In Memoriam: Allen D. Black
Allen D. Black, longtime ALI Council member and distinguished Philadelphia lawyer, passed away at the age of 82. ALI members will surely remember Allen as the presenter of the Boskey motion at Annual Meetings for nearly a decade. We will all remember him for his tireless service to the Institute and its mission, and for his brilliance, principled dedication to the rule of law and law reform, and collegiality.
Allen was elected to the ALI in February 1976 and to the Council in May 1994. He also served as ALI First Vice President. In his nearly 50 years of service to the Institute, he sat on numerous committees, served as an Adviser on the Restatements of Liability Insurance and Agency (Third), and was a member of the Members Consultative Groups for the Restatements of Corporate Governance, Unfair Competition, and The Law Governing Lawyers.
Allen was a founding partner of Fine, Kaplan and Black, a Philadelphia law firm specializing in complex commercial litigation with particular expertise in representing plaintiffs in antitrust matters. Allen played a leading role in landmark cases, including the Corrugated Container Antitrust Litigation, and was widely recognized as one of the very top antitrust lawyers in the country.
Before founding the firm, Allen served as a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and spent three years as appellate defense counsel in the U.S. Navy’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps during the Vietnam War.
A firm believer in the importance of legal education, Allen served on the faculties of the University of North Dakota Law School, Rutgers Law School–Camden, Temple University Beasley School of Law, and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Allen was also a dedicated civic leader. He served on the Bucks County Airport Authority for two decades, chairing the board from 1999 to 2010. He was active in environmental and local history efforts, including as chairman of Delaware Canal 21 and as a member of the advisory board of the Friends of the Delaware Canal.
He graduated from Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania Law School magna cum laude, where he was Comment Editor of the Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif. After law school, Allen clerked for Judge John Minor Wisdom on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans—an experience that would shape his future path. It was Judge Wisdom who introduced Allen to the ALI.
Beyond his legal and civic work, Allen was known for his thoughtful mentoring, quiet integrity, and profound kindness. ALI owes him a deep debt of gratitude for his decades of leadership and service. We will miss him dearly.
