 Outside of law and academia, Sovern was president of the Shubert Foundation and served on numerous boards, including Comcast Communications, the Shubert Organization, the Asian Cultural Council, and Atlantic Philanthropies.He served as chairman of Sotheby's Holdings, Inc., American Academy in Rome, the Japan Society, and the National Advisory Council for the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center.He was a member of the board of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Pulitzer Prizes, AT&T, Pfizer, Warner–Lambert and JP Morgan Chase, among others.