NEW YORK-
Harold Healy Jr., the first U.S. lawyer elected president of the world’s oldest international bar federation, died Sunday.
The Denver-born 85-year-old died at Mt. Sinai Hospital, said Wolcott Dunham, a partner at the Manhattan law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, where Healy was once a partner. Healy’s family declined to provide a cause of death, Dunham said.
Healy was the first U.S. lawyer elected president of the Union Internationale des Avocats, the world’s oldest international bar federation, according to Debevoise & Plimpton. Earlier, Healy and others helped persuade U.S. bars, including the American Bar Association, to join the UIA, which was founded by the bars of France, Belgium and Luxembourg.
Healy was also involved in efforts that led to 1974 legislation and rules that allowed foreign lawyers to become legal consultants in New York State without having to become U.S. citizens or take the bar exam, the firm said.
In 1949, after serving in the Army during World War II, Healy joined Debevoise & Plimpton.
He became executive assistant to U.S. Attorney General Herbert Brownell and his successor, William P. Rogers, in 1957. Two years later, Healy returned to Debevoise & Plimpton and became a partner. In 1964, he opened the firm’s office in Paris—its first outside New York.
In 1984, Healy was awarded the Legion of Honor for his support of the international practice of law, the firm said. He retired in 1992.
Healy was born in Denver and was raised there and in Casper, Wyo. He received undergraduate and law degrees from Yale University, where he was the comment editor and executive editor of the Yale Law Journal, according to Debevoise & Plimpton.
Healy is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, and his son, H. Harris Healy III, both of New York City.
