Chase College of Law will present the inaugural lectureship of its newly launched David and Nancy Wolf Program in Ethics and Professional Identity on Wednesday at the Cincinnati Museum Center. The lecture will offer a lawyers account of recovering artwork stolen during the Holocaust in the days before World War II.
The presentation by Los Angeles lawyer E. Randol Schoenberg also includes a conversation with Professor Jack Harrison, who holds the Wolf Endowed Chair in Ethics and Professional Identity at Chase.
The event is in conjunction with the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center, located at the museum center.
Schoenberg is a litigator and grandson of Austrian-American composer Arnold Schoenberg who fled Nazi persecution prior to World War II. The junior Schoenberg took on the challenge to recover for a family friend six paintings by Gustav Klimt held by an Austrian state museum that ultimately were valued at more than $325 million. Among them was “Golden Lady,” an early 20th century portrait utilizing application of gold leaf, that gave name to the 2015 movie “Woman in Gold.” The movie recounted Mr. Schoenberg’s decade-long legal quest that began in the late 1990s. At the time, Schoenberg had been practicing law for less than 10 years.
Schoenberg successfully argued to the Supreme Court of the United States that his client, Maria Altman, from whose family the paintings had been stolen in 1938 in Nazi-aligned Austria, could sue Austria for their return. He subsequently prevailed in a 2006 arbitration in Austria, ordering the paintings be returned to Altman, who had fled Austria following Nazi Germany’s unopposed annexation of the country.
To attend the presentation by Schoenberg and conversation with Professor Harrison:
• Free tickets are available at www.holocaustandhumanity.org/, utilizing the “programs & events” dropdown.
• The presentation and conversation is from 5:30-6:30 p.m. with the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center museum open for tours beginning at 4:30 p.m., and followed by a reception beginning at 6:30 p.m.
• The Cincinnati Museum Center is at Union Terminal, 1301 Western Ave., in the Queensgate section of Cincinnati, near downtown.
• Lawyers attending may request one hour of continuing legal education credit.
The David and Nancy Wolf Chair in Ethics and Professional Identity at Chase is endowed by alumnus David Wolf and Nancy Wolf to enable Chase to offer and to continually expand education in the areas of ethical conduct and social justice. It supports programming related to ethics and professionalism, including enhancements to pro bono and public interest service by students, training in diversity, equity and inclusion, recruitment of an ethicist-in-residence and development of lectureships in ethics and professional responsibility.
Professor Harrison teaches in the areas of torts, civil procedure, professional responsibility, and sexual orientation and the law. He also directs the Chase Center for Excellence in Advocacy, which offers students experience primarily in courtroom advocacy. He practiced in major Cincinnati law firms prior to joining the Chase faculty in 2011.