Robert Whitfield, a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and an honors graduate of the Columbia University School of Law, practiced as a corporate lawyer with the Wall Street firm of Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy before entering the field of investment banking with Schroders Ltd., a leading merchant bank located in London. He subsequently served as Vice President of Schroder Capital Corporation in New York and General Counsel of First Pennsylvania Corporation, a major American bank holding company located in Philadelphia. In 1981 he organized Robert Whitfield Associates