BU Law Holds Symposium and Award Ceremony for the 2015 Frankel Fiduciary Prize
Award named for Professor Tamar Frankel honors Yale University’s David Swensen.
On September 18, BU Law faculty, alumni, and fiduciary scholars and practitioners gathered to honor David Swensen, chief investment officer of Yale University, with the 2015 Frankel Fiduciary Prize. The award, established by the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard, was named after Michaels Faculty Research Scholar and Professor of Law Tamar Frankel. It is presented annually to individuals who preserve and advance fiduciary principles.
BU Law Dean Maureen O’Rourke welcomed attendees to Boston University, while Knut A. Rostad, president and founder of the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard, introduced the ceremony and explained the history of the award, highlighting Professor Frankel’s various achievements in fiduciary law.
Following these introductions was an interview with Seth Klarman, president and CEO of The Baupost Group, conducted by Andrew Golden, president of the Princeton University Investment Company. Klarman discussed what he thinks makes a great fiduciary: adhering to a code of ethical behavior, charging clients reasonable fees, keeping a firm private rather than going public, and putting personal interests aside. He followed up these comments with advice on how to run a successful fund management company. “I don’t spend a second thinking about how we can maximize profits,” Klarman said. “I’m devoted to putting the client first, and thinking about their best interest.”
Jay O. Light, George F. Baker Professor of Administration Emeritus at Harvard Business School, presented Swensen with the Frankel Fiduciary Prize: a “Yale blue” plaque. Swensen’s acceptance speech focused on further advancement and globalization of fiduciary. He illustrated his advice with a story about a former student who wanted to translate his book about value investing into Chinese. As the student translated, Swensen said, he realized that there was no Chinese word for ‘fiduciary.’ “I’m fortunate to live in a country with fiduciary,” he said. “But fiduciary should be more global. We all need to do more to translate fiduciary.”
The symposium did more than honor Swensen—it was an opportunity to highlight and commend Tamar Frankel’s countless accomplishments. A distinguished scholar not only of fiduciary law, but also of corporate governance, mutual funds, and financial system regulation, Frankel has been teaching at BU Law since 1971. She has published 10 books and over 80 articles on a variety of legal and financial topics. A native of Israel, Frankel served as an attorney in the legal department of the Israeli Air Force, an assistant attorney general for Israel’s Ministry of Justice and the legal advisor of the State of Israel Bonds Organization in Europe. She has worked in private practice in Israel, Boston, and Washington, DC.
A teacher, writer, speaker, and researcher of fiduciary for decades, Frankel has prominently articulated the importance of strengthening and extending the fiduciary standard to a broad range of investment managers and advisers. In her work, she has insisted on pointing out the vulnerability of investors, even when doing so has been contrary to the popular view and conventional wisdom. She has been a strong and persistent voice in support of ethical behavior and has urged needed reform in the field.
Reported by Johanna Gruber (CAS’17)