The Honorable Matthew J. Jasen.

• Author: Halloran, John J., Jr.
• Position: New York Court of Appeals judge - Testimonial

[This tribute was written for this dedication to Judge Jasen on the occasion of his ninetieth birthday, shortly before he passed away.]

Judge Matthew J. Jasen reaches the age of ninety on December 13, 2005. As his last law clerk, it is my honor to provide this personal recollection of my tenure from mid-1984 through 1985. It has been two decades since my service with the Judge. It seems like yesterday. His accomplishments and integrity shine as brightly today as they did twenty years ago. As his law clerks can confirm, while we worked at the periphery of the adjudicatory process, clerking for the Judge was a watershed period in our lives. For most of us, we began work as young, recent graduates, and left the clerkship as lawyers, carrying with us the lessons of excellence that Judge Jasen taught by example. This is one law clerk's personal remembrance of a great man to whom all New Yorkers owe a great debt of gratitude. This is not a description or evaluation of the Judge's opinions; that has been done with great skill and insight by others. (1) This is my tribute.

THE INTERVIEW IN ALBANY

Albany in late summer is just about perfect. Warm days, cool nights, and the promise of a new school year. It was 1983 (my seventh year in Albany) and I was about to begin my final year at Albany Law School of Union University. At Albany Law School, the Judges of the Court of Appeals were and are revered. When appearing at the law school for moot court competitions, they were greeted like rock stars. This was especially true for the distinguished alumni of the law school who served on the Court of Appeals, particularly Hon. Lawrence H. Cooke (Chief Judge for part of my tenure) and Hon. Domenick L. Gabrielli. Relaxing in my apartment in Albany, I received a telephone call from Florence Wojtanik, Judge Jasen's secretary, and was invited to an interview with Judge Jasen. I was thrilled and unprepared.

First things first. I needed a decent suit, which I bought at Sherman's on State Street. Then, I consulted with some of the law school's respected faculty. In 1983, Professor David D. Siegel was the school's legendary New York Practice teacher and the preeminent commentator upon the civil jurisprudence of the Court of Appeals. He referred to Judge Jasen as "solid as a rock"--the word "rock" emphatically and perfectly articulated as a three syllable word--very high praise indeed considering the source. Professor Siegel also recalled that one of his finest students, Alan D. Scheinkman, had clerked for Judge Jasen. I also knew that Professor Michael J. Hutter, a star in the New York State legal community, had clerked for Judge Jasen in the 1970s. These former clerks were, to borrow Judge Jasen's phrase, "long-ball hitters."

Court of Appeals Hall on Eagle Street in Albany is, as my son John said on a recent visit, "awesome". My interview was not my first visit to the court. I worked part-time at the nearby Legislative Office Building and, at the suggestion of Barney Tansey (the court crier), occasionally attended oral arguments. (2) But this visit to the court was different. I was there on serious business.

Judge Jasen greeted me in his spacious, wood-paneled chambers. As one article on the Court of Appeals once described him, Judge Jasen was straight from Hollywood's "central casting"--handsome, with a full head of white hair, tanned complexion, and impeccably dressed in a conservative suit. He was busy and immediately cut to the chase. He explained, in his now familiar crisp, staccato delivery, that the court worked extremely hard and a clerkship with him would not be for the "faint of heart." He explained his "awesome responsibility" as a member of a "court of last resort"--"we are the end of the road in almost all cases." There was a "great burden" to "get it right" because further appeals to the Supreme Court were "very rare." He described an "exhausting" workload. It was a clear and direct message that did not invite debate or comment: his law clerks are expected to meet an extraordinarily high...