Helene Schwartz Kenvin papers (OF.1S.2024.002)

Biographical/Historical Note

Helene Schwartz Kenvin graduated magna cum laude and with distinction from Brown University in 1962. She concentrated in Religious Studies and Political Science with a specialization in Islam. She received her law degree from Columbia University in 1965, where she studied Islamic law under Egyptian jurist Saba Habachy. Among her most well-known cases were the successful defense of William Buckley, William Rusher, and National Review against libel charges brought by Linus Pauling, the appeal of the Chicago 7 case (she argued the fair-trial issues), and representation of hundreds of demonstrators at the 1972 political convention in Miami. Kenvin also was on the faculty of Rutgers Law School (Camden), where she taught courses in advanced criminal-constitutional law and litigation. In 1984, Kenvin founded The Caucasus Network, an international, all-volunteer organization that has rescued thousands of persecuted people from the Caucasus and Central Asian (Muslim) republics of the former Soviet Union.

Kenvin has lectured widely on criminal constitutional law, militant Islam, and researching family history. She is the author of six privately-published volumes of poetry, as well as an autobiography titled Lawyering (1976) which details her first decade as a lawyer. Kenvin is an active member of the Brown University alumni community.