Bernard W. Nussbaum
Encyclopedia
Bernard W. Nussbaum is an American
attorney
, best known for having served as White House Counsel
under President Bill Clinton
.
in 1954. He went to Columbia College in New York as a scholarship student where he became Editor-in-Chief of the college daily newspaper and a member of phi beta kappa. He graduated from Columbia in 1958 and enrolled at Harvard Law School
. After his first year he was selected to join the Harvard Law Review and in his senior year became Note Editor of the Review. Upon completing law school in 1961, Nussbaum was awarded a Harvard University Sheldon Traveling Fellowship enabling him to travel around the world for a year visiting over 30 countries. In 1962 he was sworn in as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York
then led by Robert Morgenthau. He was a federal prosecutor for over 3 years and tried a number of major criminal cases. He was also a member of the United States Army Reserves.
In 1966 Nussbaum joined the New York law firm, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, one year after that firm was founded, He remains a senior partner in the Wachtell, Lipton firm and specializes in corporate and securities litigation. He has won a number of major cases, including, in 2004, a jury verdict in excess of a billion dollars on behalf of the developer of the World Trade Center against a number of insurance companies. Recently, because judicial salaries in New York had been frozen for more than a decade (the legislature refused to raise judicial salaries unless its salaries were also raised), Nussbaum represented the Chief Judge of the State of New York and the Judiciary of the State, pro bono, in successful constitutional litigation (ultimately decided by the New York Court of Appeals) which declared that holding judicial salaries hostage to legislative salaries was unconstitutional. This lawsuit resulted in the Legislature and the Governor agreeing to change the system for determining the compensation of judges. Decisions regarding judicial salaries are now made every four years by an independent commission, rather than the executive and legislative branches. In August 2011 the first commission appointed raised the salaries of New York state judges (presently $136,700 for trial judges) to the level of federal district judges ($174,000), the increase to be phased in, commencing April 2012, over the following two and a half years.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
attorney
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, best known for having served as White House Counsel
White House Counsel
The White House Counsel is a staff appointee of the President of the United States.-Role:The Counsel's role is to advise the President on all legal issues concerning the President and the White House...
under President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
.
Background and career
Nussbaum, the first child of immigrant parents, was born in New York City and grew up on the lower east side of Manhattan. He was educated in the New York City public schools and graduated from Stuyvesant High SchoolStuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School , commonly referred to as Stuy , is a New York City public high school that specializes in mathematics and science. The school opened in 1904 on Manhattan's East Side and moved to a new building in Battery Park City in 1992. Stuyvesant is noted for its strong academic...
in 1954. He went to Columbia College in New York as a scholarship student where he became Editor-in-Chief of the college daily newspaper and a member of phi beta kappa. He graduated from Columbia in 1958 and enrolled at Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
. After his first year he was selected to join the Harvard Law Review and in his senior year became Note Editor of the Review. Upon completing law school in 1961, Nussbaum was awarded a Harvard University Sheldon Traveling Fellowship enabling him to travel around the world for a year visiting over 30 countries. In 1962 he was sworn in as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York is a federal district court. Appeals from the Southern District of New York are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case...
then led by Robert Morgenthau. He was a federal prosecutor for over 3 years and tried a number of major criminal cases. He was also a member of the United States Army Reserves.
In 1966 Nussbaum joined the New York law firm, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, one year after that firm was founded, He remains a senior partner in the Wachtell, Lipton firm and specializes in corporate and securities litigation. He has won a number of major cases, including, in 2004, a jury verdict in excess of a billion dollars on behalf of the developer of the World Trade Center against a number of insurance companies. Recently, because judicial salaries in New York had been frozen for more than a decade (the legislature refused to raise judicial salaries unless its salaries were also raised), Nussbaum represented the Chief Judge of the State of New York and the Judiciary of the State, pro bono, in successful constitutional litigation (ultimately decided by the New York Court of Appeals) which declared that holding judicial salaries hostage to legislative salaries was unconstitutional. This lawsuit resulted in the Legislature and the Governor agreeing to change the system for determining the compensation of judges. Decisions regarding judicial salaries are now made every four years by an independent commission, rather than the executive and legislative branches. In August 2011 the first commission appointed raised the salaries of New York state judges (presently $136,700 for trial judges) to the level of federal district judges ($174,000), the increase to be phased in, commencing April 2012, over the following two and a half years.