New Reading Room Named for Phyllis & Bernard Nash ’66 in Recognition of Their Generosity to the Law School
IN JUNE 2018, BROOKLYN LAW SCHOOL celebrated Bernard Nash ’66 during a dinner at the Forchelli Conference Center and a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the library, attended by family, friends, and colleagues. For his remarkable career and generosity, Nash was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award from Brooklyn Law School and law firm Cozen O’Connor, and a newly renovated library reading room was named in his honor in recognition of a major gift to the Law School: the Phyllis & Bernard Nash ’66 Reading Room. Nash and his wife have been longtime supporters of the Law School, including endowing the Bernard Nash Scholarship in 2011.When he accepted the Lifetime Achievement award, Nash was characteristically quick to praise and thank others. He singled out former dean Nick Allard’s “innovative leadership,” which, he said, “has taken the Law School to new heights and national recognition.” He also thanked Harry Pollack at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for hiring him right out of law school; his friends, clients, and Cozen colleagues for their “support, guidance, and wise counsel”; and his family— particularly Phyllis Nash, his wife of 54 years.
“Success is not a solo act,” Nash said. “It requires a team, and I have been fortunate to have had that team throughout my career.”
“Like Bernie Nash, this Law School has a well-deserved reputation for innovation and being in the forefront of legal change,” said Allard, a longtime friend of Nash. “And this particular beautiful new library space exemplifies new approaches to learning law. It has already become one of the most popular new parts of the school.”
Nash has been a pioneer in the legal profession, from his work at the SEC, to his years as assistant counsel to the U.S. Senate Antitrust Subcommittee, to his launching of the country’s first state attorneys general practice 40 years ago. Over the course of his career, Nash has litigated or settled multiple billion-dollar cases, represented clients in all 50 states, argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, and worked on multibillion-dollar mergers. But his most illustrious achievement is being the drafter and architect of the Hart-Scott- Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, which, among other provisions, gave state attorneys general the authority to file federal antitrust lawsuits and the Department of Justice Antitrust Division authority to issue subpoenas in civil antitrust investigations. Today, Nash is cochair of the state attorneys general practice at Cozen O’Connor and coeditor of its weekly state AG report.
“We’re honoring a man who forged his own legal path and created a niche practice that didn’t exist before he saw it,” said Karen White, executive director of the Conference of Western Attorneys General, who worked with Nash for 27 years. “He used this niche to help our states get better policy, better law, and more knowledgeable elected officials.”