South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford’s recent activities have been all over the headlines, although it looks like his political career (or at least this term) might survive his philandering.
According to CNN, there’s not a lot of interest in impeaching him, and he’s shown no interest in resigning.
But you can find that stuff out anywhere. Here on Law Shucks, we always find the BigLaw angle for you.
Turns out Sanford’s wife, Jenny (nee Sullivan), has some very impressive i-banking chops. She made her way up to VP at Lazard, doing mergers and acquisitions. In fact, her last two years there, she was working for Mark Rattner, now known as the Car Czar and BFF with White & Case’s Tom Lauria.
But that’s not the connection we’re talking about.
It’s through her family.
Mrs. Sanford (nee Sullivan) was no stranger to how big business works when she joined Lazard. On the surface, Jenny Sullivan was not a typical Lazard hire. She grew up in Winnetka, Illinois, as one of five siblings and attended Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart, a private Catholic all-girls school in Lake Forest, Illinois. After graduating from Georgetown University, she worked briefly for the House Ways and Means Committee, run then by her powerful Congressman, Dan Rostenkowski.
What did make her Lazard material was that Sullivan’s father, John W. Sullivan, was president of the Skil Coporation at the time of its sale to Emerson in 1979 for $58 million. And her family, much like the Lazard firm itself, could trace its wealth back to a French settler in New Orleans.
Jenny’s great grandfather, Joseph W. Sullivan, was a real-estate developer in Minnesota who read an article about that French settler’s invention. Together, they went into business making the first handsaws. Eventually they parted ways, but the business ultimately became Skil out of Chicago, with Jenny’s grandfather, Bolton Sullivan, another key member.
Other side of the family.
According to Fortune, “her other grandfather was one of the founders of Winston & Strawn, the large Chicago-based law firm. The family was considered to be part of Chicago’s ‘gentry.’”
The New York Times adds just a little more detail, her grandfather and an uncle were “leaders” of the firm.
We’ve got an inquiry in to the firm, so hopefully we’ll get a definitive answer as to who it was. The timing is a bit of a stretch, though.
Winston & Strawn was founded in 1853 by Frederick Hampden Winston, a New Yorker who moved to Chicago after graduating from Harvard Law in 1852. FH Winston’s son, Frederick Seymour Winston, joined the firm in 1878. Those are the two people most likely to be described as founder and early leaders of the firm. It’s a bit of a stretch that her grandfather was born in 1830, considering she’s just 46, but FS Winston could have a much (like 30 years) younger brother, who was Jenny’s father.
More likely, FH Winston was her great grandfather and FS Winston her great uncle – or it’s two other people entirely. We’ll keep you posted.
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