Riker Danzig is pleased that the January 31 edition of The Star-Ledger featured and article honoring our Of Counsel, former NJ Supreme Court Justice Sidney M. Schreiber.
The article, by Star-Ledger reporter Kate Coscarelli, explores Justice Schreiber's long and distinguished career, as well as his philosophy of law. At 93, Justice Schreiber still offers strong views and sound advice on issues of law today.
Text of the full article is below:
Man who loved the law ultimately helped shape it
Thursday, January 31, 2008
BY KATE COSCARELLI
The Star-Ledger
It's been more than two decades since Sidney Schreiber doffed his black robes for the last time and stepped down from the New Jersey Supreme Court.
Now the oldest living member of the high court at age 93, Schreiber has spent most of his retirement from the bench pursuing his devotion to the law, only recently reducing his day-to-day workload. Since moving to Florida a few years ago, he has slowed down on the hands-on legal work, but continues to follow politics and current events.
For years after he retired, Schreiber dedicated himself to reading the court's opinions, working on cases, mentoring and coaching lawyers through trials and appeals and scholarly legal study.
"The responsibility and the nature of the work -- it was a great experience," Schreiber said in a recent telephone interview. "It is very important to understand the standpoint of society in a matter. It is never simply a case of 'A' against 'B.' I always tried to think of the larger implications."
Schreiber said he always considered the high court's work vitally important.
"We were setting down ideas that would guide the future," he said.
Those who know him best say being a member of the state's most elite legal fraternity has meant the world to Schreiber.
"He has the highest regard for the law," said retired Justice James Coleman, who considers Schreiber a mentor and second father. "He thought that next to the governor, being a justice was the ... most important position in the state."
EARLY YEARS
Born in New York City, Schreiber spent most of his life in Elizabeth. He graduated from Yale Law School in 1939 and started his legal career with the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board and the public utility section of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
He joined the Army in 1943 and for two years headed the war crimes section of the Army's Judge Advocate office, drafting charges for the first concentration camp cases. After leaving the service, he went into private practice.
Schreiber joined the bench in 1972 as a Superior Court judge. He sat in Hudson County and later in Union County.
"He was the gold standard in Union County ... the epitome of what everybody believed a lawyer should be," said Justice Virginia Long, who sat in Union County before joining the high court.
In 1975, Gov. Brendan Byrne named him as a Republican appointment to the state's highest court. There, he became known for his dedication to the law and for writing forceful opinions.
"Sidney was as good as they come. I always thought he was the best lawyer on the court. I didn't always agree with his policy," said retired Justice Stewart Pollock.
Schreiber wrote majority decisions that expanded the power of living wills, more widely opened citizen access to public beaches and spelled out the responsibility of drug companies to guard against suspected harmful side effects.
"He respects the law and thought it extremely important that it was interpreted correctly, also. He has a lot of common sense and excellent judgment ... And he is strong-willed," said retired Justice Marie Garibaldi.
When the court ruled the public and press have a right to attend pre-trial hearings in criminal cases, he dissented, as he did in a Piscataway case that said school officials didn't have the right to search student lockers.
"Rather than tying the hands of school administrators in their formidable struggle to return our schools to places of learning and development, I would permit them to take reasonable steps to enforce valid school regulations," he wrote.
Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with Schreiber.
No one was more prepared for cases and determined about his research than Schreiber, said retired Justice Robert Clifford, 83, who served on the same court.
"He ... was nonstop to a problem if it troubled him," Clifford said. "He would work it out and work it out and work it out some more. And when he got the answer he was hard to move off of it."
'RETIREMENT'
After leaving the court in 1984, Schreiber went to work at the Morristown law firm Riker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland and Perretti.
He did not view the position as one of retirement, said Edward DeHope, a partner at the firm.
"He was here and he kept you on your toes," DeHope said. "He was very approachable. But he would also challenge you in the sense that it wasn't a smart idea to go in and talk to him before you thought something through."
Schreiber helped DeHope and another lawyer through the complicated appellate process -- grilling them with questions invariably tougher than the ones any judge would ever ask in court. After an initial setback, the lawyers convinced the N.J. Supreme Court to agree with their position.
"He was the brains behind the operation," DeHope said. "He was always happy to work with you, all he asked was to give it your best."
In recent years, Schreiber has kept an eye on the state's high court.
"It would not be unusual for him to read an opinion the court had released and say: 'What did the court think it was doing? They got it wrong,'" said Coleman.
But he was equally lavish with his praise. He also let his colleagues on the court know he approved of one of their opinions.
"He would send a note and say, 'I loved this opinion.' That's the kind of person he is," said Long.
Not surprisingly, age has started to catch up with Schreiber. It wasn't long ago he spent five days a week -- almost always dressed in a business suit -- in the firm's office in Morristown. Just a few years ago he moved to West Palm Beach, Fla. He still reads regularly the court's opinions and follows current events -- especially the upcoming presidential election, said friends and family.
"But he would still love to go to the office," said his wife of 67 years, Ruth Schreiber.
When asked what he has enjoyed most about being a lawyer and jurist, Schreiber said: "I shaped the law. That was a great experience."
Kate Coscarelli can be reached at kcoscarelli@starledger.com or (973) 392-4147.
Copyright 2008, The Star-Ledger.
