Cornell Law School and its alumni/ae are an important part of the history of Sullivan & Cromwell. Arthur H. Dean, a 1923 graduate of Cornell Law, succeeded John Foster Dulles as Chair of the Firm in 1949 after Dulles was elected to the U.S. Senate. As a young partner, Dean was asked by President Roosevelt to work on drafting the Securities Act of 1933 and was appointed as a member of the committee that recommended the creation of the SEC and Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Dean went on to serve as an advisor to Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson; President Kennedy appointed Dean as chief negotiator at the nuclear test ban negotiations that led to the signing of the partial nuclear test ban treaty in 1963. Throughout his illustrious career, Dean remained committed to Cornell, serving as a trustee for more than three decades and as Chair of the Board of Trustees from 1958 to 1968. In addition, former Cornell Law Dean Gray Thoron, and current Professors Celia Bigoness and Charles Whitehead, are among the Cornell Law faculty members who began their careers at S&C.
In addition to becoming partners at S&C, Cornell Law alums who join the Firm go on to pursue a range of prestigious opportunities. S&C alums who attended Cornell Law work in government, academia, non-profits (including the United Nations World Food Program) and private practice, as well as in management positions for Fortune 500 companies.
