Martin D. Ginsburg

Martin David Ginsburg (June 10, 1932 – June 27, 2010) was an internationally renowned taxation law expert. He was a Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. and of counsel to the law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson.

Ginsburg was born to Morris and Evelyn (née Bayer) Ginsburg and grew up on New York's Long Island. His father was a department store executive. Ginsburg earned an A.B. from Cornell University in 1953 and a J.D. (magna cum laude) from Harvard Law School in 1958. He was a star on Cornell's golf team. Ginsburg finished a year at law school and married Ruth Joan Bader after her graduation from Cornell. That same year, Ginsburg, an ROTC Officer in the Army Reserve, was called up for active duty, and stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Ginsburg took advantage of his undergraduate training in chemistry to work in the mess hall. In 1956, he returned to law school and his wife also entered Harvard Law School. During his third year at Harvard, Ginsburg endured two operations and radiation therapy to treat testicular cancer.

After graduating from law school in 1958, Ginsburg joined the firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges. He was subsequently admitted to the bar in New York in 1959 and in the District of Columbia in 1980.

Ginsburg taught at New York University Law School throughout the 1960s, and was a visiting professor at Stanford Law School (1977–1978), Harvard Law School (1985–1986), University of Chicago Law School (1989–1990), and at NYU (1992–1993). He was a tenured professor at Columbia Law School (Beekman Professor of Law) from 1979 to 1980, and at Georgetown from 1980 until his death in 2010.

In 1971, Ginsburg's firm represented H. Ross Perot in a business matter, and the two men became close friends. After President Jimmy Carter nominated his wife to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1980, Ginsburg reached out to Perot and other influential friends to assure her Senate confirmation. In 1984, Ginsburg resolved complex tax questions that threatened General Motors's acquisition of Perot's Electronic Data Systems. In 1986, Perot endowed the Martin Ginsburg chair in taxation at Georgetown Law Center, although Ginsburg never filled this appointment.

Shortly after he graduated from Cornell in 1954, Ginsburg married future Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader on June 23, 1954. Ruth has explained that she and Martin decided that whatever profession they would pursue, they were going to pursue together. The couple chose law and both studied at Harvard Law School. They are the parents of Jane Carol Ginsburg (born 1955, HLS 1980), and James Steven Ginsburg (born 1965). Martin often told people how he did not make Law Review at Harvard, and Ruth did, sharing how he was proud of her successes, even when they were above his own. However, as he was also very successful in his career as a tax attorney, the couple enjoyed supporting one another and maintaining balance. Ginsburg was quoted as saying, "We had nearly two whole years far from school, far from career pressures and far from relatives, to learn about each other and begin to build a life" They both thrived in their own domains. As his lighthearted and loving self, Martin liked to boast he was incredibly lucky to have gotten in on an incredible journey by marrying Ruth, on her pathway to the Supreme Court.

The dynamic of the Ginsburg’s marriage was very radical for their day and age. Ruth did not lose her freedom or career to housewife obligations and neither of them upheld the stereotypical roles of their gender. Rather, they had a partnership in which they maintained the same goals and worked together to pursue them, all the while maintaining true endearment and love for one another. Martin received praise in the press for supporting his wife, following where her career took them, and putting her first. He, however, simply remarked, “It’s not a sacrifice; it’s family”. Additionally, such sacrifices were mutual. Just as Martin moved to Washington D.C. for Ruth’s career, Ruth willingly transferred from Harvard to Columbia Law school to follow her husband in his. In the same way they maintained balance in their home life, putting the needs of the other first and keeping balance between who would focus on work and who would take on the majority of the childcare. They had a mutual agreement that, unless there were extreme circumstances, they would both be home every night for dinner with their family. Ruth was very insistent that it be known that her children had two parents and two caretakers, not just herself. Such agreements resulted in equally shared responsibilities at home, therefore giving them both room to split their time fairly and maintain successful careers.

Martin happily took on the cooking, helped with childcare, and other domestic roles, despite how uncommon it was for men to do so in his day and age. Once each term, he cooked a meal for his wife's clerks.

Ginsburg died from cancer on June 27, 2010. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

• Martin D. Ginsburg, Spousal Transfers: In '58, It Was Different, Harvard Law Record, May 6, 1977, at 11
• Ginsburg, Martin (1995). Mergers, acquisitions, and buyouts. A transactional analysis of the governing tax, legal, and accounting considerations (Jan. 1995 ed.). Boston, Massachusetts: Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-31275-4. 
• Ginsburg, Martin (1995). Mergers, acquisitions, and buyouts. Sample acquisition agreements with tax and legal analysis (Jan. 1995 ed.). Boston, Massachusetts: Little, Brown. 
• Ginsburg, Martin (1994). Mergers, acquisitions, and leveraged buyouts. A transactional analysis of the governing tax, legal, and accounting considerations as of ... Chicago, Illinois: Commerce Clearing House. 
• Martin D. Ginsburg, ed. (1970). SEC and tax consequences of corporate acquisitions. Carl W. Schneider. New York, New York: Practising Law Institute. 
• Martin D. Ginsburg, ed. (1989). Mergers, acquisitions, and leveraged buyouts. Jack S. Levin. Chicago, Illinois: Commerce Clearing House. 
• coauth, "Maintaining Subchapter S in an Integrated Tax World," Tax Law Rev 47 (93)
• coauth, "The Subchapter S One Class of Stock Regulation, Tax Notes 69 (95): 233
• auth, "The S Corporation Reform Act: Generally a Good Start, Tax Notes 67 (95): 1825
• auth, "The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997: Worse Than You Think, Tax Notes 76 (97): 1790
• coauth, "Evaluating Proposals to Tax Intragroup Spin-Offs, Tax Notes (97)
• auth, "Taxing the Components of Income: A U.S. Perspective, Georgetown Law J, 23 (97)
• auth, "Some Thoughts on Working, Saving, and Consuming in Nunn–Domenici's Tax World," Nat Tax J 48 (97): 585
• repub, Tax Policy in the Real World, Cambridge Univ Press, 99
• auth, "Presentation: U.S. Tax Court's Memorial Service for Senior Judge Theodore Tannenwald, Jr.," TC (99)
• "In Memoriam: Theodore Tannenwald, Jr.," Tax Lawyer (99)
• Jack S., Levin (May 22, 2009). Ginsburg, Martin D.; Rocap, Donald E.; Light, Russell S., eds. Structuring Venture Capital, Private Equity, and Entrepreneurial Transactions (PDF) (2009 ed.). Aspen Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7355-8160-9. LCCN 97647593. Retrieved 2009-10-01.