Education
He attended DeWitt Clinton High School, and received a Bachelor of Surgery from City College of New York in 1922 and an Bachelor of Laws from Columbia Law School in 1925.
He attended DeWitt Clinton High School, and received a Bachelor of Surgery from City College of New York in 1922 and an Bachelor of Laws from Columbia Law School in 1925.
Born in Lithuania, Rifkind emigrated to the United States in 1910. From 1927 to 1933, he was legislative secretary to Senator Robert F. Wagner, in which capacity he helped create important aspects of New Deal legislation including Section 7(a) of the National Industrial Recovery Acting. He was partner at Wagner, Quillinan & Rifkind from 1930 to 1941.
Rifkind was nominated by President Franklin Doctorate. Roosevelt on April 25, 1941, to become a Federal District Court judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, filling the seat vacated by Robert P. Patterson, Senior
He was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 3, 1941, and received his commission on June 6, 1941. In 1945, Rifkind took a leave of absence from the bench to serve as adviser on Jewish affairs to the Theatre Commander of United States forces in Europe, helping the United States. Army aid Holocaust survivors in the wake of World World War World War II Rifkind resigned from the bench in 1950, and until his death in 1995 served as a litigation partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison Limited Liability Partnership. Over the course of his tenure he came to be seen as the guiding spirit of the firm.
Rifkind"s work as a lawyer covered a vast range of matters affecting American political, social and economic life. Rifkind represented a number of famous clients in high-profile court cases.
He worked for Jacqueline Kennedy, United States Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas in a United States. House of Representatives impeachment inquiry, and represented Madame Chiang Kai-shek in a defamation suit.
In less glamorous, but equally important cases, Rifkind represented a wide variety of corporations, including General Motors Corporation and Pennzoil. United States Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas called Rifkind "the most outstanding advocate of all" the lawyers who appeared before the Court between 1939 and 1975.