Herbert Jay Stern (born November 8, 1936) is a trial lawyer, with a national practice in civil and criminal litigation, as well as mediation and arbitration. Earlier in his career, Stern served as a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

of the

United States District Court for the District of New Jersey The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (in case citations, D.N.J.) is a federal court in the Third Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to the ...

and as the United States Judge for Berlin. He presided over a hijacking trial that was the only case ever tried in an American court in the occupied American Sector of West Berlin. He was part of the team that successfully handled several major corruption and organized crime trials in New Jersey.

Early life and education

Born on November 8, 1936, in New York, New York, He attended Hobart College. After graduating with honors in 1958 with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree, he was also awarded The Ford Foundation National Honor Scholarship for three years and went on to earn a Juris Doctor from the

University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dis ...

in 1961. He was admitted to the New York bar in 1961 and the New Jersey bar in 1971.

District Attorney and United States Attorney

Stern served from 1962 to 1965 as an assistant district attorney, New York County, assigned to the Homicide Bureau during which conducted the grand jury investigation of the assassination of

Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of I ...

. In January 1966, was appointed Special Attorney in the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section of the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...

in the state of New Jersey. He conducted a Special Grand Jury and uncovered corruption and other wrongdoing both in municipal government, including the then Mayor of Woodbridge, and the trade union movement. (United States v. Colonial Pipeline Co. et. United States v. Peter Weber) through 1969. In December 1970, Stern became The Acting United States Attorney for New Jersey. From 1971 to 1973, he served as the

United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey The U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey is the chief federal law enforcement officer in New Jersey. On December 16, 2021, Philip R. Sellinger was sworn in as U.S. Attorney. The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey has juris ...

, pursuant to the appointment of the President of the United States. He personally conducted / supervised several major corruption and organized crime trials in New Jersey, including the Mayors of Newark, Jersey City and Atlantic City; two successive State Treasurers and Secretaries of State of New Jersey, as well as U.S. Congressman Cornelius E. Gallagher.

Federal judicial service

Stern was nominated by President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

on December 7, 1973, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge Leonard I. Garth. He was confirmed by the

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on December 19, 1973, and received his commission on December 28, 1973. His service terminated on January 4, 1987, due to his resignation.

Service with the Court for Berlin

During his thirteen-year tenure on the bench, Stern presided over a variety of civil and criminal cases. However, his judicial service is best remembered for the unique case of ''United States v. Tiede'', an

aircraft hijacking Aircraft hijacking (also known as airplane hijacking, skyjacking, plane hijacking, plane jacking, air robbery, air piracy, or aircraft piracy, with the last term used within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States) is the unlawfu ...

prosecution that was the sole case ever tried in the United States Court for Berlin, over which he was specially designated to preside by the Secretary of State. In a published opinion, ''United States v. Tiede'', 86 F.R.D. 227 (D. Berlin 1979), Stern held that even though the case involved prosecution of German citizens in an unusual forum outside the United States, the defendants were still parties to an American criminal proceeding and entitled to the United States Constitution's guarantee of

trial by jury A jury trial, or trial by jury, is a legal proceeding in which a jury makes a decision or findings of fact. It is distinguished from a bench trial in which a judge or panel of judges makes all decisions. Jury trials are used in a significan ...

. Stern later authored '' Judgment in Berlin'', a book about his experiences in the ''Tiede'' case which was made into a motion picture starring Sean Penn and Martin Sheen, who portrayed Stern.

Post-judicial career

After his resignation from the federal bench, Stern entered private practice as an attorney. He is currently the founding partner of his own law firm Stern, Kilcullen & Rufolo, LLc. located in

