Frank Kimball, R.I.P.

Disclosure: This obituary has been provided by Lateral Link, an Above the Law advertiser.

We are very sad to inform the legal community that Frank Kimball, a true leader in our legal industry who influenced thousands of attorneys, from law students to managing partners, during his successful career, passed away last Friday, October 28.

In addition to contributing to Above the Law, through a popular series of career advice posts, Frank provided search services, project consulting and training for leading law firms for almost two decades. He interviewed, hired, placed, or counseled more than 11,500 law students and attorneys. Frank was a partner with McDermott, Will & Emery from 1986-1992, served for six years on the hiring committee, ran two summer programs, and was chair of the national hiring committee in 1990-1992.

Frank’s firm placed partners and associates with more than thirty firms, including Baker & McKenzie, Bartlit Beck, Bell, Boyd & Lloyd, Chapman and Cutler, Faegre & Benson, Foley & Lardner, Grippo & Elden, Howrey, Jenner & Block, Jones Day, Katten Muchin Rosenman, Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, Mayer Brown, McDermott, Will & Emery, McGuire Woods, Miller Canfield, Neal Gerber Eisenberg, Ropes & Gray, Schiff Hardin, Seyfarth Shaw, Sidley Austin, Sonnenschein, Stein Ray & Harris, Vedder Price, and Winston & Strawn.

He trained hundreds of campus and office interviewers and presented programs for hiring partner retreats for fifteen Am Law 200 firms, including Shearman & Sterling, Paul Hastings, Akin Gump, Katten Muchin Rosenman, Winston & Strawn, Jenner & Block, Gardner Carton & Douglas (now Drinker Biddle), Arnold & Porter, Schiff Hardin, and Neal Gerber Eisenberg. He completed consulting projects for many Am Law 200 firms and interviewed on campus at two dozen law schools.

Frank presented ninety programs on market issues, interviewing skills, networking, summer programs, and other issues, to more than 5,000 students at Chicago, DePaul, Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana Kent, Loyola Chicago, Michigan, Northwestern, Virginia, and Washington & Lee.

Frank presented scores of programs for hiring and managing partners and placement professionals, including hiring committee retreats, ten NALP Annual Conferences, NALSC annual meetings, IOMA Seminars, the Third Annual Ms. JD Conference, Young Professionals of Chicago, and programs for recruiting professionals in Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, and other markets.

A 1977 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, Frank won the Campbell Moot Court Competition (with his brother George), served as a Note Editor of the Michigan Journal Of Law Reform, and was a Senior Writing Instructor. He graduated magna cum laude from UCLA, is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and was 2d Speaker at the 1973 National Debate Tournament.

Frank is survived by his family, including his wife Linda Listrom, formerly a partner at Jenner & Block and currently Executive Director of the National Association For Urban Debate Leagues; Matt (a Harvard Law School graduate who is an in-house lawyer for the Chicago Bears); and Shannon (a senior at McGill in Montreal, editor-in-chief of the McGill Tribune, and marathon runner). A diehard Michigan football fan, Frank spent his August vacations on horseback in Wyoming.

We will miss you, Frank, and your countless contributions to the legal industry, as not only a mentor and leader, but as a friend and loved one to anyone who had the good fortune to get to know you. We will miss your sense of humor, compassion, charisma, hospitality, friendship, wisdom, contributions, and conversations. You are truly missed.

A memorial will be held at 4th Presbyterian Church in Chicago on Thursday, November 3, at 1:30 p.m.

There is a fund in memory of Frank at the University of Michigan Law School. Anyone interested in making a donation should (1) click here, and check the boxes to indicate the gift is in memory of Frank Kimball, or (2) send checks to University of Michigan Law School, Development & Alumni Relations, 701 South State Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-3091, noting the donation is in memory of Frank Kimball.

Disclosure: This obituary has been provided by Lateral Link, an Above the Law advertiser.

Remembering Frank Kimball: 1953 – 2011 [Lateral Link]