Clarence John Shearn (1869 – February 12, 1953) was a prominent

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lawyer, a judge in the

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, and a president of the

New York City Bar Association The New York City Bar Association (City Bar), founded in 1870, is a voluntary association of lawyers and law students. Since 1896, the organization, formally known as the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, has been headquartered in a ...

Life

Shearn was born in Leeds, Massachusetts in 1869. He graduated from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

in 1890 and

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in 1893, and was admitted that year to the New York bar. Shearn began a highly successful private practice in 1893, and soon became an attorney for

William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboya ...

. With Hearst’s backing, Shearn unsuccessfully ran for New York County District Attorney in 1905 and

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1908 Events January * January 1 – The British ''Nimrod'' Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton sets sail from New Zealand on the ''Nimrod'' for Antarctica. * January 3 – A total solar eclipse is visible in the Pacific Ocean, and is the 46 ...

on the

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ticket.''HEARST READS MORE LETTERS''
in NYT on September 25, 1908 (with sketches of the nominees) In 1914 Shearn was appointed as a justice of the New York State Supreme Court for the First District, based in Manhattan. In 1916, he was elevated by Governor

Charles S. Whitman Charles Seymour Whitman (September 29, 1868March 29, 1947) was an American lawyer who served as the 41st Governor of New York from January 1, 1915, to December 31, 1918. An attorney and politician, he also served as a delegate from New York to t ...

to the

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, where he served until 1919. In 1919 he left to pursue private practice with the law firm Shearn & Hare. In 1924 Shearn was counsel for the Transit Commission in the

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...

investigation conducted for

Governor Al Smith Alfred Emanuel Smith (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was an American politician who served four terms as Governor of New York and was the Democratic Party's candidate for president in 1928. The son of an Irish-American mother and a Civ ...

by Supreme Court Justice John V. McAvoy, who found Mayor

John F. Hylan John Francis Hylan (April 20, 1868January 12, 1936) was the 96th List of mayors of New York City, Mayor of New York City (the seventh since the consolidation of the five boroughs), from 1918 to 1925. From rural beginnings in the Catskill Mountain ...

responsible for subway congestion and exonerated the Transit Commission. In 1928 he was Governor Smith’s commissioner in an investigation of the

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sewer system that resulted in the conviction of Queens Borough President

Maurice E. Connolly Maurice Edward Connolly (June 22, 1880 - November 24, 1935) was the borough president of Queens, New York City, from 1911 to 1928. Biography Born in Corona, Queens, New York, he was the son of Maurice Connolly and Mary Jane Connolly. He was of I ...

of conspiracy to defraud the city. As president of the

from 1935 to 1937, Shearn was an initiator of the investigation into the ambulance-chasing racket. In 1938, William Randolph Hearst appointed him a voting trustee to reorganize the vast Hearst publishing and business holdings. Shearn died of a

cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

on February 12, 1953 at the age of 83 in

References

External links

Biography of Clarence John Shearn on the New York Unified Courts Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shearn, Clarence J. 1869 births 1953 deaths People from Northampton, Massachusetts Lawyers from New York City Cornell University alumni New York Law School alumni Judges of the New York Court of Appeals Presidents of the New York City Bar Association New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department justices