Victor Rabinowitz

Victor Rabinowitz (July 2, 1911 – November 16, 2007) was a 20th-century American lawyer known for representing high-profile dissidents and leftist causes.

Background

Rabinowitz was born in Brooklyn, New York into a Jewish family. His parents were Rose (née Netter) and Louis M. Rabinowitz, a factory owner who had emigrated from Lithuania. Despite running a prosperous business, Louis was "a committed socialist" and Victor was raised in a leftist household. He later wrote about his childhood: "I cannot remember a time when I did not believe that trade unions were a good thing."

After attending Brooklyn's Boys High School, he graduated from the University of Michigan with a BA in 1931, and from the University of Michigan Law School with a JD in 1934.

Career

Rabinowitz and Boudin law firm Rabinowitz was hired right out of law school by the small New York City firm of Hays, Podell and Shulmman. Rabinowitz worked there as a law clerk until mid-1938 when he followed Ben Algase, a junior partner, into Louis B. Boudin's firm, which was active in labor law. In his 1996 autobiography, Rabinowitz wrote that Algase "was some variety of left-winger and saw a good prospect in me, questioned me thoroughly on my political and social views and finally said that a young lawyer with my political outlook could help in the progressive movement, which needed lawyers badly."

In 1944, Rabinowitz formed a new law firm with Boudin's nephew Leonard Boudin. Initially known as Rabinowitz and Boudin, it was renamed Rabinowitz, Boudin and Standard in 1959, and after that became the present-day firm of Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky & Lieberman. The firm's papers, held by the Tamiment Library of New York University, describe its history as follows: Notable clients included Julian Bond, Paul Robeson, Alger Hiss, Benjamin Spock, Daniel Ellsberg, Jimmy Hoffa, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and Church of Scientology. Multer won the election with 58%, and Rabinowitz came in second with 25%.

In 1951, Rabinowitz joined more than half a dozen lawyers in defending 17 Communist Party members, including Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. The communists were accused of conspiring to "teach and advocate violent overthrow" of the government. The other lawyers were: Abraham L. Pomerantz, Carol Weiss King, Michael Begun, Harold I. Cammer, Mary Kaufman, Leonard Boudin, and Abraham Unger. They were subsequently relieved by O. John Rogge, William W. Kleinman, Joseph L. Delaney, Frank Serri, Osmond K. Fraenkel, Henry G. Singer, Abraham J. Gellinoff, Raphael P. Koenig, Nicholas Atlas, and Frank Costello's lawyer George Wolf.

In 1963, when his daughter Joni was convicted of perjury in connection with her work in Albany, Georgia for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Rabinowitz won her release on the grounds that the local black population was systematically excluded from grand juries.

He later described a sharp disagreement that arose within the law firm in 1973 over a new case being offered:

In 1984, Rabinowitz played an "important role in anchoring the defense" when Kathy Boudin—Weather Underground member and daughter of Leonard Boudin—pled guilty to murder as part of an armored truck robbery.

During the 1940s, he was active in the Brooklyn branch of the American Labor Party (ALP), briefly serving as its chairman, In 1963 the foundation gave over $40,000 to help SNCC finance a voter registration drive. Rabinowitz wrote, "At some time in the sixties, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) raised some question as to whether the foundation was engaged in political activity."

Personal life and death Rabinowitz was married twice, first to the former Marcia Goldberg of Brooklyn. Following their divorce in 1967, he married filmmaker, journalist and author Joanne Grant (1930–2005).

Published works Tiger, Edith, ed. (1979). In Re Alger Hiss: Petition for a Writ of Error Coram Nobis. Vol. 2. Hill and Wang. . Includes the memorandum and exhibits in support of Alger Hiss's petition, prepared by Victor Rabinowitz for the National Emergency Civil Liberties Foundation. Rabinowitz, Victor (1996). Unrepentant Leftist: A Lawyer's Memoir. .

Notable clients

Salvador Allende Philip Berrigan Julian Bond Kathy Boudin Fidel Castro Daniel Ellsberg Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Raúl Roa García Dashiell Hammett Alger Hiss Jimmy Hoffa Rockwell Kent Steve Nelson Paul Robeson Carlos Rafael Rodríguez Benjamin Spock American Communications Association Black Panther Party Church of Scientology Fellowship of Reconciliation