Gordon Spivack

Who was Gordon Spivack?

Gordon B. Spivack was a prominent American antitrust lawyer and former senior Justice Department official. As a lawyer for Coudert Brothers and earlier for the firm of Lord Day & Lord, both now defunct, Spivack's roster of clients included some of the nation's biggest companies, including Cargill, Chevron Corporation, Coca-Cola, Texas Utilities and Union Carbide.

Born in New Haven, Spivack graduated from Yale University in 1950. After graduation, he joined the United States Army, becoming a sergeant first class in the Army's medical corps. In 1952 Spivack returned to New Haven, to enroll in Yale Law School, from which he graduated first in the class of 1955. He then joined the Justice Department's antitrust division ultimately rising to its top career position as Chief of Field Operations where he supervised 350 trial attorneys. Among his many accomplishments at the Division was his work as the government's lead lawyer when it sued executives at General Electric and Westinghouse in 1960, accusing them of fixing the price of large electrical generators.

In the year 1967, Spivack returned to Yale Law School as a professor of antitrust law and civil procedure. Three years later, however, Lord Day & Lord hired him to start their antitrust group. In 1986, Spivack took himself, 17 other lawyers and all of his clients to Coudert Brothers. While in private practice, Spivack represented in significant cases and investigations many major corporations. In 1978, he was appointed to serve on the President's Commission for the Revision of Antitrust Law and Procedures.