L. Harold Levinson, who served on Vanderbilt’s law faculty from 1973 until his retirement in 1999, died on Wednesday, January 26, of complications from Parkinson’s Disease.
“He was a beloved and respected member of our community, who contributed to our lives in many ways,” said D. Don Welch, Associate Dean for Administration.
Professor Levinson earned both his bachelor’s and law degrees from the University of Miami in 1957 and 1962, respectively, and earned an LL.M. at New York University (1964) and a J.S.D. at Columbia University (1974). He joined the Vanderbilt faculty in 1973 after serving on the faculty of the University of Florida College of Law from 1966-73. He was a scholar of professional responsibility, comparative law, administrative law and accounting, and he was also known as an authority on legal ethics. During his career, he was a visiting professor at New York University, and the Jervey Fellow in Comparative Law at Columbia University from 1964-66, spending the second year of the fellowship in France researching French administrative law. Professor Levinson retired from Vanderbilt’s law faculty and took emeritus status at the end of the 1998-99 academic year.
In addition to being admitted to practice law in Florida, New York and by the U.S. Supreme Court, Professor Levinson was a Certified Public Accountant. During his career, he was a cooperating attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union from 1965-70 after working at the organization’s New York office as a summer associate in 1964 and 1965. A distinguished scholar of comparative law, he was invited to participate in the congresses of the International Academy of Comparative Law in Caracas (1982), Sydney (1986), Montreal (1990), Athens (1994) and Bristol (1998).
He was a member of the American Law Institute and of the Members Consultative Group on the Restatement of the Law Governing Lawyers, and he served as a Consultant for the Administrative Conference of the United States from 1976-86. He was a member of the faculty of the National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada, from 1979-97.
A graveside service honoring Professor Levinson, led by Congregation Sherith Israel, will be held at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, January 30, at KKSI Cemetery, which is located on 18th Avenue North at Cass Street in Nashville.