Florham Park Florham Park is a borough in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 11,696,New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. Judge Stern has been the recipient of numerous honors and other positions * ''Honorary Doctor of Law, Seton Hall Law School, 1973'' * ''Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, Newark State College, 1973'' * ''Honorary Doctor of Letters, Montclair State College, 1973'' * ''Honorary Doctor of Civil Law, Bloomfield College, 1973'' * ''Honorary Doctor of Laws, Hobart College, 1974'' * ''Deans Award for Exceptional Public Service, Akron University School of Law, 1986'' * ''Co-director and Founder, Advocacy Institute, University of Virginia School of Law, 1980 to 2002.'' * ''Adjunct Professor, Rutgers and Seton Hall Law Schools.'' * ''Schwartzer Fellow, University of Chicago Law School, 1985'' * ''Advisory Committee, University of Chicago Law School, 1974-1977'' * ''Special Counsel to the Independent Counsel in the Iran-Contra Affair, February 1988 (United States v. Oliver North, et al.)'' * ''Honorary Trustee, Hobart and William Smith Colleges'' * ''Appointed Federal Monitor, by the U.S. Department of Justice, of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.'' * ''Lead Donor of Stern Hall, Hobart College'' Judge Stern has received numerous civic awards, among which are: * ''Recipient of the Torch of Learning Award of the American Friends of the Hebrew University, April 28, 1987'' * ''Recipient of the Freedom Foundation at Valley Forge George Washington Honor Medal for Excellence in the category of books for 1984'' * ''Recipient of International Platform Association's Clarence Darrow Award, 1985'' * ''First President, Association of the Federal Bar of New Jersey'' * ''Recipient of William J. Brennan, Jr. Award, University of Virginia School of Law'' * ''Recipient of the William J. Brennan, Jr. Award presented by The Association of the Federal Bar of the State of New Jersey, June 1 1, 1987'' * ''Recipient of Citizen's Award from the New Jersey Academy of Medicine, 1997.'' * ''Recipient of one of America's Ten Outstanding Young Men, The United States Jaycees, 1973.'' Judge Stern has written numerous articles, treatises and books including: * ''Subject of the book, Tiger in the Court, by Paul Hoffman, Playboy Press, 1973'' * ''Author, Judgment in Berlin, Universe Books, 1984; 2nd edition, Skyhorse Publishing, 2021'' * ''Author, Trying Cases To Win, a 5 volume work on trial practice, Wiley Law Publications,1991, 1992, 1993, 1995 and 1999; Co author, Trying Cases to Win: Evidence Weapons for Winning. Aspen Publishers, 2000, 2003, 2004'' * ''Author, Diary of a DA, Skyhorse Publishing, 2012'' * ''Author, Trying Cases to Win: In One Volume, ABA Publishing, 2013'' * ''Co-author of two-volume novels: Wolf, Skyhorse Publishing, 2020;'' * ''Sins of the Fathers, Skyhorse Publishing, 2022'' * ''Author, Trying Cases to Win: In One Volume. Student Edition, West Academic, 2020'' Judge Stern has served in numerous arbitrations under the American Arbitration Association, the International Court in Paris, private mediations, the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, and the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA). Sampling is as follows: * ''Party Arbitrator in a dispute between PepsiCo and OCAAT concerning all of Pepsi's bottling in Venezuela which was taken by Coca Cola'' * ''Arbitrator in dispute between Roche Holdings and K.V. Pharmaceuticals'' * ''Arbitrator in dispute between Bechtel International, Inc. and Cliffs and Associates Limited'' * ''Arbitrator in dispute between Raytheon and Pilatus Aircraft'' * ''Arbitrator in dispute between Allied Signal and Breed Technologies, Inc.'' * ''Mediator in dispute between Union Carbide, Shell Oil and Montediso'' * ''Arbitrator in dispute between Tyco Submarine Systems and Atlantic Crossings, Ltd.'' * ''Arbitrator in dispute between Honeywell International, Inc. and Isola Laminate Systems, Corp.'' * ''Arbitrator in dispute between Messier v. Viivendi Universal, et al.'' * ''Arbitrator in dispute between Damon Mezzacappa and Lazard, LLC, et als.'' * ''Arbitrator in dispute between Sears and MorganStanley'' * ''Arbitrator in dispute between Avanti Launch Services Limited and Space Exploration Technologies Corp.'' * ''Arbitration in dispute between HS Orka hf. and Noroural Grundartangi ehf. et al.'' * ''Arbitration in dispute between Wendy's International LLC and Mawarid Food Company Ltd; and Mawarid Holding Company Limited''

References

# ^ Jum up to:''^a'' ''^b'' Herbert Jay Stern, ''Judgment in Berlin'', Universe Books, New York (1984) # ^ ''"Herbert J. Stern Lawyer Profile on Martindale.com". www.martindale.com.'' # ^ ''"Stern & Kilcullen: Herbert J. Stern". Stern & Kilcullen, LLC. Retrieved 17 August 2012.'' # ^ U.S. Attorney's Office District of New Jersey, A Rich History of Service Archived 2008-12-30 at the

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# ^ Herbert Jay Stern at the ''

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'', a publicdomain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.

Sources

*Narvaez, Alphonso A., "Judge's Years with U.S.: From Malcolm X to Berlin", ''The New York Times'', Nov. 9, 1986.

Publications

*Herbert J. Stern, ''Prosecution of Local Political Corruption Under the Hobbs Act: The Unnecessary Distinction Between Bribery and Extortion'', 3 1 (1971). *Stern, Herbert Jay, ''Judgment in Berlin'', New York: Universe Books, 1984.

External links

* Herbert Jay Stern at the ''

'', a

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publication of the Federal Judicial Center. {{DEFAULTSORT:Stern, Herbert Jay 1936 births Living people University of Chicago Law School alumni Writers from New Jersey Writers from New York City American legal writers New Jersey lawyers Lawyers from New York City Military personnel from New York City United States Attorneys for the District of New Jersey Judges of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey United States district court judges appointed by Richard Nixon 20th-century American judges Hobart and William Smith Colleges alumni Assistant United States Attorneys Criminal defense lawyers