Shook Mourns the Passing of Beloved Public Policy Chair Victor Schwartz

WASHINGTON, July 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — It is with a heavy heart that we share that our longtime partner, colleague and friend Victor Schwartz passed away last night.

Victor was the founder and co-chair of Shook’s Public Policy Group. He was with the firm for more than 24 years and was a leading thought leader, scholar and advocate for civil justice reform. His impact on the legal profession cannot be overstated. In 2013, The National Law Journal named Victor one of the 100 most influential lawyers in the United States.

Prior to his distinguished career in private practice, Victor was a member of the legal academy and served in government.

He began his career as a professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, following a judicial clerkship in the Southern District of New York and graduation near the top of his class at Columbia Law School. He co-authored Prosser, Wade and Schwartz’s Torts, the most widely used torts casebook in the U.S. to this day. He also wrote the leading treatise Comparative Negligence, discussing the now widely adopted principle that was in its infancy at the time the first edition was published. His scholarship and effectiveness led him to be named Dean of the law school. In 2012, the law school established the Professor Victor E. Schwartz Chair in Tort Law.

Victor moved to Washington in the 1970s – a period of tumult in product liability law. The federal government formed an interagency task force in the Department of Commerce that Victor chaired to study the problem. That work culminated in the publication of the model Uniform Products Liability Act. Victor received the Secretary of Commerce’s Award for Professional Excellence.

He subsequently joined private practice as a partner in a Washington, D.C.-based law firm before coming to Shook in summer of 2001. He was a life member of the American Law Institute.

At Shook, Victor will be remembered for his mentorship and sense of humor as well as his impact on the law.

Madeleine McDonough, chair of the firm, said: “Victor was a singular force – a passionate advocate, an innovative scholar and a gifted communicator, not to mention a dear friend and a trusted colleague. He will be deeply missed.”

Partner Mark Behrens, who worked with Victor for almost 35 years, said: “Every conversation with Victor was a teaching moment, whether about the law or life in general, and always ended with a funny story or spot-on impression of some public figure.”

Phil Goldberg, who manages Shook’s Washington, D.C. Office and worked with Victor for more than 20 years, added: “Victor was a friend, partner and mentor to everyone fortunate enough to work with him. He touched the lives of so many people with his wit, intellect and sense of humor. He will be deeply missed.”

Chris Appel, who joined the Public Policy Group in 2006 and has spent his entire legal career working with Victor, said: “Working as Victor’s ‘right-hand man’ has been the greatest honor of my professional life. He was a force of nature and ahead of his time in so many ways, and not just in the area of law. Victor was a close friend and mentor to me and countless others, and the joy he brought into so many lives is a legacy for which we should all strive.”

Our thoughts are with Victor’s best friend of more than four decades, Deborah Underhill, his goddaughter Martha Ann Underhill Pavoni and godson Markus Fuchss, his dear friends and doctors David Shocket and Barrett Goldstein, everyone at Shook who worked closely with him, and his many other friends and colleagues.

About Shook, Hardy & Bacon

Founded in 1889, Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P. has 18 offices in the United States with attorneys and professional staff serving clients in the health, science and technology sectors in areas ranging from product liability defense and business litigation to intellectual property prosecution and litigation, environmental and toxic tort, privacy and data security and regulatory counseling.

SOURCE Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P.