Henry Friendly | |
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Chief Judge of United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit | |
In office July 20, 1971 – July 3, 1973 |
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Preceded by | J. Edward Lumbard |
Succeeded by | Irving Kaufman |
Judge of United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit | |
In office September 9, 1959 – March 11, 1986 |
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Appointed by | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
Preceded by | Harold Medina |
Succeeded by | Ellsworth Van Graafeiland |
Personal details | |
Born |
Henry Jacob Friendly July 3, 1903 Elmira, New York, U.S. |
Died | March 11, 1986 New York City, New York, U.S. |
(aged 82)
Political party | Republican |
Spouse(s) | Sophie Stern |
Children | 3 |
Education | Harvard University (BA, LLB) |
Henry Jacob Friendly (July 3, 1903 – March 11, 1986) was a prominent judge in the United States, who sat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1959 through 1974 (including service as chief judge from 1971 to 1973) and in senior status until his death in 1986.
Friendly graduated from Harvard College in 1923 and received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1927. It is widely rumored that Friendly graduated with the highest grade point average ever attained (before or since) at Harvard Law School, but confirmation of this claim is difficult to find, and the claim is sometimes also made for U.S. Supreme Court Justices Louis Brandeis and Felix Frankfurter. On June 23, 1927, the Harvard Crimson reported that Friendly was the first Harvard Law graduate to receive a degree summa cum laude. Frankfurter, as a professor at Harvard Law School, sent his student Friendly to work as a clerk for Justice Louis D. Brandeis of the United States Supreme Court. Friendly then entered private practice in New York City from 1928 to 1959, and was a founding partner of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, where his law partners included George W. Ball and Melvin Steen. He served as vice president and general counsel of Pan American World Airways in New York City from 1946 to 1959.
Friendly was appointed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to a seat on the Second Circuit vacated by Harold Raymond Medina. Friendly's appointment had been endorsed on the basis of merit by several prominent judges and lawyers, including Judge Learned Hand.