Who Is Matthew Schoenfeld?
Posted on March 26th, 2012 in Uncategorized | 9 Comments »
Ever since someone posted below some Harvard Law School propaganda student news about Matthew Schoenfeld, I’ve been curious to know more about the young man who works as a “research assistant” to Larry Summers, ghostwriting “focus[ing} on speech preparation” and “staff[ing] him on international engagements.”
Staffing him on international engagements?
Mr. Schoenfeld got attention from HLS because as president of the Harvard Association for Law and Business, he wants to raise money for abused children.
But let us perhaps tread carefully in praising Mr. Schoenfeld’s “deep social commitment,” as Larry Summers puts it. Schoenfeld has raised $11 grand for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts. Which is a good thing. But because this is how myths begin, context must be paid. HLS points out that he was “class president” of Columbia; in practice this appears to mean that he organized study breaks with pizza and root beer floats. (Nothing against root beer floats, but this is a different kind of social commitment than Summers was suggesting.)
Schoenfeld has worked for Lehman Brothers, spent a summer at Goldman Sachs-for some reason, not on his LinkedIn page— and worked at 3G Capital, a multi-billion dollar hedge fund in New York best known for acquiring Burger King.
So let’s see: Guy works at Lehman, Goldman, 3G Capital, and as a research assistant for Larry Summers. And Harvard is writing articles about him—widely picked up on the web—because he raised $11,000 for Big Brothers Big Sisters?
One would like to read Mr. Schoenfeld’s paper, part of an HLS Law and Economics seminar in the spring of 2011, titled “Reassessing the Culprits of the Financial Crisis.”
Was that written before or after Schoenfeld began working for Larry Summers?
Caveat: I haven’t interviewed or met Schoenfeld and I’m open to the possibility that I’m wrong to be skeptical about his reported good works. But—and this is a larger question—can one possibly work for Lehman, Goldman, a hedge fund and Larry Summers and really be committed to public service?
9 Responses
4/19/2012 5:58 am
I’m not sure what you are trying to say. It sounds more like envy rant than anything productive.
4/22/2012 8:43 am
The point is that this kid is being used by Harvard for good PR. He has the resume of a typical HLS/HBS type (Goldman, hedge funds, Larry Summers) but that is whitewashed.
4/22/2012 8:45 am
sour grapes much?
4/22/2012 11:52 am
This “networking prodigy” made the commnet that “helping people in general can only help you”. He is all about Matthew Schoenfeld. When was the last time you googled yourself? It’s all about getting his name out there.
Please
4/22/2012 12:39 pm
I keep getting emails from Schoenfeld even though I never met him. I just got one from him pointing to a story covering him in the Boston Globe.
The story of his childhood is very sad and it’s great that he’s raising money. However, from all the emails I’m getting I feel like he’s trying more to raise his profile than raise any money for a good cause.
4/22/2012 2:15 pm
Wow, you really must be a hateful, lonely asshole to post this kind of speculative nonsense about someone who’s doing admittedly good work that you don’t personally know at all.
4/27/2012 6:34 am
Richard Bradley,
I want to thank you for taking the red pill and doing painstaking task of dissecting the core of justice system, especially domestic law. My dreams of relying on justice system to help me sort out the best solution for my only one love of my life, my son, were shattered not only by Judge LeVine but also the court appointed psychologist.
Any lawyer to handle family law cases asked for $10,000 retainer. That itself was scary. I couldn’t match someone representing National Men Org. I had a gut feeling something was wrong throughout the proceedings.
After losing custody ,I joined Americans for Legal Reform, run by Carl Lanzisera of Huntington LI, wanting cameras in court. I worked with Fathers Rights in New York City, run by Dr. Stephens Ph D. And Children’s Rights run by number of people such as Irwin Eisenstein, William Hess, Earnest Williams to keep my brain from shattering. I had to keep my head above water to keep out of deadbeat moms dilemma. How the court system provides weapons of mass destruction? I learned one way to curtail someone’s efforts in family court is to keep their funds occupied. Through these organizations and their efforts to bring court system in light to public, I met Linda Ygelysias. I did it for myself; for me to have someone with long arms to see how deep that rabbit hole is.
It wasn’t until after the article was printed that I found what I had always suspected. Revolving doors of courts (Judge Levine taking average of sixteen weeks more to solve cases), court appointed psychologists having no checks and balances ( I signed a release, didn’t understand buyers be ware law and what I could have done to protect myself. Even though I was told later by my support group that is law 101 and my lawyer should have known better. My post-loss therapist, Frecheska Cress made an effort to get some closure for me, was denied by Dr. Mykle) and having very little money, broke me down. Not to mention how many times Dr. Mykle dozed off with a burning cigar hanging off of his hand. Not to mention all that simply has not leg to stand on. That is how deep is the rabbit hole. Law 101, remove him. I had to look at my money and think how to stretch it best. I suffer the backlash of not being able to fund the grandiose efforts to give peace or to have peace. I know my son will use his powers with utmost integrity and honesty. I thank Linda Yglesias for all the hard work if I haven’t thanked her a thousand times before. She gave me closure and a chance to love my son. My son is my hero.
And yes kudos to my son for helping children. I have felt his pain since the day I thought of divorce. He’s my baby boy and I will always love him. Bloody court system took my boy out of my arms.
Rabinder Nath Tagore: prayer and effort go hand in hand. I am Indian and am proud of my heritage.
4/27/2012 7:37 am
correction, Judge LeVine took 16 months.
So here Mary Carmichael, see if you can pick up where New York Daily News left off, align ABA so it can assist people to send inept lawyers back to school. Make reporting misconduct of judges easier and accessible. Does she know divorce rate in this country? Why did I have to sign a contract handed over to me by the court appointed psychologist, why not have the judge hand it to my lawyer when he has reviewed it himself. Someone has to be responsible.
Irony is ABA wrote ‘Children Held Hostage’, and yet if you claim wrong doing of who carry out the law, it always comes back with insufficient evidence. Who provides funds to continue fighting the courts? Dr, Mykle? He’s still doing his court evaluations……..its about $5,000 a pop.
4/27/2012 8:50 am
My son felt for children and did what he thought will help them. I got mutilated by the court system, I did what I could to see if I could reach those who can have a trickle down effect in correcting this.
Please do read children held hostage, its an incredible book.