Jay Goldberg

Personal life

Goldberg was born January 2, 1933 in Brooklyn, New York, United States. In his early life he was considered an athlete, enjoying competitive boxing. In addition to recreational basketball and baseball. During his college career at Brooklyn College he engaged in football as well. He received his college degree magna cum laude from Brooklyn College and was elected as early as his junior year to Phi Beta Kappa. After college he considered a career in the law citing his many visits to the federal and state courts of Manhattan and Brooklyn.

He graduated from Harvard Law School magna cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

During law school he met Regina, "Rema," at Concord Hotel mixer "single weekends." Rema would later on become his wife. He is married to Rema Goldberg, in at Tavern on the Green in Central Park. Rema serves as a jury consultant to attorneys.

Career

Goldberg was acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana, Special Attorney and Counselor to the United States Department of Justice, Washington D.C and an Assistant District Attorney, New York County. He has been a past lecturer on trial advocacy at the Harvard Law School. He served on the Congressionally mandated Joint Committee on Local Rules for the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. He was a member on the Committee on Grievances for United States District Court, Southern District of New York.

Goldberg was lead counsel in U.S. v. Bess Meyerson, where the former Miss America who was then a key city official, and had been a Senate candidate was accused, along with a State Supreme Court Justice of bribery in order to influence a pending case. In a book used in a number of law schools in trial advocacy courses, Prof. Iannuzzi [Trial: Strategy & Psychology (Prentice Hall)] reprinted Goldberg’s summation in the Meyerson case and wrote: "The trial ended in an acquittal in large measure based on Mr. Goldberg's summation. His summation is must reading for those studying trial advocacy."

During the filming of American hero - Bridge of Spies starring Tom Hanks, Goldberg was legal aid to James B. Donovan. At critical moments relating to the planning of the transfer of a captured Russian spy for one of our own, which was later accomplished by agreements between the governments of the United States and the East German authorities, Mr. Goldberg was at Mr. Donovan’s side during the planning stage.

Goldberg was profiled on Robin Leach’s popular and syndicated television show Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous in a major segment entitled “Toughest Lawyer in Town.”

At the Association of the Bar, City of New York he delivered a lecture entitled by others “Giant of the Trial Bar.”

Donald Trump writing, of his choice of counsel in his many litigations, in The Art of the Comeback (Random House), reflected: "What really piqued my interest in Goldberg was that he was a lawyer who, by reputation, was tough and fierce. Goldberg had long been earning the plaudits of lawyers for his outstanding defense work. I called Goldberg and arranged to meet with him that same day. I took an instant liking to him and retained him on the spot to act for me as my lead counsel."

On January 9, 2012, Mr. Trump wrote: “There has never been a lawyer more important to me than you. It is very important to me that you know that!”

Carl Icahn, multi billionaire financier, then CEO of TWA, was sued by the machinists' union and minority shareholders for selling off routes and stock of the airline in order to garner monies for himself. In this multimillion dollar suit for damages in the St. Louis County Circuit Court, he turned to the author to defend him. After a three week trial, judgment was entered in favor of Mr. Icahn. Other representations of him followed.

In his autobiography, Waylon (Warner Books), country music star Waylon Jennings wrote "Jay Goldberg orchestrated my defense. He's one of the greatest lawyers in the world and when he got into his legal mode, he was an artist. When he walked in the courtroom the government didn't have a chance against him. I even wrote a song about him."

In a review of Preparation and Trial of Criminal Cases Within the Second Circuit, New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Lonschein wrote: "[Jay Goldberg] holds the distinction of being one of the most skilled, if not the most skilled trial lawyer in the United States.” Former President of the Criminal Bar Association Richard Levitt called Goldberg "one of the foremost litigators of this or any generation." On the night Goldberg was recognized with an award from the Criminal Bar Association, former Chief of the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney’s Office S.D.N.Y. Frederick Hafetz said: “I consider you to have the best killer trial skills I have ever seen in my 47 years of practice, and I have worked with the best, courtroom presence, capturing the jury’s attention through devastating cross and summations that have jurors on the edge of their seats.”

Richard Levitt, a prominent lawyer in reviewing one of Goldberg’s books, wrote that Mr. Goldberg is “the finest litigator of this or any other generation.”

Frederick Hafetz, former Chief of the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney’s Office S.D.N.Y. wrote: “I consider you to have the best killer trial skills I have ever seen in my 47 years of practice, and I have worked with the best, courtroom presence, capturing the jury’s attention through devastating cross and summations that have jurors on the edge of their seats.”

Judd Burstein, a premier NYC trial attorney, wrote: “I often tell people who compliment me on my trial skills that my mentor, Jay Goldberg, was a far better lawyer that I am. I talk about the fact that he commanded the courtroom like no other, and taught me to analyze a case without any preconceptions – yet always knowing that there was, in the end, a “silver bullet” to be found. You also would not believe how many of his expressions – such as “there are no new cases, only new faces” – that I have pilfered from him. I am not alone in this assessment. Through a very bizarre set of circumstances that I am prohibited from discussing due to confidentiality obligations, Donald [Trump] inserted himself into a dispute on behalf of the opposing party and I had some interactions with him. Out of the blue and I am directly quoting, Trump said the following to my opposing attorney: “Judd used to work with Jay Goldberg. He was the best lawyer that I ever saw, he won cases anybody else would have lost. I used to say: ‘How the hell did he do that?’”

In a poll conducted by a New York magazine, selected lawyers and judges were asked to answer this question: "Who Are Manhattan's Most Powerful, Talented, and Fearsome Prosecutors and Defenders?" The survey resulted in this statement: "Goldberg is a lawyer's lawyer, a defense attorney whom colleagues and prosecutors alike cite as exemplary of the mix of qualities that make a lawyer effective." The consensus, as reported in the survey, was that: "Goldberg is the best trial lawyer in town."

In Prof. Seidemann’s book: In The Interest of Justice: Great Opening and Closing Arguments of the Last 100 Years (Harper Collins) two of the twenty courtroom summations selected are those of Goldberg. The book has been described as “America’s great courtroom speeches beginning with the summation of Clarence Darrow in the Scopes trial.”

Goldfarb, in his book Perfect Villains and Imperfect Heroes (Random House) wrote: of all the “hotshots” Kennedy brought to the Justice Department to fight crime, Jay Goldberg was probably the “hottest.” With the same assessment: Navasky, Kennedy Justice (Atheneum Books); Heymann, R.F.K. (Dutton); and Hersh, Bobby and J. Edgar: The Historic Face-Off Between the Kennedys and J. Edgar Hoover That Transformed America (Basic Books).

Country music legend, Willie Nelson, for thirty years has chosen him as his lead counsel in a number of complex litigations. He has represented the New York Daily News, the jazz legend, Miles Davis, Bono, P. Diddy, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson. He represented Andrew Loog Oldham, who discovered and managed the Rolling Stones. He represented Mick Jagger, as well as the Rolling Stones, as co-counsel in a trial conducted in the United States District Court, Southern District of New York.

New York Magazine's feature article listed Jay Goldberg as having been selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in New York, Best Lawyers in America [Naifeh and Smith], Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in American Law, [Marquis] and in Martindale-Hubbell's Register of Preeminent Lawyers.

On September 22, 2011, he was honored by members of the United States Congress for his dedication and study of the principles of the United States Constitution.

Publications