Feb. 12, 2013 - University of Houston Law Center Foundation Board Member Stephen D. Susman will receive the Torch of Learning Award from the American Friends of The Hebrew University.
The George A. Katz Torch of Learning Award is presented annually to a distinguished member or members of the legal community in recognition for outstanding leadership, scholarship and dedication to society. The award is given to those who uphold the ideals that were embodied by the late philanthropist George A. Katz, co-founder of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, and friend of AFHU.
Susman has been a pioneer of alternative fee agreements that pay trial lawyers (both for plaintiffs and defendants) for results, not effort. In 1980, he founded Susman Godfrey, the first firm in the country to limit its specialty to commercial civil litigation representing both sides of the docket. The firm now has 100 lawyers in offices in Houston, Dallas, Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York. "Who's Who Legal: The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers" twice named Susman the Leading Commercial Litigator in the World, and The National Law Journal featured him as one of the nation's top ten litigators.
Susman serves on the Boards of the Yale Art Gallery, the American Constitution Society, the University of Texas Law School Foundation, the University of Houston Law School Foundation, the Supreme Court Historical Society, M.D. Anderson and the University of Texas Health Science Center. He is a member of the ADL Executive Committee and serves as the Chair of its Extremism Center. In addition, he is a life member of the American Law Institute and the American Board of Trial Advocates.
The award will be presented at a luncheon on Feb. 13 in New York City.
