Lajos Schmidt, Class of 1954

International law expert and leader of Baker & McKenzie’s Budapest office

Lajos Schmidt was a partner at Baker & McKenzie for more than forty years, specializing in the legalities of international commerce, including federal  and foreign tax issues. He served on the law firm’s Executive Committee and Policy Committee and left Chicago to open its Budapest office in 1987, making Baker & McKenzie the first Western law firm to establish an office in Central and Eastern Europe. In 1990, he published a book, Legal Aspects of Foreign Investments in Hungary. Schmidt has served on the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Board of Trustees since 1974 and was the Chair of the Chicago-Kent Board of Overseers from 1980 to 1986. He was also the Chairman of the Library of International Relations in 1986. Schmidt received Chicago-Kent’s Distinguished Service Award in 1978 and IIT’s Professional Achievement Award in 1988.