Ajay K. Mehrotra, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and the American Bar Foundation, has posted The Surprising Surrey: Stanley S. Surrey as Educator, Mentor, and Institution Builder, which appeared in the symposium issue he and Lawrence Zelenak, Duke Law School, edited in Law and Contemporary Problems. Here is the abstract:
Stanley S. Surrey is best remembered today for his many contributions to U.S. and international tax law and policy, both as a scholar and policymaker. But there is another side to Surrey, one less explored and celebrated – the “Surprising Surrey.” In addition to his many accomplishments in tax law scholarship and policymaking, Surrey was a dedicated teacher, a supportive mentor, and a leading institution builder. As a law professor, he taught for nearly three decades, traversing back and forth between the worlds of academia and policymaking. As a mentor, he guided and advanced the careers of many former students and junior colleagues in the U.S. Treasury Department, in the elite tax bar, and at Harvard Law School. And, as an institution builder, he played a pivotal role in establishing and running the International Tax Program, among many other activities at Harvard University.The Professors Mehrotra and Zelenak’s foreword to the Symposium is here.
In advancing these lesser-known activities, Surrey also amassed a great deal of power, authority, and prestige. His relentless ambition, drive and work ethic were the foundation for his desire to join the legal elite. This ambition and drive in turn shaped his sense of meritocracy. Given his own background and experiences, it is not surprising that Surrey had an unalterable faith in his particular sense of meritocracy—a sense that led him at times to counter traditional biases, and also to reproduce the hierarchical structure of American legal education and the profession.
This article, which is part of a Law & Contemporary Problems Symposium on “The Legacy of Stanley S. Surrey,” explores the Surprising Surrey. It relies on archival materials and original interviews, as well as Surrey's own reflections, to highlight not only Surrey’s contributions to the legal academy, but also how his career reflected changes and continuities in American legal education and the profession across the second half of the twentieth century.
–Dan Ernst
