| Robert von Mehren | |
| Birth Name: | Robert Brandt von Mehren |
| Birth Date: | 10 August 1922 |
| Birth Place: | Albert Lea, Minnesota |
| Death Place: | New York, New York |
| Nationality: | American |
| Education: | Yale University |
| Alma Mater: | Harvard Law School |
| Occupation: | International arbitration lawyer |
| Years Active: | 1946–1995 |
| Employer: | Debevoise & Plimpton |
| Known For: | Legal defense of Alger Hiss |
| Credits: | , which produces label "Notable credit(s)"; or by |
| Works: | , which produces label "Works" --> |
| Spouse: | Mary Katharine Kelly (1948-1985 her deat), Susan Heller Anderson (1988-2016 his death) |
| Relatives: | Arthur T. von Mehren (brother) |
Robert Brandt von Mehren (August 22, 1922 – May 5, 2016) was an American lawyer. As a young lawyer in 1949, he participated in the Hiss-Chambers Case, and later became a leading expert in international arbitration in a career spent at the law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton.[1] [2] [3]
Von Mehren was born in Albert Lea, Minnesota. His father was a civil engineer from Denmark; his mother was American.
He won a national scholarship to Yale University and graduated summa cum laude. He then studied at Harvard Law School, where he graduated magna cum laude in February 1946. He also served as president of the Harvard Law Review.
In April 1946, von Mehren joined Debevoise, Plimpton, Lyons and Gates (later Debevoise, Plimpton & McLean; now Debevoise Plimpton), where he worked his entire career.
He clerked for Judge Learned Hand at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals during the October 1946 term and for Supreme Court Justice Stanley F. Reed during the October 1947.
He served on the defense counsel team for Alger Hiss during his two trials for perjury in 1949; the team also included Edward Cochrane McLean, namesake of Debevoise, Plimpton & McLean. He worked on the case from 1948 into 1950, attended every day of the two Hiss trials, and remained in touch with Hiss until the latter's death in 1996. He supported a Scottish law verdict: "not proved."
He became a full member of the firm in April 1957 and remained a partner there up until 1993 (or 1995).
He was admitted to practice before numerous courts: US District Court for the Southern District of New York (1949), US Circuit Courts of Appeal for Second (1950) and Third Circuits (1953), US Supreme Court (1954), US District Court for the Eastern District of New York (1971), US Tax Court (1972), and US Circuit Court of the District of Columbia (1974).
In the Fall of 1957, he served as legal counsel to the Preparatory Commission of the International Atomic Energy Agency and helped composed the agency's guidelines.
He consulted to the Rand Corporation on disarmament (1960–1966) and to the Hudson Institute on international law (1962–1966). He was a senior lecturer in law at the Wharton School.
Pro bono work served: the International Law Association, the Practising Law Institute, the American branch of the International Law Association, committees of the City Bar Association of New York, and the Harvard Law School Association of New York.
He was an honorary member of the Commercial Bar of London and the Singapore Bar. He was also on the board of the American Arbitration Association; a fellow of the American Bar Foundation; the vice-president emeritis of the Axe-Houghton Foundation, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Century Association and the University Club.
In 1948, von Mehren first married Mary Katharine Kelly (died 1985), who was daughter to physicist Mervin Kelly.[4] In 1988, von Mehren married Susan Heller Anderson, a writer and reporter for the New York Times.
He was an avid sailor and raced on Martha's Vineyard, where he owned a home in Chilmark bought from James Cagney in 1957.
He died at his home in Manhattan from congestive heart failure at age 93. He was survived by wife Susan, and all four of his children
Legal articles written by von Mehren include:[5]
Papers by or about von Mehren regarding the Hiss Case are available as follows: