Life and Career
Liman grew up in a Jewish family in Lawrence, Nassau County, New York. His mother Celia was a Phi Beta Kappa at Hunter College and taught Latin. His father was a successful dress manufacturer and also a graduate of City College. Liman's older sister Gladys, a graduate of Smith College, was a famous local poet. Liman himself was a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School
A former Assistant United States Attorney, Liman served as counsel for the New York state investigation into the 1971 Attica Prison riot. "The commission's final report, which blamed prison conditions and state officials for the violence, was published in book form and nominated for a National Book Award." Liman also served as chief counsel for the Senate's investigation of the Iran-Contra Affair, which was formally known as the United States Senate Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition. He was the subject of many newspaper and magazine articles, including "Hostile Witnesses" in the Washington Post Magazine, Aug. 16, 1998, largely an extended excerpt from the section of his memoirs about the Iran-Contra hearings.
Yale University honored Liman, with the Arthur Liman Public Interest Fellowship and Fund. The fellowship supports the work of Yale law students and graduates advocating on behalf of those underserved or underrepresented in civil and criminal law.
According to Yale's website, "The Arthur Liman Public Interest Fellowship and Fund is a leading voice in public interest law as it focuses on developing innovative responses to an array of problems related to access to justice. The program began in 1997 and funded one law school graduate to work for a year and supported a few undergraduates from Harvard's Phillips Brooks House to spend a summer involved in public interest law."
Liman was a recipient of the New York City Bar Association's Association Medal in honor of exceptional contributions to the honor and standing of the bar in the community.
He was survived by his wife, née Ellen Fogelson, a writer and painter, and their three children, and his sister. The children were Emily, a neurobiologist, director Doug Liman and lawyer Lewis J.
He died at age 64 on July 17, 1997 in his apartment in Manhattan due to bladder cancer.
Read more about this topic: Arthur L. Liman
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