José A. Cabranes, U.S. Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit, Portrait Dedication [26:12-30:10]

The memo continues, quote, I believe the person in question ought to have a degree from Yale College or the law school. It is important that the general council have some sense for the law and sociology of the place and not be at the mercy of those who do not have some command of those matters. My comment, the judge was such a master and guru of this law and sociology that he made it possible for your speaker to become a successor even while evading the requirement of a Yale College or a Yale Law degree. Continuing on, Judge Cabronna's wrote, quote, you should not be searching for an elder statesman, though, of course, the right person might well be a more senior attorney and might indeed be wise. The key thing is that the general council be fully capable of doing any of the work undertaken by his three subordinates and that he or she actually toil with his subordinates in the completion of that work. I would bet that all those here who have worked for Judge Cabronna's will attest that he always worked with us dug into our memos and invariably through his relentless markups caused every piece of work to be better. He continued, quote, law teaching experience may be useful and may suggest that the candidate will be at home in this environment, but this factor should be given little or no weight if the candidate is not an experienced practitioner of the law. I can think of no more dubious model than that of a law teacher, tenured or not, who has not had substantial experience as a mundane practicing lawyer in the role of general council. After all, this position was about legal advice and representation and he concluded, quote, finally, I recommend that the general council have a sense of humor. He or she should be amused by the eccentricities and creative disorganization of our kind of institution and have a fondness for them. I dare say that this sentence captures perfectly Yale's first general council. Some nine years after leaving Yale to join the judiciary, Judge Cabronna's again was called to serve as a Yale. He was appointed by Yale President Ben Oschmitt in 1987 to serve as a Yale trustee otherwise known as a fellow of the corporation and he continued as a fellow for 12 years. He has served on a great many other non-profit boards as Dean Post has alluded and I know it must have been that other service that led to his commentary both in speeches and publications on how boards and trustees can do better in fulfilling the roles expected of them by exercising their proper governance roles with greater diligence, greater activism, and greater skepticism. He has done a great service to boards everywhere by calling this out, however painful the message may be to some. For all of these qualities, for all he has done for his institution, Yale University, and his Yale family of which I am proud to be a member. I will use Judge Cabronna's own words, his own phrase, he is indeed a great American.