April 20, 2009

We mourn the death of the firm's co-founder Louis Lowenstein, who practiced law with us from 1968 until 1978 when the firm was known as Kramer Lowenstein Nessen & Kamin. As a young man of 43 with energy and noble ambition, Lou led a group of departing lawyers from Hays, Sklar & Hertzberg to join Kramer, Nessen & Hochman in forming an upstart firm that was guided by a vision: creating an egalitarian, first class group of lawyers that would compete with the major firms of the day. Forty-one years later, the firm is one of the country's largest first-tier law firms. Lou was a brilliant legal strategist, deep thinker and a consummate professional who created and led the firm's corporate department and provided sage advice to diverse clients. Lou left private practice to accept the challenge of running a NYSE company and thereafter joined the faculty at Columbia Law School, from which he had graduated after serving as editor-in-chief of the Columbia Law Review. As an academic, Lou used his business savvy and practical experience to write and lecture on corporate governance, markets and finance; to direct the law school's institutional investor project; and to teach students as the Simon H. Rifkind professor emeritus of finance and law. Lou generously dedicated his extraordinary talents to a variety of philanthropic efforts, including unstinting service on behalf of the Coalition for the Homeless. He was a noble character and inspirational figure whose legacy continues to guide our law firm.