Isaac Shapiro Explained

Isaac Shapiro
Birth Place:Japan
Nationality:American
Alma Mater:Columbia University (BA, LLB)
Occupation:lawyer
Employer:Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
Known For:President of Japan Society
Spouse:Jacqueline Weiss

Isaac Shapiro (born 1931) is an American lawyer with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.[1] He is an expert in Soviet law, Japanese law, and served as the president of Japan Society.[2] [3] [4] He has also written widely about Japan and Japanese-American relations.[5] [6] [7]

Biography

Shapiro was born in Japan in 1931 as a Stateless person.[8] His father was Constantine Shapiro, a Russian Jewish musician who left the country with his family after the Russian Revolution.[9] The elder Shapiro lived in Germany, where he was the first cellist of the Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester, and moved to Japan, where he pioneered the establishment of Western classical music. His mother was a concert pianist who met and married the elder Shapiro in Berlin, before leaving for Harbin, China, and Japan.[10] [11] He is also a nephew of concert pianist Maxim Shpairo and Russian-French philosopher Vladimir Lossky.[12]

Shapiro grew up in the Japanese-occupied Harbin and Yokohama during World War II. He studied at Saint Joseph College, Yokohama but his studies were interrupted by the war. He moved to the United States in 1945, after then-marine officer John C. Munn hired him as translator and was made his guardian.[13] [14] He attended Punahou School in Honolulu, graduating from Columbia College in 1954, and Columbia Law School in 1956.[15] He was also a Fulbright scholar and studied at the University of Paris.

He joined Milbank Tweed upon graduating from law school and opened the firm's first Japanese office in Tokyo in 1977, which led to protests from the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, resulting in a freeze on the establishment of foreign law offices in Japan.[16] However, his trailblazing effort subsequently led to the entry of other foreign law firms.[17] [18] In 1986, he joined Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and headed its international practice, opening its practice in Japan.[19] [20] He became of counsel to the firm in 2001.

Shapiro was a director of Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi Foundation in New York City, and served as a past president of the Isamu Noguchi Foundation.[21] [22] [23] He also served as president of the Japan Society from 1970 to 1977.[24] [25]

He is the author of Edokko: Growing Up a Foreigner in Wartime Japan, an autobiography of his childhood.[26] He was also the author of The Soviet Legal System, a textbook on Soviet law, co-written with Columbia law professor John N. Hazard.[27]

In 2006, Shapiro was awarded an Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon by the Emperor of Japan for his service in promoting U.S.-Japan cultural relations.

Personal life

Shapiro is married to Jacqueline Weiss, who he met at Columbia law. Weiss comes from a family of rabbis and is a niece of the former rabbis of Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco and the Rockdale Temple in Cincinnati.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Isaac Shapiro. February 18, 2022. Skadden.
  2. Web site: Supporter of Japanese Legal Studies Isaac Shapiro '56 Publishes Illuminating Memoir. 2022-02-19. www.law.columbia.edu. en.
  3. Book: Japan Info. 2005. Japan Informational Center, Consolate General of Japan.. en.
  4. Web site: Edokko: Growing Up a Foreigner in Wartime Japan. 2022-02-19. YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. en.
  5. Web site: Jewish Refugee in World War II Japan C-SPAN.org. 2022-02-19. www.c-span.org. en-us.
  6. News: Hongo. Jun. 2015-07-10. WSJ Archive: Emperor Hirohito's Speech on Japan's Surrender. en-US. Wall Street Journal. 2022-02-19. 0099-9660.
  7. Web site: An expert on Japanese affairs told a House panel.... 2022-02-19. UPI. en.
  8. Web site: One Man's Youth As A 'Stateless Foreigner' In Japan During World War II. 2022-02-19. www.wbur.org. en.
  9. News: 1992-05-28. Constantine Shapiro, Cellist and Writer, 95. en-US. The New York Times. 2022-02-19. 0362-4331.
  10. Web site: Sales. Ben. This Jewish man survived World War II — in Axis-era Japan. 2022-02-19. jewishchronicle.timesofisrael.com. en-US.
  11. Web site: JACQUELIN WEISS ENGAGED TO WED; Columbia Law Graduate to Be Bride of Isaac Shapiro, Senior at Same School. 2022-02-19. timesmachine.nytimes.com. en.
  12. Web site: Sausalito News 26 July 1958 — California Digital Newspaper Collection. 2022-02-19. cdnc.ucr.edu.
  13. Web site: 2018-08-02. "Edokko" Author Isaac Shapiro to Speak at Strand. 2022-02-19. JapanCulture•NYC. en-US.
  14. Web site: Partners for Life: Marriages Made at Columbia Law. 2022-02-19. www.law.columbia.edu. en.
  15. Web site: Bookshelf Columbia College Today. 2022-02-19. www.college.columbia.edu.
  16. Crabb. Kelly Charles. 1983. Providing Legal Services in Foreign Countries: Making Room for the American Attorney. Columbia Law Review. 83. 7. 1767–1823. 10.2307/1122327. 1122327. 0010-1958.
  17. News: Margolick. David. 1988-03-18. The Law; At the Bar. en-US. The New York Times. 2022-02-19. 0362-4331.
  18. Web site: A Reflection on Multinational Law Firms and Their China Practices. 2022-02-19. Jerome A. Cohen 孔傑榮（柯恩）. en-US.
  19. News: Torry. Saundra. STAR LAWYERS BECOME FIELD'S 'FREE AGENTS'. February 18, 2022. The Washington Post.
  20. Web site: November 17, 1987. Japan's New Law Allows U.S. Attorneys to Practice There, but Problems Abound. February 18, 2022. Los Angeles Times.
  21. News: Micucci. Dana. Tribune. International Herald. 2003-10-25. A SPECIAL REPORT: ARTS & ANTIQUES: Dismantling of work by Noguchi sets off protests. en-US. The New York Times. 2022-02-19. 0362-4331.
  22. News: Bernstein. Fred. 2015-09-10. The Uncertain Future of Isamu Noguchi's Works. en-US. Wall Street Journal. 2022-02-19. 0099-9660.
  23. Web site: The Noguchi Room at Keio University: Saved or Destroyed?. 2022-02-19. www.archnewsnow.com.
  24. Book: Affairs, United States Congress House Committee on Foreign. United States-Japan Relations: Hearings Before the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives and Its Subcommittees on International Economic Policy and Trade and on Asian and Pacific Affairs, Ninety-seventh Congress, Second Session, March 1, 3, 9, 17, 24; April 27; June 2, 15; August 4, 1982. 1982. U.S. Government Printing Office. en.
  25. Book: The Department of State Bulletin. 1972. Office of Public Communication, Bureau of Public Affairs. en.
  26. Web site: Journal. A. B. A.. 10 Questions: Lawyer's memoir recalls growing up Jewish in Japan during WWII. 2022-02-19. ABA Journal. en.
  27. Kiralfy. A. K. R.. January 1964. The Soviet Legal System. By J. N. Hazard and Isaac Shapiro. (Parker School Studies). [New York: Oceana Publications. 1962. 576 pp. $7.50.]]. International & Comparative Law Quarterly. en. 13. 1. 351. 10.1093/iclqaj/13.1.351. 1471-6895.

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