Memorial Minute

On December 8 the Council adopted the following Minute in Remembrance of Lloyd N. Cutler by Council member William H. Webster:

Lloyd Norton Cutler
November 10, 1917 – May 8, 2005

For those who revere the profession of the law, Lloyd N. Cutler was the quintessential private man in public life. We lost him on May 8, 2005 at the age of 87 after 66 distinguished years at the bar.

At the conclusion of his life he had attained universal recognition as a skilled counselor and advocate, had founded one of the great international firms, had argued key cases before the Supreme Court, had served two Presidents as their White House Counsel, and had represented top corporations and public-interest causes with equal energy and determination. For all his adult life he was a force.

I first met Lloyd (the youngest associates in his firm were encouraged to call him "Lloyd") in Washington at the first Annual Meeting of The American Law Institute following my election to membership in 1960. I received an invitation to a reception his firm was giving. Who was Lloyd Cutler? I soon found out. For 51 years no one was more devoted to the ALI than Lloyd Cutler.

He was elected to the Council in 1974 and served actively until his death. He served on the Executive Committee for 15 years and was a key member of the Finance and Development Committee and was Vice Chairman of the Capital Campaign Steering Committee 1985-1989.

But it was as a participant in the Restatement deliberations that I think he is best remembered in the ALI. When the gravel voice was recognized to speak, people listened. Lloyd’s ability to focus on the essential part of any issue and to offer constructive suggestions was unparalleled. Even during the tempestuous efforts to produce the important Principles of Corporate Governance from 1979 to 1993 the minutes are replete with appropriate references to his work and contributions. In his quiet, if gravelly way, Lloyd was a force.

In 1981 Lloyd was the speaker at the ALI Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. He chose to speak on the negotiations leading to the release of the American hostages in Iran, a fascinating story in which he had played a leading role. He also paid tribute to the contributions of fellow ALI member, Robert Mundheim, who, 24 years later, returned the favor in a lovely in memoriam in the Fall
2005 issue of the Berlin Journal of the American Academy in Berlin where both served as Trustees.

This gravelly force got off to an early start. In 1936 he graduated from Yale at the age of 18 and three years later he graduated, magna cum laude, from Yale Law School where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Law Journal. After a coveted clerkship with Judge Clark of the Second Circuit, he went to work for the Cravath firm in New York City. During World War II, he served in Washington with the Lend-Lease Administration with some time in Army Intelligence.

In 1962 he was one of three founders of Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering and an exciting new experience lay before him. The firm held to certain egalitarian principles that set it apart as a place of opportunity for bright, young lawyers. Both Lloyd and his partner, John Pickering, were leaders at the bar and in providing legal services to public-interest causes, at the same time as newspapers, business associations, and major corporations were lining up for their counsel. In 2004 Wilmer Cutler merged with the Boston-based law firm of Hale and Dorr under the present banner of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, with over 1000 lawyers around the world.

With all this, Lloyd had time to serve meaningfully in numerous organizations besides the ALI, including Brookings Institution, Yale University Council (where he taught both at Yale and Oxford), the Trilateral Commission, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, The Metropolitan Opera, and The Phillips Collection. He was Chairman of the Salzburg Seminar. In all, six Presidents recruited him for advice and counseling, with two of them (Carter and Clinton) appointing him as White House Counsel.

Shortly after September 11, 2001, I had the privilege of serving with Council member William T. Coleman, Jr., and Lloyd on a small advisory group selected by the Secretary of Defense to help him develop rational rules for the newly created Military Tribunals. Lloyd’s contributions were wise and practical and supported respect for the rule of law. His service on an advisory group selected by the Director of Central Intelligence was equally impressive. When Lloyd’s health gave way and kept him at home, he continued his interest in a project of the National Academies entitled "Privacy in the Information Age," a challenging assignment that he and I were privileged to co-chair.

Lloyd lost his first wife of 47 years, Louise Howe Cutler, after a long illness. She had been a frequent attendee at ALI functions. In 1989 he married Rhoda Winton "Polly" Kraft, the widow of columnist Joseph Kraft, and a charming and gifted artist in her own right. She brightened Lloyd’s last years immeasurably. He is also survived by his daughters, Deborah Notman of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, Judge Beverly Winslow Cutler of Palmer, Alaska, and Louisiana "Louann" Cutler of Anchorage, Alaska; his son, Lloyd Norton Cutler, Jr., of Englewood, Colorado; two stepchildren; and eight grandchildren.

Two memorials were held for Lloyd on Monday, May 16. A lovely morning church service that I attended at Christ Church in Georgetown was followed by a memorial gathering at Constitution Hall at which our Judge Pat Wald spoke for the ALI.

Lloyd Cutler’s life was emblematic of the extraordinary opportunities and avenues for service and participation that the legal profession offers to its practitioners, who, in Justice Holmes’s words "bring to [their] work a mighty heart." His career is too broad to capsulate. He has been called "a mandarin," a "go-to man," and "the ultimate Washington lawyer." Were he here to answer, I think he might say, "Just Lloyd will do." So, we, his friends and colleagues at ALI, can well say — so long, Lloyd — well done!