Oral history interview with Ira M. Millstein, 2021

Biographical Note

Ira M. Millstein was born in 1926. Millstein earned a BS in industrial engineering from the Columbia School of Engineering in 1947 and a JD from Columbia Law School in 1949. He began practicing law that year. After two years with the Dept. of Justice's Antitrust Division, he joined the law firm Weil, Gotshal and Manges, where he became senior partner and practiced law for over seven decades. Millstein is known for his work in antitrust and corporate governance. He was legal counsel to the board of directors of more than 30 corporate and nonprofit boards, beginning with General Motors. Millstein's publications include The Activist Director: Lessons from the Boardroom and the Future of the Corporation and The Recurrent Crisis in Corporate Governance (coauthored). He has taught at New York University, Yale, Harvard, and Columbia. He is the founding chair of the Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership at Columbia Law School. Millstein’s pro bono and philanthropic efforts include working with Mayor Abraham Beame's administration during New York City's fiscal crisis, drafting truth in lending laws in New York State and federally, chairing the National Commission on Consumer Finance, serving as counsel to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, and chairing the New York State Task Force on Public Authorities Reform. For many years, Millstein was chair of the Central Park Conservancy and chair of the Board of Overseers for the Albert Einstein School of Medicine. He received the Medal for Excellence from Columbia Law School and the rank of Chevalier of the National Order of Merit from the French government. Millstein is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Scope and Contents

In this interview, Ira M. Millstein describes growing up on Manhattan's Upper West Side during the Depression and talks about how his education at the Bronx High School of Science, Columbia University's School of Engineering, and Columbia Law School led to his abiding interest in corporations. Millstein discusses working at the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division and at the Office of Price Stabilization. He describes joining the law firm Weil, Gotshal and Manges in 1951, at a time when elite firms did not hire Jewish lawyers. Millstein discusses Weil's growth and clients and cases that developed his litigation skills and expertise in antitrust law and corporate governance. He discusses his efforts with the Administrative Conference of the United States, the Business Roundtable, the World Bank, and the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) Business Sector Advisory Group on Corporate Governance. Millstein discusses people who influenced his thinking including Adrian Cadbury, Al Driver, Harvey Goldschmid, Milton Handler, Reginald Jones, and Paul MacAvoy. He discusses teaching and founding the Institutional Investor Project at Columbia Law School, the Millstein Center for Corporate Governance at Yale, and the Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership at Columbia Law School. He discusses his extensive pro bono and philanthropic work.

Subjects

• Columbia University. School of Law--Alumni and alumnae.
• Corporate governance--Law and legislation--United States.
• Interviews.
• Lawyers--Interviews.
• Millstein, Ira M.--Interviews.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Practice of law.
• United States. Department of Justice. Antitrust Division.
• Vural, Leyla, interviewer.
• Weil, Gotshal & Manges.

Access Conditions

Copyright by Ira M. Millstein