STANFORD, Calif., February 14, 2008—Stanford Law School today announced that O’Melveny & Myers law firm and a number of its current and retired partners have committed $1.5 million over five years to permanently endow the Warren Christopher Professorship of the Practice of International Law and Diplomacy. The gift is one of the largest from a law firm to fund a faculty position at the law school.

The joint appointment between Stanford Law School and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) was first established as a visiting position in fall 2003 to pay tribute to Warren Christopher, a former Secretary of State of the United States and an alumnus of Stanford Law School. Christopher is considered by many to be the consummate lawyer-statesman—multifaceted and unsurpassed in his ability to bridge the gap between national interests and global affairs, and public service and private enterprise. Among his many accomplishments, his negotiations played a key role in the release of American hostages in Iran; he chaired the commission that investigated the Rodney King assault and subsequent riots in Los Angeles; and he served on the California Hate Crimes Task Force. Today he continues as a senior partner at O’Melveny & Myers, and is co-chair—along with former Secretary James A. Baker III—of the National War Powers Commission.

“This gift, in honor of one of the nation’s greatest statesmen, provides a lasting endowment to support the study and teaching of international issues that impact the world and its future,” said Stanford Law School Dean Larry Kramer. “What we teach our students about practicing law in a global context—whether it’s about easing relationships between governments, or conducting cross-border transactional work for private parties—has been profoundly shaped by all that Warren Christopher has accomplished over his lifetime.”

Because most lawyers have a multinational dimension to their practice today, the law school is expanding its international law program and shaping its entire curriculum to better prepare its graduates to practice across national borders. The Warren Christopher chair is a key part of that transformation.

“We are delighted to support the Christopher chair and thereby to recognize Warren Christopher’s many accomplishments, and his continuing example and service,” said A.B. Culvahouse, chairman of O’Melveny & Myers. “The values that Chris represents are those of our firm, and we are pleased that the Christopher chair will continue to honor Warren Christopher’s excellence, leadership and citizenship.”

Stanford Law School’s innovative curriculum immerses students in the theory and practice of international law through combined legal, business organization, and policy studies. The faculty approaches international law not just as a subject for academic inquiry but also as a force for change in the world. They fundamentally understand how law operates in relation to governments, international organizations, and the global economy because they have practiced international law in these contexts. For example, faculty who teach public international law and international human rights have served as lawyers in the U.S. Department of State and litigated terrorism cases before the Supreme Court of the United States. Faculty who teach international deal making and arbitration have completed complex international transactions and litigated disputes over international agreements. Along with teaching international human rights law, international criminal law, and international administrative law, the law school also teaches international trade, international business, comparative law, international tax, international administrative law—and the interplay between public and private law in the global arena.

The idea for the Christopher chair was driven by Stanford Law School alumnus Richard L. Morningstar, former U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, and his wife Faith Morningstar. Many other supporters joined the Morningstars in initially underwriting the professorship, including Edison International and the Carnegie Corporation of New York, of which Christopher is a former chairman. O’Melveny & Myers partner Steve Warren spearheaded the firm’s gift effort.

"We are so pleased that O’Melveny & Myers has chosen to give this magnificent gift in honor of one of the most inspirational statesmen of the 20th century," said Coit D. Blacker, director of FSI. "This gift will ensure that Warren Christopher's legacy, his commitment to public policy, and his exemplary service to our nation will live on for generations of Stanford students."

In 2003, Allen S. Weiner was appointed as the inaugural Warren Christopher Professor of the Practice of International Law and Diplomacy as a visiting chair, both to Stanford Law School and the Stanford Institute for International Studies (the precursor to FSI). Weiner is a former State Department attaché and legal counselor for the U.S. Embassy in The Hague, and is involved in the effort to stop global proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. During his tenure as Warren Christopher Professor of the Practice of International Law and Diplomacy, Weiner taught and conducted research in the fields of public international law and foreign relations law of the United States. Weiner remains at Stanford Law School as a senior lecturer in international law, co-director of the Stanford Program in International Law, and co-director of the Stanford Center on International Conflict and Negotiation (SCICN).

Following Allen Weiner, William H. Taft IV was appointed to the Warren Christopher Professorship of the Practice of International Law and Diplomacy through the 2007-2008 school year, teaching Contemporary Issues in International Law and Diplomacy and Foreign Relations Law. Like Weiner, he also joined FSI at Stanford as a visiting scholar. Taft is a former Deputy Secretary of Defense and U.S. Ambassador to NATO. He served at the Federal Trade Commission, in the Office of Management and Budget, was general counsel at the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and was the U.S. Department of State's Legal Advisor, the highest legal position in the department. Taft also worked for several years in private practice, and is currently of counsel in the Washington D.C. office of Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson.

About Stanford Law School

Stanford Law School is one of the nation’s leading institutions for legal scholarship and education. Its alumni are among the most influential decision makers in law, politics, business, and high technology. Faculty members argue before the Supreme Court, testify before Congress, and write books and articles for academic audiences, as well as the popular press. Along with offering traditional law school classes, the school has embraced new subjects and new ways of teaching.

