On April 30, the NYU Law chapter of the Order of the Coif—a national honor society for law students whose GPA rankings are in the top ten percent of their graduating classes—welcomed 25 provisional candidates from the Class of 2025 during a ceremony in Vanderbilt Hall. Introduced by Helen Hershkoff, Herbert M. and Svetlana Wachtell Professor of Constitutional Law and Civil Liberties, each 3L honoree thanked family members and Law School faculty for contributing to their success.
The ceremony also recognized honorary inductee Ira Nordlicht ’72. An investor and business consultant, Nordlicht worked at the Federal Trade Commission and in various positions at the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee before establishing his own law firm, Nordlicht & Hand. He is a director at Alfa Wassermann, Inc., a global diagnostics and life sciences company, and founded the Nordlicht Family Scholarship in the Grunin Center for Law and Social Entrepreneurship at NYU Law.
Dean Troy McKenzie ’00 introduced Nordlicht by saluting his career—spanning law, public service, international finance, and philanthropy—and noted that he “is someone who has been a stalwart protector, supporter, and nudge for NYU for many, many years.”
Addressing the assembled students, Nordlicht reflected on lessons learned from his life’s work. Perspective, he said, comes with time. “You live your life forward,” he observed. “But maybe if you’re lucky, you might understand it backwards.” Nordlicht expressed a hope that students will embrace the notion of selflessness throughout their lives. “When you combine this credential [of membership in the Order of the Coif] with the credential you will have for graduating law school…you will be in a truly privileged position,” he said. “So if you can, if circumstances permit and if so inclined, please make the effort and try to do something good for someone else.”
Posted May 14, 2025