Stephen Krane, Partner at Proskauer Rose, Dies

Stephen C. Krane, Proskauer Rose General Counsel, Dies
By the Staff of the New York Law Journal

Steven C. Krane, the general counsel of Proskauer Rose and a former state bar president who was instrumental in a wide-ranging reformulation of the state's attorney ethics rules, died of a heart attack Tuesday. He was 53.

Mr. Krane collapsed at the conclusion of a business lunch at a restaurant near Proskauer's office at 47th Street and Broadway. He was pronounced dead at Roosevelt Hospital at 2:19 p.m.

As president of the New York State Bar Association, Mr. Krane spearheaded a new compilation of New York's Rules of Professional Responsibility in 2009. He also led the American Bar Association's legal battle to exempt lawyers from the Federal Trade Commission's "red flag" rule to prevent identity theft.

Mr. Krane was co-chair of Proskauer's law firm practice group, specializing in legal ethics. He was an expert in cross-border legal practice issues. In that area, he worked with both the state bar and ABA in their efforts to persuade foreign governments to liberalize restrictions on lawyers.

Mr. Krane was the youngest person to serve as president of the state bar when he was elected in 2001. As president, he coordinated the efforts of the organized bar to provide legal advice to the families of those killed or injured in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Also during his two years as bar president, Mr. Krane established, and then later served as chairman of, a program that provides grants to young lawyers who take public interest jobs to help them pay off student loans.

Last year, Governor David A. Paterson appointed Mr. Krane to the 13-member New York State Commission on Public Integrity. Two years earlier, in 2007, former Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye

(pictured at left) appointed him co-chair of the New York Judicial Institute on Professionalism in the Law.

Mr. Krane did his undergraduate work at State University of New York at Stony Brook, where he graduated Phi Beta Kapa in 1978. He received his juris doctorate from New York University School of Law in 1981.

Later that year he joined Proskauer as an associate. He was made a partner in 1989.

Ms. Kaye said yesterday in an interview that Mr. Krane, one of her first clerks, was "like a son" to her. She added that Mr. Krane worked closely with her late husband, Stephen R. Kaye, a former Proskauer Rose partner. After Mr. Kaye died, Mr. Krane moved into his office and sat "at the table where Stephen practiced law," she said.

Allen I. Fagin, Proskauer's chairman, said in an interview that Mr. Krane was "a beloved individual, a remarkable human being and lawyer."

Mr. Krane is survived by his wife, Faith, and two children, Elizabeth and Cameron.

The family has not yet announced arrangements.