David M. Zornow ’80, Of Counsel, White Collar Defense and Investigations, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates, YLS Visiting Lecturer in Law, Center Fellow, and Student Mentor
(From left) Kate Stith, Joanna Hendon ’91, Roberta Romano ’80, David M. Zornow ’80, Dean Heather Gerken, Robert J. Giuffra, Jr. ’87, Stephen Fraidin ’64, and Sarath Sanga ’14
At the presentation of the award, Roberta Romano ’80, YLS Sterling Professor of Law and Center Co-Director, stated that the long and distinguished career of David Zornow ’80, which encompasses government service, private practice, and the teaching and mentorship of Law School students, embodies precisely the type of multi-faceted excellence that the Center had in mind when creating the Simeon E. Baldwin Award.
Kate Stith, YLS Lafayette S. Foster Professor of Law, spoke of David’s government service, his dedication to teaching Law School students, and his passion for Bob Dylan. She noted that they first met in the early 1980s, when they were both Assistant U.S. Attorneys in the Southern District of New York. “When [Rudolph Giuliani] decided to personally try the biggest corruption case in the Office, against the Democratic leader of the Bronx [, Stanley Friedman], he asked David and another stellar prosecutor, to be his co-counsel.” The team obtained a RICO conviction of Friedman, and David was awarded the Department of Justice’s Director’s Award for his investigative and trial work on the case.
Professor Stith then noted that, in the late 1980s, David was associate independent counsel in the Iran-Contra investigation and was a member of the trial team in United States v. Oliver L. North. After the conviction of Oliver North, “David went to Skadden Arps in 1989 to start its white-collar practice - a most successful endeavor.”
Professor Stith concluded by speaking of the White Collar Criminal Defense course that she has taught with David since 2013. “Teaching with David Zornow has been my joy – not a simple or easy joy but a joy you feel you’ve earned. David is a demanding teacher and a demanding co-teacher – in 2024 he sent me a month before our first session his proposed version 7 of the Syllabus. By the end of that term we were – literally—at Syllabus version 27.”
Joanna Hendon ’91, Co-Leader of the White Collar, Government and Internal Investigations Team at Alston & Bird LLP, also spoke on the occasion. Noting that “the practice of law is still an apprenticeship, you learn as you go,” she discussed working with David on a difficult insider trading case that lasted several years: “For 2 ½ years, I started every day on the phone with David, ended every day on the phone with David. and sometimes went days at a time speaking with almost no one other than David. It was rough in terms of trying to keep our defense strategy on the rails - but for me, it was wonderful, because I got to get that close, for that long, to what is simply one of the best minds in the business. David is unsurpassed as a strategist and as a technical white collar lawyer. With David, you are watching elite work at the highest imaginable level.” She added, “David is one of the kindest, most supportive, patient people I’ve worked with.”