2026 Judge Simon H. Rifkind Award Luncheon

The Judge Simon H. Rifkind Award Luncheon was held on Tuesday, March 31, 2026, at the Pierre Hotel in New York City. This year, JTS honored Eric F. Grossman, Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Chief Administration Officer, Morgan Stanley, and Bradley J. Butwin, Chair, O’Melveny & Myers LLP.

The packed ballroom listened to the honorees speak about each other and their years of friendship, their career paths as attorneys, and their deep connection to Robert B. Fiske, who sadly passed away this past December. Fellow attorney and Chair of the JTS Board of Trustees, Alan Levine, served as the emcee, friend and colleague Jonathan Rosenberg led the Hamotzi, and Chancellor Shuly Rubin Schwartz offered inspiring remarks. Risë Norman, retired partner from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and a JTS Board of Trustee also spoke.

The Judge Simon H. Rifkind Award was established at JTS in 1996 in recognition of Judge Rifkind’s exemplary life, which was marked by professional preeminence, distinguished public service, and unstinting devotion to the Jewish community.

Honoree Bios

Eric F. Grossman

Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Chief Administration Officer, Morgan Stanley

ERIC F. GROSSMAN is Morgan Stanley’s Chief Legal Officer and Chief Administrative Officer and a member of the Firm’s Operating and Management Committees. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley in 2006 as Global Head of Litigation, Eric was a partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell. In 2008, Eric was appointed General Counsel of Global Wealth Management. In 2010, he joined Morgan Stanley’s Management Committee and was appointed Global Head of Legal. Eric became Morgan Stanley’s Chief Legal Officer with responsibility for the Legal and Compliance Division in January 2012 and joined the Firm’s Operating Committee. In July 2022, Eric took on additional responsibilities as the Firm’s Chief Administrative Officer. Eric graduated from Hamilton College in 1988 and in 1993 received his J.D., magna cum laude, Order of the Coif, from Fordham University School of Law, where he was a member of the law review. Eric clerked for the Honorable Richard J. Cardamone, U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, from 1993 to 1994. Eric is a board member and President Emeritus of Advocates for Children of New York. Eric is Chair of the Dean’s Planning Council at Fordham Law School and a board member of the DREAM Charter Schools.

Bradley J. Butwin

Chair, O’Melveny & Myers LLP.

BRADLEY J. BUTWIN has served as Chair of O’Melveny & Myers LLP for 14 years, making him the firm’s longest-serving chair since the founding O’Melveny family. Under Brad’s leadership, O’Melveny has for 14 consecutive years ranked in the top tier of The American Lawyer’s “A-List,” which recognizes the nation’s most “well-rounded” firms based on revenue, pro bono, diversity, and associate satisfaction. O’Melveny has also been a perennial honoree in The American Lawyer’s “Litigation Department of the Year” awards. And in Vault’s Law Firm Rankings, the firm has now been ranked in the top three in the “Best Law Firm to Work For” category for 11 consecutive years, including ranking #1 for the past two years and four times over the past six years—a feat no other firm has achieved. In recognition of the firm’s innovative Living Well initiative and commitment to mental wellness throughout the legal industry, O’Melveny received One Mind at Work’s Salus Award for Workplace Mental Health.

Brad has presided over a transformative chapter for O’Melveny, steering the firm through a period of strategic growth that spans the opening of the firm’s top-ranked Seoul office during his first term to, more recently, the launch of three new Texas offices in Austin, Dallas, and Houston. He has also guided O’Melveny to nearly a decade of revenue growth, including crossing the billion-dollar revenue mark for the first time in 2022. In recognition of these and other achievements, the New York Law Journal recognized him with the 2023 “Distinguished Leader Award.”

Brad also maintains a widely acclaimed practice. Chambers USA has ranked him among the nation’s top securities litigators and one of the leading commercial litigators in New York, calling him a “standout lawyer” with a “brilliant mind” who “is always reachable and responsive, [and] always wants to help.”

Brad has received numerous honors for his community service, dedication to justice, and commitment to advancing inclusion, including the Anti-Defamation League’s Human Relations Award; American Jewish Committee’s Judge Learned Hand Award; and the NYC Bar Association’s Thurgood Marshall Award.

Brad serves on the board of directors of Only Make Believe, a non-profit that creates and performs interactive theater for children in hospitals and care facilities. A long-time supporter of his alma maters, Fordham University School of Law and the University of Wisconsin, Brad serves on the External Advisory Board of the University of Wisconsin’s School of Business and, at Fordham, is a member of both the Dean’s Planning Council and the Advisory Board of the Feerick Center for Social Justice, which recently recognized him with its Spirit of Service Award. The Fordham Law Alumni Association has also awarded Brad its highest honor—the Medal of Achievement.

Before entering private practice, Brad served as a law clerk for US District Judge David N. Edelstein (S.D.N.Y.). He and his wife, Randi, have four children, three of whom played Division I soccer at the collegiate level and are now practicing lawyers; their youngest is studying to be a teacher.