LOWRY WYMAN

1950-2015

***

EDUCATION

University of Pennsylvania, J.D., 1978.
Harvard University, A.M. in Regional Studies – USSR, 1975.
Middlebury College, B.A., cum laude, 1971. Major: Russian. Departmental honors and ranking college scholar. Spent freshman year at the University of Besançon in France, and first semester of senior year at the University of Leningrad, in the USSR.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2003-2015: Research, writing, and advocacy illuminating Ordered Liberty, Rule of Law, Rule of Reason, Due Process of Law, Constitutional Democracy, and similarly-interdependent  “elevated concepts” … in former Soviet lands, and worldwide.

1998-2003: American University of Armenia (AUA), Yerevan, Armenia – Professor of Law. Taught courses on agency and partnership and the fundamentals of corporate law; comparative bankruptcy and reorganization law; European Union law; international litigation and arbitration; and legal research and writing;  (administered the Law Department’s Writing Seminar Program). Participated in faculty committees, served on the Faculty Council, contributed to AUA’s accreditation effort, and engaged in community outreach.

1999: Development Alternatives, Inc., Bethesda, MD – Short-term Legal Consultant for USAID-funded NewBizNet project, supporting small- and medium-sized business development in Ukraine. (For two months I commuted between Kiev and Yerevan, where I was teaching.)

1997-98: Wyman & Johnson, Boston, MA and Peaks Island, ME – Partner in consulting business and private law practice focused on law reform and “democracy building” in the former Soviet Union. Clients included a business negotiating with the Uzbekistan government to obtain a $9.2 million World Bank loan to construct and operate a cotton gin and seed-processing plant in Uzbekistan.

1996: International City-County Management Association (ICMA), Almaty, Kazakstan – Legal Advisor. Prepared legal analyses and recommendations for this USAID-funded project, focusing on laws and draft laws covering private ownership of land, the housing sector, and municipal government. Participated in courses devoted to competitive, sealed-bid contracts for municipal services.

1993-95: American Legal Consortium (Chemonics International Inc.), Almaty, Kazakstan – Legal Reform Specialist. This USAID-funded project focused on rule-of-law endeavors in Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. Organized and participated in seminars (in Central Asia, Estonia, France, and Poland) on judicial reform, civil and criminal procedural law, constitutional law, property and contracts, citizenship and voting rights, and the fundamentals of a civil society. Commented on and helped draft new laws, including election laws and laws on the courts and the status of judges.

1988-93: Russian Research Center, Harvard University – Fellow. Engaged in research, writing, and consulting on constitutional, legal, and judicial reforms in the former USSR. Legal advisor to Vytautas Landsbergis, Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania, winter 1990-91. Spent four months working with the Lithuanian Parliament’s Constitutional Working Group, formulating concepts and fundamental principles for a new constitution. Prepared proposals, drafted explanatory papers and petitions (appeals to the CSCE, United Nations, U.S. Congress, and Western governments). Advised the Constitutional Working Group on fundamentals of land reform, particularly the problem of return of property seized during the Soviet era. Aided Lithuania and Yeltsin’s team of advisors in negotiating a friendship treaty between the RSFSR and Lithuania.

Consulting work in Russia included advising American businesses on how to negotiate joint venture agreements, how to identify Russian partners likely to ensure a joint venture’s success, and how to interpret the myriad laws and regulations affecting international business arrangements.

Consulting work in Estonia included advising the Procuracy and officials setting up new curricula for the education of investigators, police, and customs officials. Advised the Estonian emigre community on constitutional fundamentals and standards for awarding citizenship to foreign nationals.

1985-87: DePaul University College of Law, Chicago – Assistant Dean and Lecturer in Soviet Law. Responsible for law school publications, alumni relations, faculty seminars, continuing legal education, and oversight of placement office.

1983-84: Citicorp Diners Club Inc., Chicago – Counsel. Handled business litigation, and was responsible for company real estate matters (leases, construction on new properties, contracts for purchase and sale of land).

1981-83: Weiss Dawid Fross Zelnick & Lehrman, New York – Associate in international trademark practice (with emphasis on Western Europe and South America). Responsible for domestic searches, filings, surveillance, oppositions, and cancellations.

1980-81: Shearman & Sterling, New York – Associate in real estate department.

1978-80: Phillips, Nizer, Benjamin, Krim & Ballon, New York – Associate in real estate and litigation departments.

THE JURLANDIA INSTITUTE

With Barnabas D. Johnson, her husband and professional partner, Lowry Wyman co-founded the Jurlandia Institute in 1989.

Since 1990-91, when (with her collaboration) he first drafted a “model constitution” — at the behest of the Government of Lithuania — aimed at enhancing the “Conversation of Democracy” in the Baltic states and the USSR, etc., various versions of what has now become the Jurlandia Project at www.jurlandia.org have existed as an evolving internet-mediated research and publishing endeavor. That endeavor seeks to create a sort of “encyclopedia of constitutional democracy” organized not A through Z but, rather, organized as a sort of “hologram of implications” that can be accessed and studied from perspectives, etc.

GENERAL

Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, 1950. Admitted to New York Bar, 1980; Illinois Bar, 1985; Massachusetts Bar, 1989.

Appeared frequently on television in the United States, Lithuania, and Russia, as well as on radio. TV appearances in the former USSR were in Russian. Gave speeches and participated in conferences in Armenia, Kazakstan, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, and the Baltic States; presented a paper at the First International Andrei Sakharov Memorial Congress on Peace, Progress, and Human Rights, held in Moscow, May 21-25, 1991.

Lowry Wyman was fluent in French and Russian, and had rudimentary knowledge of Italian, German, Lithuanian, Polish, Spanish, and Ukrainian.

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Lowry Wyman died on 12 May 2015.

This document is maintained here as a convenience to further research.