About the Freeman Spogli Institute

The Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) is Stanford University's primary center for rigorous and innovative research on the major international issues and challenges of our time. FSI builds on Stanford's impressive intellectual strengths and exacting academic standards through interdisciplinary research conducted by its university-wide faculty, researchers, and visiting scholars.

Months after winning the Nobel Prize, Lederberg arrived at the Stanford University School of Medicine to become the chair of genetics in 1959, after leaving his post at the University of Wisconsin. He led Stanford’s genetics department at a time when the medical school earned a reputation for research, until he left in 1978 to become president of The Rockefeller University in New York until 1990.

Lederberg shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Edward Tatum and George Beadle. His portion of the prize came from his discovery that bacteria transfer genetic information, overturning the prevailing thought that bacteria weren’t able to swap DNA. Lederberg found that bacteria exchange loops of DNA called plasmids that allow bacteria to pick up new genes, and thereby adapt to new environments. The process Lederberg discovered has become a standard way for researchers to transfer genetic information between bacteria in the lab, and changed how researchers thought about infectious disease. It also laid the foundation for modern molecular biology, genetic engineering and biotechnology.

“Dr. Josh Lederberg was one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century with staggering achievements from virology and microbiology to genetics and planetary exploration,” said Philip Pizzo, MD, dean of the Stanford School of Medicine. “He was not only a world-renowned scientist but also an advocate on science and public policy. His impact on Stanford can be felt to this day and will surely continue long into the future.”

Lederberg was only 33 when he came to Stanford, but he already had a long research career that began in high school.

His father was a rabbi, and when Lederberg was a teen he promised to aid humanity through science rather than faith. He began doing independent research at the science-focused Stuyvesant High School, then continued that research as an undergraduate student at Columbia College. After starting medical school at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons he left after two years to pursue a PhD at Yale, working with Tatum and Beadle on studies that led to their shared Nobel.

The year Lederberg arrived to head Stanford’s genetics department was a pivotal one in the medical school’s history. The school was in the process of moving from San Francisco to join the Stanford campus in Palo Alto. During that same time period Arthur Kornberg, PhD, who went on to win the 1959 Nobel Prize in Biochemistry, arrived to found Stanford’s biochemistry department. The departments led by Kornberg and Lederberg helped establish the medical school as a leader in biomedical research.

One of Lederberg’s first recruits to the new department was Leonard Herzenberg, PhD, emeritus professor of genetics, who went on to develop the fluorescence-activated cell sorting machine that opened up new areas of biological research. Herzenberg said Lederberg was supportive of his work without being dominating. “Josh was important for my life and for my career and made possible the development of the FACS,” he said.

Richard Myers, PhD, professor and the current chair of Stanford’s genetics department, called Lederberg a visionary. He said Lederberg recognized the importance of human genetics in a time when few people worked in that field. “That’s how Stanford became well-known in human and population genetics early on before it was really popular,” Myers said.

In addition to his scientific skills, Myers said he respected Lederberg for his diverse interests and generous personality. “He was extremely warm and interesting,” he said.

Throughout his career Lederberg had interests that strayed far from the laboratory bench. The launch of Sputnik in 1957 led Lederberg toward an interest in astronomy that lasted 20 years. His concern about the risk of spacecraft returning to Earth with contaminants from space resulted in a quarantine for space travel that remains in effect today. He went on to design experiments intended to detect the presence of life on Mars, resulting in the Mars Viking lander.

Early on, Lederberg recognized genetics as an information science and became increasingly aware of the value of computers. He formed collaborations with researchers at Stanford to create DENDRAL, a prototype artificial intelligence program for analyzing mass-spectrometric data of molecular structures, which led to further programs for disease diagnosis and management.

These wide-ranging interests were a hallmark of Lederberg’s intellect, according to Paul Berg, PhD, emeritus professor of biochemistry and Nobel Prize winner. “What was extraordinary is that he was at home in so many areas,” Berg said. “He made one of the really major discoveries that paved the way for modern genetics, but then he ventured into areas that were entirely different.”

Lederberg stayed true to his teenage promise to aid mankind. Concerned about the public’s awareness of science, he wrote a weekly science column in the Washington Post from 1966-71. Among the topics he addressed were infectious disease outbreaks and biological weapons, both of which were interests that he also pursued through his academic work. He served on national committees for biological weapons and became a national arms control advisor. These interests also led to collaborations with Stanford political scientists and physicists, which eventually resulted in the creation of an undergraduate curriculum in national security and arms control.

Lederberg left Stanford in 1978 to become president of The Rockefeller University. While there, he continued his research and, despite retirement in 1990, continued to work internationally to prevent the use of biological weapons, also serving on the executive committee and as a consulting professor at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC).

Over the course of his life, Lederberg was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Medal of Science, was named an honorary life member of the New York Academy of Sciences, was awarded Foreign Membership of the Royal Society of London and holds the title of Commandeur, L’ordre des arts et des lettres in France.

Lederberg is survived by his wife Marguerite Stein Lederberg, PhD, his son David Kirsch and his daughter Anne Lederberg, and two grandchildren. Funeral services were held Feb. 5.