ANN ARBOR—One of New York City’s most prominent lawyers is contributing $2 million to enable outstanding graduates of his alma mater to enter government service. Robert B. Fiske Jr., former United States Attorney and currently a senior partner at Davis, Polk & Wardwell, is an acknowledged national leader of the American bar. In the aftermath of Sept. 11, he has decided to establish a new program that will make government service an affordable choice for exceptional graduates of the University of Michigan Law School.

The program will recognize three graduates each year who have decided to enter government service at the federal, state, or (in exceptional cases) local level. The application states that selections will be “based on applicants’ demonstrated commitment to public service values, their academic achievements, and the nature and quality of the proposed government position.” Beginning with graduates in
“Bob Fiske has reaffirmed the fundamental American value of democratic governance,” says Michigan Law School Dean Jeffrey S. Lehman. “At a time when our nation needs its brightest lights to carry forward the difficult work of government, Bob Fiske has ensured that they can afford to do so.”

According to Robert Precht, director of the U-M Law School’s Office of Public Service, “new law school graduates often find themselves owing $1,000 per month for student loans. For those students, it can be difficult to consider a government job, when private firms are offering twice or three times the salary. The Fiske Fellowships will make public service a more realistic option for our country’s best-trained attorneys.”

Fiske has woven significant strands of government service throughout his law career. He joined Davis Polk & Wardwell upon graduation from the Law School in 1955 and two years later became an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, where he served for four years before returning to the firm. In 1976, he was appointed the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York by President Ford and served in that position until 1980. In 1994, he was appointed the first Independent Counsel for the Whitewater investigation, and he has recently served as chairman of a Judicial Commission on Drugs and the Courts appointed by New York State Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye.

His professional activities have included service as president of the American College of Trial Lawyers and of the Federal Bar Council, as chairman of the Standing Committee on Federal Judiciary of the American Bar Association, and as a Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.