Brennan Center Announces Election of Robert A. Atkins as New Co-Chair

New York, NY – The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law announced today that Robert A. Atkins has been elected and Patricia Bauman has been re-elected Co-Chairs of the Center’s Board of Directors. 

Robert A. Atkins has been a litigator at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP for 27 years. He is a partner in the firm, a member of the firm’s Management Committee and chairman of its legal ethics committee. Mr. Atkins represents Fortune 500 companies and litigates high profile disputes in antitrust, corporate control, and class action cases. Mr. Atkins has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of the Best Lawyers in the U.S. in Antitrust Litigation. Since 2006, as pro bono counsel for the Center in many landmark voting cases, Mr. Atkins has been a champion for voting rights and protecting constitutional freedoms for all Americans at the polls. He is a graduate of Columbia College and NYU School of Law, and has been a member of the Brennan Center Board and Brennan Center Legacy Awards Dinner Committee since 2013. He also served on the Center’s Program Advisory Board.

Patricia Bauman has been a member of the Brennan Center Board for seven years and has served as Co-Chair since 2011. She is President of the Bauman Foundation and has shaped its activities at the intersection of human health and environment. She has been a leader in fostering right-to-know and open government initiatives. In recent years, the Foundation has also supported civic participation, voter registration and outreach, and election protection. She is a Vice-Chair of the Natural Resources Defense Council and of the Democracy Alliance. She also serves on the boards of Montefiore Medical Center in New York and Catalist LLC. She is a graduate of Radcliffe/Harvard College, Columbia University School of Public Health, and Georgetown University Law Center. 

Mr. Atkins succeeds Lawrence B. Pedowitz, a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, who served as Co-Chair for three years and contributed significantly to program development, fundraising, governance, and management of the Center.

“The Brennan Center is thrilled to have tremendous leaders like Patricia and Bob at the helm to steer the Board forward in a time of great change,” said Michael Waldman, president of the Brennan Center. “They are both passionate supporters of the Center’s work who have helped advance the values and vision of Justice Brennan. Patricia and Bob will lead our Board at a moment of strategic urgency for the Center, with voting restrictions and secretive ‘dark money’ tainting elections, privacy protections crumbling under government surveillance, and a mass incarceration scandal ripping through our criminal justice system. We so deeply appreciate Larry’s leadership these past three years, and are grateful that the Board will continue to be a source of strength for the organization.”

For more information or to set up an interview, please contact Desiree Ramos Reiner at  desiree.reiner@nyu.edu or 646–292–8321.

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