STEPHEN J. POLLAK
Stephen J. Pollak is senior counsel to Goodwin Procter (October 2004 to present) and
was a partner (1969 to October 2004) and fom1er Chair of the Executive Committee of Shea &
Gardner ( 1993-1996) prior to its merger with Goodwin Procter in October 2004. Mr. Pollak
joined the Firm in 1 969 after serving in the United States Department of Justice and the White
House from 1961 through 1969. Among his governmental positions were Advisor to the
President for National Capital Affairs (1967) and First Assistant and Assistant Attorney General
in charge of the Civil Rights Division (1965-67, 1967-69) and Assistant to the Solicitor General
(1961-64), U.S. Department of Justice.
Since 1989, Mr. Pollak has been a member of the Panel of Mediators appointed by
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and the Panel of Mediators
appointed by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He has served as mediator
in approximately 80 cases and arbitrator in five cases that went through evidentiary hearing
to decision. Mr. Pollak has served as a training consultant in mediation for the Office of Dispute
Resolution of the U.S. Depaiiment of Justice.
In addition to service as mediator and arbitrator, Mr. Pollak’s legal practice has consisted
primarily of representing clients in trial and appellate litigation in the Federal Courts, the
Supreme Court (13 cases argued), Courts of Appeals, and various District Courts and before
federal departments and agencies. His fields of concentration in litigation have included
constitutional law, labor and antitrust law, civil rights, ERISA, and legal ethics. He has also
represented individuals under investigation for possible violation of federal laws, including
lawyers and law finns against whom complaints have been lodged with the Bar Counsel.
From 1999 through 2003, Mr. Po11ak served as Special Master in the Vitamins Antitrust
Litigation, MDL No. 1285, in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia before
Chief Judge Thomas F. Hogan. He was responsible, among other things, for resolving all discovery
disputes.
Mr. Pollak has served as lead counsel for the United Mine Workers of America Health
and Retirement Funds, a collectively bargained multiemployer benefit fund, in litigation over
the validity under the labor and antitrust laws of provisions of the bargaining agreement
requiring contributions to the Funds on coal purchased by companies signatory to the agreement.
Mr. Pollak has handled more than 50 cases of this nature for the Funds, recovering more than
$100 million in cont:Iibutions. Other litigation for the Funds includes lawsuits testing the
mean-ing of the 1992 Coal Act which created the UMWA Combined Benefit Fund and provided
for its funding primarily by companies signatory to prior collective bargaining agreements.
During the 1970s and early 1980s, Mr. Pollak was lead outside counsel for the National
Education Association in many cases at trial, on appeal and in the Supreme Court presenting
frontier constitutional, civil rights and labor issues.-2-
Mr. Pollak served as counsel to the Secretary of the Department of Health, Education and
Welfare, Joseph Califano, in drafting regulations implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation
Act of 1973, and was counsel for respondent Camenisch in the University of Texas v.
Camenisch, 451 U.S. 390 (1981 ), in which the rights under federal law of a student with a
hearing impairment to have the assistance of a sign language interpreter were at issue.
Mr. Pollak was President of the District of Columbia Bar ( 1980-81) and was also a member
of the Board of Governors of the Bar (1972-73, 1974-75, 1979-80, and 1981-82). He served
as Chair of the Bar’s Public Service Activities Committee (1989-95) and was the leader in reorganization
of the Bar’s pro bono activities. Mr. Pollak was President (7 /2008-6/2009) and a
member of the Board of Directors (2003-2009) of the District of Columbia Bar Foundation. He
is a member of the District of Columbia Access to Justice Commission (March 2005-present).
Mr. Po11ak has served as a member and Chair of the District of Columbia Judicial
Nomination Commission (1984-90, 1994-96), responsible for selection of the Chief Judges of the
District of Columbia Court of Appeals and the Superior Comi of the District of Columbia as well
as presentation to the President of candidates for nomination as judges of those Cowis.
Mr. Pollak is President and member of the Board of Directors of the Historical Society of
the District of Columbia Circuit (2003-present, 1993-present) and Director of its Oral History
Program (1994-present).
Mr. Pollak is a member of the American Bar Association, serving in the House of
Delegates (1978-81 ), artd the Ame1ican Law Institute.
Mr. Pollak attended Dartmouth College (B.A. 1950) and Yale Law School (LL.B. 1956),
and served in the U.S. Navy (1950-53).
Mr. Pollak has received the following awards:
The Justice Potter Stewart Award from the Council for Court
Excellence of Washingtoh, D.C. (2006)
Daniel Webster Distinguished Service Award, awarded by the
Dartmouth Club of Washington (2005)
Thurgood Marshall Award for Service in the Public Interest,
awarded by the- District of Columbia Bar (2001)
Whitney North Seymour Award for 1994, awarded by the
Lawyers 1 Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Frederick B. Abramson President’s Award for 1994, awarded
to the “Public Services Activities Corporation, Pro Bono
Clinics, Stephen J. Pollak,” by the District of Columbia Bar
Servant of Justice Award for 1994, awarded by the Legal Aid
Society of the District of ColumbiaPresent
Position:
Prior
Position:
Experience:
– 3 –
Wiley A. Branton Award for 1992, awarded by the Washington
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Frederick B. Abramson President’s Award for 1992, awarded
to the Public Services Activities Review Committee, Stephen J.
Pollak, Chair, by the District of Columbia Bar
* * * * *
Senior Counsel
Goodwin Procter LLP
901 New York Avenue, N.W., #823E
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 346-4178
spollak@goodwinprocter.com
Senior Counsel (October 2004 to present)
Partner
Shea & Gardner, Attorneys at Law
1800 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Washingtoh, DC 20036
(202) 828-2090
Partner (March 1969 to October 2004)
Chair, Executive Committee (April 1993 to April 1996)
Mediation and Arbitration
Member, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Panel
of Mediators (1989 to present)
Member, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Panel of
Mediators (1989 to present)
Member, CPR Panel of Distinguished Neutrals, Washington, D.C.
(1998 to present)
Member, AAA Panel of Mediators for Complex Cases
Special Master, Vitamins Antitrust Litigation (U.S. District Court for the
District of Columbia, 1999 to 2003)
Cow1sel and Associate Independent Counsel to Independent Counsel James C.
McKay re Franklyn C. Nofziger Matters
(February 1987 to July 1988, August 1989 to 1990)
Assistant A ttomey General
Civil Rights Division
U.S. Depa1tment of Justice
(December 1967 to January 1969)
Special Assistant to the Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
(October 1967 to December 1967)
Advisor to the President for National Capital Affairs
(February 1967 to September 1967)Memberships
and Board
Positions:
-4-
First Assistant to the Assistant Attorney General
Civil Rights Division
U.S. Department of Justice
(April 1965 to February 1967)
Deputy General Counsel
Office of Economic Opportunity
(October 1964 to April 1965)
Legal Counsel to the President’s Task Force on the War Against Poverty
(June 1964 to October 1964)
Assistant to Solicitor General
U.S. Depaitment of Justice
(November 1961 to October 1964)
Associate
Covington & Bmling
Washington, D.C,
(1956 to November 1961)
District of Columbia Bar
President (June 1980 to June 1981)
President-Elect (June 1979 to June 1980)
Secretary (1974 – 1975)
Member, Board of Governors ( 1972 to 1973,
June 1981 to June 1982)
Chair, Public Service Activities Committee
(1989 to October 1995); and Public Service
Activities Review Committee (1990 to June 1992)
Chair, 1998-99 Nominations Committee
Member, Bar Foundation Study Committee (1998 to 2000)
Member, Pro Bono Initiative Committee (2000 to 2001)
Member ( 1972 to present)
District of Columbia Bar Foundation
President (2008 to 2009)
Vice President (2007 to 2008)
Member, Board of Directors (October 2003 to 2009)
Past President (2009 to present)
District of Columbia Access to Justice Commission
Member (March 2005 to present)
District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission
Chair (July 1989 to January 1990)
Acting Chair (December 1988 to July 1989)
Secretary (1986 to 1988)
Member (July 1994 to January 1996; January 1984
to January 1990)- 5 –
The Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit
President (September 2003 to present)
Member, Board of Directors (October 1993 to present)
Special Committee on Gender Bias of the Task Force of the D.C.
Circuit on Gender and Race Bias
Member (September 1992 to 1995)
Member and Chair, Subcommittee on Litigation Process
(January 1993 to 1995)
American Law Institute
Member (1978 to present)
American Bar Association
Fellow (July 1996 to present)
Member, House of Delegates (1978-81)
Member (1958 to present)
Judicial Conference of the District of Columbia Circuit
Standing Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services
Chair (I 997 to July 2001)
Member (1996 to 2001)
Committee on the Administration of Justice Under Emergency Conditions
Chair (1971 to 1973)
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Co-Chair (1975-1977)
Member, Board ofDirectors (1969 to present)
Member, Executive Committee (June 1987 to 2009)
Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs
Chair (January 1970 to March 1972)
Member, Board of Directors (1969 to 1995)
DK.H, Incorporated; Draper and Kramer, Incorporated; and D&K Insurance
Agency, Inc., Chicago, Illinois
Chair (May 2011 to present)
Vice Chair of Boards of Directors (May 2009 to April 2010)
Member, Board of Directors (July 1970 to present)
Housing Development Corporation (Non-Profit, Low-Income Housing)
President (January 197 6 to 1980)
Member, Executive Committee and Board of Directors ( 1969 to 1980)
NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc.
Member, Board of Directors (June 1987 to May 1995)
So Others Might Eat, Washington, D.C.
Member, Board of Directors (June 1987 to December 1992)Education:
– 6 –
Dartmouth College, 1946-50, B.A., Phi Beta Kappa
Yale Law School, 1953-1956, LL.B., cum laude
Order of Coif
Managing Editor of Yale Law Journal
Jewell Prize – Highest grades, second yeat
Second prize for best student contribution to Yale
Law Journal (1955-56) “Expatriation Act of 1954”
CASES ARGUED BEFORE THE
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
Allen v. State Board of Elections, 393 U.S. 544 (1969)
Griffin v. Breckenridge, 403 U.S. 88 (1971)
Hanover Bank v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue,
369 U.S. 672 (1962)
Kaiser Steel Corp. v. Mullins, 455 U.S. 72 (1982)
Namet v. United States, 373 U.S. 179 (1963)
Presser v. United States, 371 U.S. 71 (1962)
Rabinowitz v. Kennedy, 376 U.S. 605 (1964)
United States v. Bilder, 369 U.S. 499 (1962)
United States v. Healy, 376 U.S. 75 (1964)
University of Texas v. Camenisch, 451 U.S. 390 (I 981)
Williams v. Zucken, 371 U.S. 531,372 U.S. 765 (1963)
Willis Shaw Frozen ExQress, Inc. v. United States,
377 U.S. 159 (1964)
March 15, 2012