chevron-down Created with Sketch Beta.

Opinions Matters

Opinions Matters Fall 2018

Fuld Award Given to Robert A. Thompson

William B Dunn

Summary

  • The award is designed to honor and encourage individuals who write and educate in the area of legal opinions.
  • Robert (Bob) Thompso was a frequent speaker and contributor to the opinions projects of the Section, dating back to the 1980s.
Fuld Award Given to Robert A. Thompson
mattjeacock via Getty Images

Jump to:

The James J. Fuld Award is presented by the Working Group on Legal Opinions Foundation (“WGLO”) to an individual or entity who has made a significant contribution to the field of legal opinions in business transactions. The award is designed to honor and encourage individuals who write and educate in the area of legal opinions as well as bar associations, law firms, and others who contribute to the development of the law or practice in the area of legal opinions. At the Fall 2018 WGLO meeting, the Fuld Award was presented to Robert A. Thompson of San Francisco (1943-2017) posthumously.

I was pleased to submit the nomination of Bob for this award with the enthusiastic consensus of his real estate bar colleague members of the WGLO, and honored to act on behalf of our colleagues in accepting the award for Bob.

In his nomination, we noted Bob’s zealous enthusiasm for the subject of opinion practice; his contributions to it are always to be considered. Those who knew him well would note his strong will, his loyal friendship, his leadership, and his passion to bring others into the conversation of knowledgeable opinion practice. His role as mentor is often praised. His contributions to our work were noted in the Fall 2017 issue of Opinions Matters (Vol. 2, No. 2). Bob diligently pursued the inspiration of James Fuld to make this practice more understandable, sensible, reliable, and more able with great stewardship. Bob was a frequent speaker and contributor to the opinions projects of the Section, dating back to the 1980s, and is well known for his treatise Real Estate Opinion Letter Practice, originally published in 1993, now in its 3rd edition.

As described in the WGLO website (https://www.wglo.net/fuld-award), the Fuld Award honors James J. Fuld (1916-2008), a corporate lawyer of great stature who practiced in New York at the law firm of Proskauer Rose LLP. His article, ”Legal Opinions in Business Transactions – An Attempt to Bring Some Order Out of Some Chaos,” is the seminal article on the subject of legal opinions. Legal opinions were mere folklore before his article appeared, while after they became a subject for intense study. Mr. Fuld was a guiding spirit in the formation of the first bar-sponsored legal opinion committee, the TriBar Opinion Committee. Mr. Fuld understood the need for a national approach to legal opinions and took a leading role in inducing the ABA Business Law Section to organize the Silverado Conference in 1989, which was the first attempt to forge a national approach to legal opinions. In tribute to its former partner, each year Proskauer Rose LLP partners together with WGLO, present each recipient of the James J. Fuld Award an engraved Tiffany bowl to mark the honor.

    Author