Robert MacCrate

Robert MacCrate (July 18, 1921 – April 6, 2016) was an American lawyer who served as counsel to New York Governor Nelson D. Rockefeller and as Special Counsel to the Department of the Army for its investigation of the My Lai Massacre. In the late 1980s, MacCrate served as president of both the New York State Bar Association and the American Bar Association ("ABA"). MacCrate later chaired the ABA Task Force on Law Schools and the Profession. The Task Force's Report, widely known as the MacCrate Report, was issued in July 1992. MacCrate was a partner and vice chairman of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. Although retired from active practice, MacCrate continued to serve on many boards and was active as a Senior Counsel of Sullivan & Cromwell until his death in 2016.

Robert MacCrate's father, John MacCrate, served in the U.S. House of Representatives before serving as a justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York.

The MacCrate Report With the backing of the ABA Task Force on Law Schools and the Profession, the MacCrate Report criticized the state of American legal education and called for a practice-oriented, rather than theory-oriented, approach to legal education. Specifically, the MacCrate Report suggested mandatory externships with government agencies, judges, and pro bono legal assistance clinics. Because of this resistance to practice-oriented legal education, many have called into question the existing law school ranking system, generated entirely by U.S. News & World Report, and criticized it as being outdated and reflecting American upper class paradigms rather than an ability to produce competent attorneys. This resistance has only added to the continually increasing criticism and mistrust of the law school ranking system.

Education MacCrate was a 1939 graduate of Brooklyn Friends School,

Death MacCrate died aged 94 on 6 April 2016 at his home in Plandome, New York.