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2024 Sponsorship

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Adams street foundation
Lead Sponsors

ABOUT THE HONOREE

Evan R. Chesler

Evan R. Chesler retired from Cravath’s Litigation Department in December 2023. Widely recognized as one of the country’s leading litigators, his broad experience extended to trial and appellate courts across the country. He was Cravath’s Presiding Partner from 2007 through 2012 and Chairman from 2013 through 2021, the first person to be given that title in the Firm’s history. 

Over the course of his career, Mr. Chesler handled a wide variety of litigation, including antitrust, securities, shareholder derivative, intellectual property, general commercial, environmental, ERISA and contractual disputes. His practice also included the representation of clients in government and internal investigations. Mr. Chesler represented companies and their management in virtually every industry including technology, media, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing and financial services.

Mr. Chesler received an A.B., with highest honors in History, from New York University, after which he earned an M.A. in Russian Area Studies at Hunter College. He received a J.D. cum laude from New York University School of Law, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif, was Topics Editor of the Law Review, served as a junior fellow at the Center for International Studies, twice received the John Norton Pomeroy Prize for academic excellence, and was awarded the Benjamin Butler Prize.

Following his graduation, Mr. Chesler served as a law clerk to Hon. Inzer B. Wyatt of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. 

As an invaluable member of the NYU community for several decades, Mr. Chesler is Chair of the Board of Trustees of NYU and a member of the Board’s Executive Committee, Chairman of NYU’s Board of Overseers of the Faculty of Arts and Science and founder and Chairman of LAMP (the Lawyer Alumni Mentoring Program), which provides mentoring and curriculum enrichment programs to prelaw students. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of NYU School of Law and of the Board’s Executive Committee, as well as a member of the Advisory Board of the Center on Civil Justice at NYU School of Law.

Mr. Chesler joined Cravath in 1976 and was elected a partner in 1982. He became Head of the Litigation Department in 1996. He was elected Deputy Presiding Partner in November 2005, and Presiding Partner effective January 2007. From January 2013 to December 2021, Mr. Chesler was Chairman of the Firm.