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American legal scholar (1909–2000)

Herbert Wechsler (December 4, 1909 – April 26, 2000) was an American legal scholar and former director of the American Law Institute (ALI). He is most widely known for his constitutional law scholarship and for the creation of the Model Penal Code. The Journal of Legal Studies has identified Wechsler as one of the most cited legal scholars of the 20th century.

Wechsler entered City College of New York at 16 and graduated in 1928, with a bachelor's degree in French. He enrolled at Columbia Law School, where he served as editor in chief of the Columbia Law Review and graduated in 1931. After graduation, he joined the faculty and took a one year leave to clerk for Justice Harlan F. Stone of the US Supreme Court.

In 1940, Wechsler went to Washington, D. C. to work for the Department of Justice. He argued five cases in front of the US Supreme Court during that period. During World War II, Wechsler served as assistant attorney general in charge of the War Division. This included leading the litigation for Korematsu v. U. S., the case challenging the Japanese Internment during World War II. In 1945 and 1946, he was a principal assistant to US Judge Francis Biddle and US Alternate Judge John J. Parker at the Nuremberg trial, the trial of the principal Nazi war criminals. He then returned to Columbia Law School, where he remained an active professor until 1978, when he took emeritus status. Wechsler served as the first chair of the New York Commission on Judicial Nomination from 1977 until 1982.

During Wechsler's tenure as director, the American Law Institute completed the second restatement of the Conflict of Laws, Contracts, Judgments, and Torts as well as the original restatement of Foreign Relations Law of the United States and large parts of the Second Restatement of Property. The Institute also conducted various studies in federal taxation and completed the Federal Securities Code, the Model Land Development Code, the Model Code of Pre Arraignment Procedure, the Study of the Division of Jurisdiction Between State and Federal Courts, and made major revisions to the Uniform Commercial Code. The ALI's Principles of Corporate Governance and the current Restatement of Foreign Relations Law of the United States were also conceived, initiated, and developed under his direction.