Tennessee Williams, Mel Brooks, Peter Shaffer, Watson & Crick. The roster of Alan Schwartz' clients reads like a 20th-century Who's Who. Moviegoers may recognize Schwartz from Yoghurt's parting line in Brooks' film "Spaceballs": "May the Schwartz be with you."

On Friday, Oct. 22, Schwartz '53 will share a behind-the-scenes look at the world of entertainment and intellectual property law as the fall speaker for the Munschauer Career Series. The talk will be held at 4:30 p.m. in the Hollis Auditorium in Cornell's Goldwin Smith Hall.

As the genius behind "split rights" film financing deals, Schwartz is a sought-after representative for producers and production companies in the United States, Europe and Asia for the production, financing and distribution of legitimate film and television productions with a worldwide audience. He has extensive experience with theater and book publishing production and financing matters, and serves as trustee for the Truman Capote Literary Trust.

In the public service sector, Schwartz has been counsel to the ACLU's radio and TV committee and was one of the founders of the Helsinki Watch (now called Human Rights Watch). He's represented a number of Russian and South African émigrés, including Stalin's daughter when she defected to the United States, and in the 1960s he helped convince the USSR to join the copyright convention.

After graduating Cornell with a major in government, Schwartz went on to receive a law degree from Yale Law School and then to study at Oxford University. He is listed in "Best Lawyers in America" and was selected by "Super Lawyers Magazine" five years in a row. He is currently a shareholder with the firm of Greenberg Traurig in Santa Monica, Calif.

The Munschauer Career Series was endowed by the former director of the Cornell University Career Center, John Munschauer, to provide funds for graduates of the College of Arts and Sciences to return to campus to benefit current students' career education.