Inaugural Lecture of Wolf Chair, on Recovery of Holocaust-Looted Art, will be Sept. 27

Chase College of Law will present the first public lecture ‒ a lawyer’s account of recovering artwork stolen during the Holocaust ‒ of the college’s newly endowed David and Nancy Wolf Chair in Ethics and Professional Identity.

The presentation by Los Angeles lawyer E. Randol Schoenberg, followed by his conversation with Chase Professor Jack Harrison, who holds the Wolf Chair, will be Sept. 27 at the Cincinnati Museum Center, and is in partnership with the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center, located at the museum center.

Mr. Schoenberg is a litigator and grandson of Austrian-American composer Arnold Schoenberg, who fled Nazi persecution prior to World War II, who took on the challenge to recover for a family friend six paintings by Gustav Klimt held by an Austrian state museum that ultimately were valued at more than $325 million. Among them was “Golden Lady,” an early 20th century portrait utilizing application of gold leaf, that gave name to the 2015 movie “Woman in Gold” that recounted Mr. Schoenberg’s decade-long legal quest that began in the late 1990s. At the time, Mr. Schoenberg had been practicing law for about 10 years.

Mr. Schoenberg successfully argued to the Supreme Court of the United States that his client, Maria Altman, from whose family the paintings
had been stolen in 1938 in Nazi Germany-aligned Austria, could sue Austria for their return. He subsequently prevailed in 2006 in arbitration in Austria that the paintings be returned to Ms. Altman, who had fled Austria following Germany’s unopposed annexation of the country.

To attend the presentation by Mr. Schoenberg and conversation with Professor Harrison:

• Free tickets are available at www.holocaustandhumanity.org/, utilizing the “programs & events” dropdown.  

• The presentation and conversation is from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Sept. 27, with the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center museum open for tours beginning at 4:30 p.m., and followed by a reception beginning at 6:30 p.m.  

• The Cincinnati Museum Center is at Union Terminal, 1301 Western Ave., in the Queensgate section of Cincinnati, near downtown.

• Lawyers attending may request one hour of continuing legal education credit.

The David and Nancy Wolf Chair in Ethics and Professional Identity at Chase is endowed by alumnus David Wolf and Nancy Wolf to enable Chase to offer and to continually expand education in the areas of ethical conduct and social justice. It supports programming related to ethics and professionalism, including enhancements to pro bono and public interest service by students, training in diversity, equity and inclusion, recruitment of an ethicist-in-residence and development of lectureships in ethics and professional responsibility.

Professor Harrison teaches in the areas of torts, civil procedure, professional responsibility, and sexual orientation and the law. He also directs
the Chase Center for Excellence in Advocacy, which offers students experience primarily in courtroom advocacy. He practiced in major Cincinnati law firms prior to joining the Chase faculty in 2011.