Robert C. Knuepfer Jr., a senior partner with the international law firm of Baker & McKenzie LLP, was awarded an alumni citation from his alma mater, Denison University in Granville, Ohio. In a ceremony that took place in June, Denison President Adam Weinberg presented Knuepfer with the highest honor conferred on a graduate or friend of the college.
Knuepfer’s practice is focused on corporate and commercial transactions. He has authored many professional articles, including eight editions of Winning Legal Strategies for Mergers & Acquisitions, published by Thomson Reuters. In addition, Knuepfer, a member of the Denison class of 1974, is a professor at Northwestern University where he teaches in the law school and the Kellogg Business School.
The former managing partner of the firm’s central Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States practice, Knuepfer was a resident in Budapest, Hungary from 1992 to 1997, when the firm founded eight offices in the region. He received the Order of Merit with Officer’s Cross from the Republic of Hungary, the country’s highest honor. Knuepfer is the Foreign Economic Counsel for the Republic of Hungary and is currently its Honorary Consul General designate.
Knuepfer is a former federal prosecutor, and he is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals, and the Illinois Supreme Court. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Denison with bachelor’s degrees in economics and English.
Active in civic affairs, Knuepfer is a trustee of the Adler Planetarium, chairman of Metropolitan Family Services of Chicago, board member of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and an officer of Rotary International.
At Denison, Knuepfer was president of the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity and served as an intern at The White House on an ATO Scholarship. He later served as ATO National President and chairman of the ATO National Foundation. Knuepfer was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa and Omicron Delta Epsilon honorary societies at Denison.
In service to his alma mater, Knuepfer has offered Denison students internships at Baker & McKenzie, served as a guest lecturer in the Organizational Studies Program, and participated in Denison Alumni Recruiting Teams and other similar programs. A founder of LeaderShape, a national program for teaching leadership skills, he organized the first campus institute at Denison in 1992.