewish Committee’s Learned Hand
Award, the Fund for Modern Courts’ John J. McCloy Award and the Legal
Aid Society’s Servant of Justice Award.

Legal Career

Mr. Joffe, a native New Yorker, received an A.B. cum laude from
Harvard College in 1964, and a J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law
School in 1967. After working in Malawi, he rejoined Cravath in 1969 and
became a partner in 1975. He was elected Deputy Presiding Partner in
November 1997, and succeeded Samuel C. Butler as Cravath’s Presiding
Partner in January 1999. Mr. Joffe served as the Firm’s leader until
December 31, 2006, at which point he returned to the full-time practice
of law.

A Leader in Civic and Bar Activities

Mr. Joffe was a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New
York (Vice President, 2003-04; Committee on Honors, 2004; Executive
Committee, 1995-99; Chair, Trade Regulation Committee, 1980-83;
Nominating Committee, 2001-2002, 2008 (Chair); Chair, Task Force on
Judicial Selection, 2003, 2006); a member of the Council on Foreign
Relations; a member of the Board of Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum
of Art (Chair, Legal Committee); a member of the Board of Directors and
Vice Chair of Human Rights First (formerly the Lawyers Committee for
Human Rights); a member of the Board of Directors of The After-School
Corporation; a member of the Board of Directors of Franklin Resources,
Inc. (and Chair of its Governance Committee); board member of Fiduciary
Trust Company International, the Harvard Law School Dean’s Advisory
Board, 1997-2009; and a member of The Governor’s First Judicial
Department Judicial Screening Committee. He was a member of the Board of
Directors of the Romanian American Enterprise Fund (appointed by
President Clinton) from 1994 to 2003.

Recognized by the Bar

Mr. Joffe’s name often appeared on the various ranking lists of the
nation’s best lawyers. He was cited as being one of the country’s
preeminent practitioners in the antitrust arena in Chambers USA 2008
and 2009: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, The
Legal 500 and Chambers Global:The World’s Leading Lawyers
for Business. In 2008, Mr. Joffe was named in The Best
Lawyers in America 2009 and 2010 as a leader in antitrust
law. Recently, he was one of only fifteen New York State attorneys
selected as one of the leading commercial litigators in the International
Who’s Who of Commercial Litigators 2008 publication. Additionally,
Mr. Joffe was described in the 2007 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in
America guide as a “legal luminary (who) stands tall on the biggest
issues – improving the judiciary through appointment and greater respect
for human rights – while handling the biggest litigation matters for the
nation’s leading businesses”. He was also recognized by Benchmark
Litigation 2009 as a “Local Litigation Star” for the New York area.
In Benchmark Litigation 2010, Mr. Joffe was additionally
highlighted as a “National Star” for his work in the securities arena.

Mr. Joffe is survived by his wife Virginia (Dinny), two children,
Katherine Joffe (NYC) and David Joffe (NYC), two stepchildren, Dr. Ryan
DeHaas (Concord, NC) and Elizabeth DeHaas (NYC), and two grandchildren,
Aidan Julio DeHaas (Concord, NC) and Alexander Contreras DeHaas (NYC).
He is also survived by his mother, Bertha Joffe and two brothers, Paul
Joffe (DC) and Richard Joffe (NYC).

As one of the premier law firms in the world, Cravath’s corporate
lawyers handle major transactions, such as domestic and cross-border
mergers and acquisitions, U.S. and international securities offerings
and commercial lending, for the world’s leading business and financial
institutions. The firm’s litigation department is staffed by trial
lawyers with broad courtroom experience in complex corporate litigation
across all industries. Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, whose roots date
back to 1819, has more than 535 lawyers in New York City and London.

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