FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 26, 1998

Contact:  Judy Hohmann, (518) 473-9098
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            Photo of Kaufman available



Critically Acclaimed Author To Speak on Justice Cardozo


        ALBANY --  Andrew L. Kaufman, Harvard Law professor and author of the critically acclaimed biography of Justice Benjamin Cardozo, will speak on "Cardozo, The Albany Years" on Wednesday, November 4 at 6:00 p.m. in the New York State Museum Theater. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, is cosponsored by the New York State Archives Partnership Trust and the Government Law Center at Albany Law School.
         Attendees will be able to purchase Kaufman's book immediately after the lecture, and the author will be available to sign it. 
        Benjamin Nathan Cardozo is widely regarded as one of the most outstanding judges of the twentieth century.  Born in New York City into a Sephardic Jewish family, he began his career as judge in the New York State Supreme Court, advancing to the Court of Appeals and finally to the U. S. Supreme Court in 1932 where he served for six years. Kaufman's 729-page 
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book, Cardozo, is the first complete biography of this eminent jurist.  The New York Times Book Review hailed its publication as "a major event in the world of law, judicial biography and legal literature."
        In the book, Kaufman interweaves the jurist's personal and professional lives, helping the reader understand Cardozo as both a man and a judge.  He examines the impact of the scandal surrounding Cardozo's father, a Tammany Hall judge, and his close relationship with his older sister Nellie. However, the bulk of the book is devoted to assessing Cardozo's contributions to law.  Writing in the Summer 1998 issue of the Harvard Law Bulletin, Kaufman asserts that "[Cardozo's] work affected law everywhere in the common law universe."
        On Thursday, November 5, the Board of Regents and the New York State Archives will present Kaufman with the 1998 Archives Award for Excellence in Research Using the Holdings of the State Archives. Kaufman spent 40 years writing Cardozo, gaining access to records that have been unavailable to other researchers.  For the first time, the Court of Appeals allowed an "outsider" access to the reports or memoranda that Court of Appeals judges prepare for one another. Those records are housed at the New York State Archives. 
        Kaufman is the Charles Stebbins Fairchild Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. He graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School where he was President of the Harvard Law Review.  He clerked for Justice Felix Frankfurter of the United States Supreme Court for two years and practiced law in New Jersey with his father and brother for nearly ten years before returning to Harvard Law School to teach in 1965. In addition to his biography of Benjamin Cardozo, Kaufman has also written in the fields of professional responsibility, constitutional law and commercial law.
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        The New York State Archives Partnership Trust is a not-for-profit, public benefit corporation for the sole benefit of the New York State Archives. The Trust provides private funds and services to sustain the excellence of the State Archives, particularly in the areas of education and public programs, and to ensure that one of New York's most highly valuable assets is available for future generations. It is governed by a Board of leading citizens appointed by the Governor, Legislature and the Board of Regents.
For more information about the Kaufman lecture, call the New York State Archives at 474-6926.

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