February 2, 2010
S. HAZARD GILLESPIE RECEIVES NEW YORK STATE BAR
ASSOCIATION’S 2010 GOLD MEDAL
Bar Association Past President given highest honor
for distinguished seven-decade career
ALBANY—S. Hazard Gillespie, senior counsel to Davis Polk &
Wardwell and the 1958-1959 past president of the New York State Bar
Association (1958-1959), received the 2010 Gold Medal, the State
Bar’s highest honor. State Bar President Michael E. Getnick of New
York (Getnick Livingston Atkinson & Priore of Utica and of counsel
to Getnick & Getnick of New York City) presented the award to
Gillespie at the President’s Dinner held on Saturday, January 30,
as part of the State Bar’s Annual Meeting.
The Committee on Annual Award honored Gillespie, who is 99, for his
distinguished career spanning more than seven decades, and his
extraordinary role in furthering the goals of the State Bar. As
President of the State Bar, Gillespie was one of the first presidents to
travel across the state in order to foster relationships with local bar
associations while building the State Bar’s membership. His
accomplishments include successfully lobbying the New York State
Legislature for legislation that streamlined state income tax paperwork
and personally endorsing 347 young lawyers to be admitted to practice
before the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to his presidency, Gillespie
chaired the Membership Committee, increasing the State Bar’s
membership from 11,000 to 15,000 during his tenure.
“S. Hazard Gillespie remains one of our most celebrated
and respected presidents with an extraordinary legacy that has lasted
more than 50 years after his presidency. We would not be the
organization we are today without his outstanding lobbying skills that
furthered the public interest, his dedication to mentoring young
attorneys, and his diligent work to increase membership throughout the
state,” said President Getnick. “I am very pleased to
present our highest honor to Hazard. He is a most deserving recipient of
this award.”
A graduate of Yale University and Yale Law School, Gillespie is
senior counsel to Davis Polk & Wardwell, where he actively practices
corporate and international tax law. More than 75 years after he served
as a summer clerk, Gillespie still comes to work every day at the
firm’s New York office, devoting himself to pro bono services.
Gillespie served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York
from 1959 to 1961.
Gillespie serves as president of the Tappan Zee Bridge Preservation
Coalition. He is a past chairman of the American Skin Association and is
still a board member. He previously was vice president of the Yale Law
School Association of New York and a director of the Legal Aid Society,
the Union Settlement Association and the Hospital for Special
Surgery.
First awarded in 1952, the prestigious Gold Medal is presented
annually to a distinguished member of the bench or bar with outstanding
legal ability, as well as a leader in the legal profession and the
larger community. An awardee is also someone who has taken a very active
role in civic and community activities and has played a significant role
in the work of the State Bar.
Past recipients include: Frederick “Fritz” A.O. Schwarz,
Jr., senior counsel, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP; Hon. Sandra Day
O’Connor, retired associate justice of the Supreme Court of the
United States; and Hon. Judith S. Kaye, retired chief judge of the State
of New York.
Founded in 1876, the 77,000-member New York State Bar Association is
the official statewide organization of lawyers in New York and the
largest voluntary state bar association in the nation. The State
Bar’s programs and activities have continuously served the public
and improved the justice system for more than 130 years.
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