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Isaac Shapiro

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Isaac Shapiro
Born1931 (age 92–93)
Japan
NationalityAmerican
Alma materColumbia University (BA, LLB)
Occupationlawyer
EmployerSkadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
Known forPresident of Japan Society
SpouseJacqueline Weiss

Isaac Shapiro (born 1931) is an American lawyer with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.[1] He is an expert in Soviet law, Japanese law, and served as the president of Japan Society.[2][3][4] He has also written widely about Japan and Japanese-American relations.[5][6][7]

Biography

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Shapiro was born in Japan in 1931 as a Stateless person.[8] His father was Constantine Shapiro, a Russian Jewish musician who left the country with his family after the Russian Revolution.[9] The elder Shapiro lived in Germany, where he was the first cellist of the Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester, and moved to Japan, where he pioneered the establishment of Western classical music.[9] His mother was a concert pianist who met and married the elder Shapiro in Berlin, before leaving for Harbin, China, and Japan.[8][10][11] He is also a nephew of concert pianist Maxim Shpairo and Russian-French philosopher Vladimir Lossky.[12]

Shapiro grew up in the Japanese-occupied Harbin and Yokohama during World War II. He studied at Saint Joseph College, Yokohama but his studies were interrupted by the war.[11] He moved to the United States in 1945, after then-marine officer John C. Munn hired him as translator and was made his guardian.[13][14] He attended Punahou School in Honolulu, graduating from Columbia College in 1954, and Columbia Law School in 1956.[2][15] He was also a Fulbright scholar and studied at the University of Paris.[1]

He joined Milbank Tweed upon graduating from law school and opened the firm's first Japanese office in Tokyo in 1977, which led to protests from the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, resulting in a freeze on the establishment of foreign law offices in Japan.[16] However, his trailblazing effort subsequently led to the entry of other foreign law firms.[10][17][18] In 1986, he joined Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and headed its international practice, opening its practice in Japan.[19][20] He became of counsel to the firm in 2001.[1]

Shapiro was a director of Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi Foundation in New York City, and served as a past president of the Isamu Noguchi Foundation.[21][22][23] He also served as president of the Japan Society from 1970 to 1977.[7][24][25]

He is the author of Edokko: Growing Up a Foreigner in Wartime Japan, an autobiography of his childhood.[26] He was also the author of The Soviet Legal System, a textbook on Soviet law, co-written with Columbia law professor John N. Hazard.[27]

In 2006, Shapiro was awarded an Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon by the Emperor of Japan for his service in promoting U.S.-Japan cultural relations.[3]

Personal life

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Shapiro is married to Jacqueline Weiss, whom he met at Columbia law.[14] Weiss comes from a family of rabbis and is a niece of the former rabbis of Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco and the Rockdale Temple in Cincinnati.[14]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Isaac Shapiro" (PDF). Skadden. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Supporter of Japanese Legal Studies Isaac Shapiro '56 Publishes Illuminating Memoir". www.law.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  3. ^ a b Japan Info. Japan Informational Center, Consolate General of Japan. 2005.
  4. ^ "Edokko: Growing Up a Foreigner in Wartime Japan". YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  5. ^ "Jewish Refugee in World War II Japan | C-SPAN.org". www.c-span.org. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  6. ^ Hongo, Jun (2015-07-10). "WSJ Archive: Emperor Hirohito's Speech on Japan's Surrender". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  7. ^ a b "An expert on Japanese affairs told a House panel..." UPI. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  8. ^ a b "One Man's Youth As A 'Stateless Foreigner' In Japan During World War II". www.wbur.org. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  9. ^ a b "Constantine Shapiro, Cellist and Writer, 95". The New York Times. 1992-05-28. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  10. ^ a b Sales, Ben. "This Jewish man survived World War II — in Axis-era Japan". jewishchronicle.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  11. ^ a b "JACQUELIN WEISS ENGAGED TO WED; Columbia Law Graduate to Be Bride of Isaac Shapiro, Senior at Same School". timesmachine.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  12. ^ "Sausalito News 26 July 1958 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  13. ^ ""Edokko" Author Isaac Shapiro to Speak at Strand". JapanCulture•NYC. 2018-08-02. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  14. ^ a b c "Partners for Life: Marriages Made at Columbia Law". www.law.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  15. ^ "Bookshelf | Columbia College Today". www.college.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  16. ^ Crabb, Kelly Charles (1983). "Providing Legal Services in Foreign Countries: Making Room for the American Attorney". Columbia Law Review. 83 (7): 1767–1823. doi:10.2307/1122327. ISSN 0010-1958. JSTOR 1122327.
  17. ^ Margolick, David (1988-03-18). "The Law; At the Bar". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  18. ^ "A Reflection on Multinational Law Firms and Their China Practices". Jerome A. Cohen | 孔傑榮（柯恩）. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  19. ^ Torry, Saundra. "STAR LAWYERS BECOME FIELD'S 'FREE AGENTS'". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  20. ^ "Japan's New Law Allows U.S. Attorneys to Practice There, but Problems Abound". Los Angeles Times. November 17, 1987. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  21. ^ Micucci, Dana; Tribune, International Herald (2003-10-25). "A SPECIAL REPORT: ARTS & ANTIQUES: Dismantling of work by Noguchi sets off protests". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  22. ^ Bernstein, Fred (2015-09-10). "The Uncertain Future of Isamu Noguchi's Works". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  23. ^ "The Noguchi Room at Keio University: Saved or Destroyed?". www.archnewsnow.com. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  24. ^ Affairs, United States Congress House Committee on Foreign (1982). United States-Japan Relations: Hearings Before the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives and Its Subcommittees on International Economic Policy and Trade and on Asian and Pacific Affairs, Ninety-seventh Congress, Second Session, March 1, 3, 9, 17, 24; April 27; June 2, 15; August 4, 1982. U.S. Government Printing Office.
  25. ^ The Department of State Bulletin. Office of Public Communication, Bureau of Public Affairs. 1972.
  26. ^ Journal, A. B. A. "10 Questions: Lawyer's memoir recalls growing up Jewish in Japan during WWII". ABA Journal. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  27. ^ Kiralfy, A. K. R. (January 1964). "The Soviet Legal System. By J. N. Hazard and Isaac Shapiro. (Parker School Studies). [New York: Oceana Publications. 1962. 576 pp. $7.50.]". International & Comparative Law Quarterly. 13 (1): 351. doi:10.1093/iclqaj/13.1.351. ISSN 1471-6895.
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