Godfrey & Kahn: Lawyer Bill Levit named visiting professor by The Center for International Legal Studies

For more information, contact:

Susan Costley

(414) 287-9322

scostley@gklaw.com

Levit will lecture on international arbitration law to law students in Kosovo and Albania

Milwaukee, Wisconsin (September 20, 2010). The Center for International Legal Studies (http://www.cils.org) based in Salzburg, Austria has named William H. Levit, Jr. of Godfrey & Kahn, S.C. (http://www.gklaw.com) as a visiting professor of international arbitration for two concentrated weeks during the fall 2011 term. Levit, a senior member of the Firm’s Litigation Practice Group, is one of approximately 80 lawyers selected to participate in The Center’s visiting professor program in 2011 in the former Soviet Union and other Eastern European countries. Levit will spend his first week in Pristina, Kosovo at the Universum University Institute for Economic and Social Studies. His second week will be at the Law School of Universum’s sister school, Wisdom University in Tirana, Albania.

The Center for International Studies (CILS) was interested in Levit because of his international arbitration experience. He believes he will be the first CILS professor in the organization’s 34-year history to teach in both Kosovo and Albania. Levit and his wife, Missy, will travel to Salzburg, Austria in the Spring of 2011 for a one week orientation program at The Center’s headquarters.

Levit decided to submit his application because of his interest in international law and the opportunity to work with law students in two rapidly developing and challenging environments. “Throughout my 46-year career in the Foreign Service and corporate and legal settings, I have always been fascinated with how the law works in different parts of the world,” explained Levit. “I am excited to find out how the people of Kosovo and Albania are dealing with many of the difficult issues currently facing their countries in the post-Soviet world. I’m sure that I’ll come away learning as much from the law students in these two countries as they, hopefully, will learn from me,” Levit said.

“We commend Bill for his willingness to mentor law students in the emerging markets of Eastern Europe. We fully support Bill as he gives of his time and expertise to emerging legal talents. Teaching opportunities provide a wonderful platform for giving back—in this case to a community one quarter of the way around the globe.” said Rick Bliss, Managing Partner of Godfrey & Kahn, S.C. “We strongly believe in helping our attorneys invest in new experiences and social responsibility work.”

In addition to his work at Godfrey & Kahn with complex litigation, Levit has served as an arbitrator in numerous commercial, corporate, intellectual property, licensing, insurance, reinsurance and securities arbitrations under the rules of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution, UNCITRAL, the American Arbitration Association, New York Stock Exchange and NASD, among others. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (London), the American Bar Foundation and the Wisconsin Law Foundation. Bill graduated from the Harvard Law School, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard International Law Journal. He received his Bachelor’s degree magna cum laude, phi beta kappa from Yale University in Asian History and his Master of Arts in International Relations from the University of California at Berkeley.

With more than 180 lawyers, Godfrey & Kahn, S.C. is one of Wisconsin’s leading business law firms. Founded in 1957, Godfrey & Kahn maintains offices in Milwaukee, Madison, Appleton, Green Bay and Waukesha, Wis.; and Washington, DC. For more information, please visit the firm’s web site at http://www.gklaw.com.