Ira M. Millstein papers
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Abstract
As a partner in the law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, Ira M. Millstein was a counsel to New York City during its fiscal crisis of the mid-1970s. The collection includes documents related to certain legal aspects of New York City's near-default on its obligations in 1975 and to the subsequent investigation of the city by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as well as copies of published articles about the matter.
Biographical/Historical Note
Ira M. Millstein was born in New York City on 8 November 1926. He earned his law degree in 1949 from Columbia Law School. By the 1970s, he was a partner at the law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges. The firm, including Millstein, served as counsel on bankruptcy matters to New York City during its fiscal crisis of the mid-late 1970s. At the peak of the crisis, in October 1975, New York was approaching due payments but with insufficient funds to pay them. Millstein wrote the filing that was submitted to the state Supreme Court to start the default process. Though the filing was approved and signed by Judge Irving Seybold, it was returned to the lawyers as unneeded as last minute debt relief came from union pension funds. Millstein and his firm continued to provide counsel, including in connection with an investigation launched by the Securities and Exchange Commission in early 1976. This investigation focused on concerns with New York's bond offerings, specifically with regard to misrepresentations and inadequate risk disclosure. The SEC's critical report was released in 1977, shortly before the Democratic Party primary, which incumbent Mayor Abraham Beame lost.
Arrangement Note
The collection is arranged roughly by document type and chronology.
Scope and Contents Note
The collection includes documents related primarily to certain legal aspects of New York City's near-default on its obligations in 1975 and to the subsequent investigation of the city by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The collection includes the petition of 17 October 1975 submitted by the city to the state Supreme Court, the resulting court order that positioned New York to declare it was defaulting that day (an action that was narrowly averted), and the text of Mayor Beame's prepared, but never used, announcement of the default. The collection includes legal analyses, memoranda and other documents from 1975-1976 related to the possibility and implications of a default by New York. The collection includes memoranda concerning some aspects of the SEC's investigation, such as jurisdictional matters. The collection also holds copies of proposed legislation from 1975 relating to the state's financial emergency act and of various published articles, primarily from law journals, concerning the crisis from a legal perspective.
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Access Restrictions
Open to qualified researchers.
Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.
Use Restrictions
Taking images of documents from the library collections for reference purposes by using hand-held cameras and in accordance with the library's photography guidelines is encouraged. As an alternative, patrons may request up to 20 images per day from staff.
Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.
Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions
Preferred Citation Note
This collection should be cited as the Ira M. Millstein papers, MS 3020, New-York Historical Society.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition Note
Gift from Ira Millstein, 2017.
About this Guide
Processing Information Note
The collection was processed in July 2017 by archivist Larry Weimer.
Repository
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Memo re: City of New York: Enforceability of General Obligation Indebtedness, 1975 June 3
"Municipal Securities and the Doctrine of Disclosure", 1975 September 20
Scope and Contents Note
Includes the prepared address of William D. Moran, of the SEC's New York Regional Office, given at a seminar of the ALI/ABA Committee on Professional Education.
Petition to the New York State Supreme Court under Title 6-A of the Local Finance Law, & Related Documents, 1975, 1982
Scope and Contents Note
This folder includes copies of the documents related to the day on which New York City almost defaulted during the fiscal crisis. It includes New York City's petition of 17 October 1975 to the State Supreme Court concerning its inability to pay its debts or obligations, the court order approving the stay as signed by Judge Irving Saypol, and Mayor Beame's prepared (but never used) statement regarding the court order. The folder includes a 1982 newspaper article about the events surrounding these documents. See also Jeff Nussbaum's "The Night New York Saved Itself from Bankruptcy" in The New Yorker of 16 October 2015 for further context and an image of Beame's statement.
"Financial Plan for the City of New York and Covered Organizations", 1975 October
Credit Agreement by and among the USA and New York State, New York City, and the New York State Emergency Financial Control Board, 1975 December 30
Scope and Contents Note
Printed version of the signed agreement.
Memoranda (1 of 6), 1975 October-December
Scope and Contents Note
Includes analyses concerning defaults under state legal investment law and a copy of MAC's motion for summary judgment in the matter Flushing National Bank v. Municipal Assistance Corporation for the City of New York, et al.
Memoranda (2 of 6), 1976 January-February
Scope and Contents Note
Includes a copy of the statement of the Securities Industry Association before the Sub-Committee on Securities of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.
Memoranda (3 of 6), 1976 March
Memoranda (4 of 6), 1976 April
Scope and Contents Note
Includes the financial statements and report from certified public accountants Hurdman and Cranstoun for the United Fund of Greater New York, Inc., year ended 29 February 1976.
Memoranda (5 of 6), 1976 May
Memoranda (6 of 6), 1976 June-October, 2016
Scope and Contents Note
Includes a copy of the memo from law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison to its client, the Municipal Assistance Corporation (MAC), on the subject of the case against default or bankruptcy by New York City. Includes a 2016 email indicating that the papers were reviewed for privileged documents.
Legislation (3 folders), 1975
Recollections, 1977?, 2013
Scope and Contents Note
Includes two documents. One is an unattributed and undated, but possibly from mid-1977, list of steps taken from 1974-April 1977 to address New York's fiscal crisis. Although Mayor Beame is often referred to in the third person, the use of the first person "I" also seems to be referring to Beame, and so the document seems to have been written for and about Beame. The second document is an extract of a 2013 transcript of a conversation among Millstein and two others, with the extract regarding the New York City fiscal crisis.
Published Articles About the Fiscal Crisis (1 of 5), 1995-2014
Scope and Contents Note
Includes various articles compiled by or for Millstein under the heading "Notes on the NYC Financial Crisis." Includes, among others, overviews published by the California Research Bureau (1995) and by the Citizens Research Council of Michigan (2012).
Published Articles About the Fiscal Crisis (2 of 5), 1975
Scope and Contents Note
Includes New York City's Fiscal Problem, a background paper issued by the Congressional Budget Office, and New York City's Financial Crisis, a staff study prepared for Congress's Joint Economic Committee.
Published Articles About the Fiscal Crisis (3 of 5), 1976
Scope and Contents Note
Includes Alan R. Viani's "New York Revisited: A Year of Crisis" from the Oklahoma City University Law Review; Joel E. Cohen's "The Limits of State Intervention in a Municipal Fiscal Crisis" from the Fordham Urban Law Journal; "The Constitutionality of the New York Municipal Wage Freeze and Debt Moratorium: Resurrection of the Contract Clause" from the University of Pennsylvania Law Review; Donna E. Shalala and Carol Bellamy's "A State Saves a City: The New York Case" from the Duke Law Journal; and the "Report of the Committee on State and Local Government Bargaining" from 1976 Labor Relations Law Committee Reports.
Published Articles About the Fiscal Crisis (4 of 5), 1977
Scope and Contents Note
Includes Gayle Gutekunst-Roth's "New York: A City in Crisis: Fiscal Emergency Legislation and the Constitutional Attacks" from the Fordham Urban Law Journal; and Robert H. Freilich, John H. Bracken, and William A. Denney's "Recent Developments in Local Government Law" from The Urban Lawyer.
Published Articles About the Fiscal Crisis (5 of 5), 2005-2006, 2012-2013
Scope and Contents Note
Includes Hindy Lauer Schachter's "Fiscal Crisis and Police Union Bargaining: The Case of New York" from the Criminal Justice Review (circa 1981); Omer Kimhi's "A Tale of Four Cities: Models of State Intervention in Distressed Localities Fiscal Affairs" from the University of Cincinnati Law Review (2012); and various news articles.