Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky and Lieberman.

Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky and Lieberman, P.C., is one of the leading and most experienced law firms in the United States. The New York City-based firm has earned a national and international reputation in the areas of constitutional law, civil rights and civil liberties, litigating scores of cases in the Supreme Court of the United States, the federal courts and various state courts, and setting many groundbreaking precedents regarding the rights of political and religious organizations and individuals.

The firm was founded by Victor Rabinowitz, a young attorney who had spent several years at Boudin (Louis), Cohn and Glickstein, a firm engaged almost entirely in the practice of labor law, before leaving in 1944 to join two friends, Sam Neuburger and Sam Shapiro, in establishing Neuburger, Shapiro and Rabinowitz. In 1947, they were joined by Leonard Boudin who remained a senior partner until his death in 1989. Shapiro and Neuburger left the firm in 1952. By 1959, Michael Standard had joined the staff, subsequently becoming a partner, and for many years the firm was known as Rabinowitz, Boudin and Standard. In the early 1970s Michael Krinsky and Eric Lieberman joined, both becoming name partners in 1978. In the late 1980s, Rabinowitz began reducing his practice, becoming "of counsel" to the firm until his death in 2007. Krinsky and Lieberman are at the present time (2008) the senior partners directing the firm's activities.

During the more than fifty years documented within this collection, the firm was a major force in civil liberties, civil rights and labor litigation. Rabinowitz and Boudin defended more than 200 labor leaders, teachers, librarians, professors and others accused of being political subversives and, in the 1960s and 1970s, represented civil rights workers and Vietnam War dissenters. Clients have included such noted figures as Rockwell Kent, Dashiell Hammett, Paul Robeson, Julian Bond, James Peck, Dr. Benjamin Spock, Rev. Philip Berrigan, Dr. Daniel Ellsberg, James R. Hoffa and Alger Hiss. The firm has represented the government of Cuba and, on behalf of its Cuban clients, litigated numerous landmark cases in international and foreign relations law.

Firm partners, Rabinowitz in particular, have been associated with the National Lawyers Guild, a progressive organization formed in 1937 as an alternative to the conservative, and racially segregated, American Bar Association. Deeply involved in the work of the Guild from its earliest days, Rabinowitz served as president of the New York City Chapter (1964-1966) and was national president in 1967 and 1968. Krinsky also served as president of the local chapter (1977-1979) and was the lead attorney in National Lawyers Guild v. Attorney General (1977-1989), a case resulting in admission by the U.S. Government that the FBI had repeatedly wiretapped, burglarized and used other disruptive tactics against the Guild for 35 years. In addition, more than 400,000 pages of FBI documentation on the Guild and its members were released.

Sources:

From the guide to the Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky and Lieberman: Legal Files, Bulk, 1940-1985, 1915-1992, (Bulk 1940-1985), (Tamiment Library / Wagner Archives)