After over 22 years as an ISLP co-founder, director, officer, and volunteer staff member, Richard “Dick” Winfield has retired from his active role with the organization. We are grateful that he will continue as a member of the Emeritus Board.
Dick established and, over the years, built and nurtured one of ISLP’s best known programs: the Media Law Working Group. During his years as a law firm partner at Rogers & Wells and then Clifford Chance – and as an ISLP volunteer – Dick dedicated his career to reforming laws to protect journalists and defending journalists prosecuted by those who sought to silence them. His work has impacted media freedoms in over 20 countries and earned him global recognition. He regularly taught courses in media law at both Columbia and Fordham Law Schools in New York City, his home town. He has been a generous mentor to generations of law students and lawyers around the globe as well as to the ISLP team.
In short, Dick is emblematic of the idea behind ISLP—a senior lawyer providing pro bono legal services on significant matters to international clients in areas in which the lawyer has recognized expertise. More than that, he has an infectious passion and boundless energy for his work that reminds lawyers why we wanted to be lawyers in the first place.
In recognition of Dick’s vision in leading our Media Law Working Group and the global reputation he has developed for ISLP in this area, we are thrilled to announce that we will be renaming the program in his honor:
The Winfield Freedom of Expression Initiative
Please join the entire ISLP family in thanking Dick for his vision, passion, and leadership, and in wishing him and his wife of over 50 years, Debbie, a rewarding and fulfilling retirement. It is hard to imagine Dick taking time to relax, but we hope he can find time for that too.
