This message has been cross posted to the following Discussions: Family Law and Dispute Resolution Section Board of Directors .
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Bonnie Blume Goldsamt: MY STORY
I've spent most of my time talking about my professional background and focusing on member benefits and services, including health insurance. Until now, I haven't shared much about my personal history. At the urging of friends, here's my story.
I grew up in New York City and Long Island during an era when most married women stayed home and most lawyers were men. There were many lawyers and doctors in my family - all male. Still, from an early age, my interests in history, literature and politics propelled me toward the law.
My husband, Jay and I married young, a few weeks after my graduation from Sarah Lawrence College. We are still married. After graduation, I worked briefly and then attended graduate school at NYU, receiving a Master's degree in Politics: International Relations and Comparative Government. While completing my thesis, our first child, our son, Seth was born. Our daughter, Kathryn ("Kati") followed three years later. Deborah, our third child, was born in 1986.
Before moving to New Jersey, we lived near downtown Brooklyn, where we were brownstone "pioneers." After completing NYU graduate school, I started a block association and a monthly newspaper and served on the Downtown Brooklyn Planning Board.
We moved to Montclair in 1975. The following year, I entered Rutgers-Newark Law School, and literally went from being a class mother to being a law student. As this challenge was daunting, I was lucky to find a large group of amazing women at Rutgers, many of whom, like me, had been stay-at-home moms.
I decided to become a lawyer to do good work and make a difference in society. In my mind, this meant a career in public service, but things don't always turn out as you envision. Consequently, most of my law career has been spent in private practice (with a stint in government). My practice has consistently been combined with Bar Association service.
I balanced law school with motherhood. My husband provided major support by helping care for the children and by performing household chores. Since he worked in the City, however, when the children had a day off from school, and I had classes, I took them with me to Rutgers. We sat in the back of the classrooms, and I brought lots of markers and paper to occupy them.
While in law school, I clerked for a law firm and had the opportunity to work on an Appellate brief that actually reached the New Jersey Supreme Court. Also during law school, I was selected to work as an intern at the United States Attorney's office in Newark. I was so proud when I learned that I was one of only a handful of interns who actually would get paid for this work. I decided to be a litigator.
Throughout my career, I have worked with and for extraordinary lawyers. After law school, I was honored to clerk for the Honorable Herbert S. Glickman as his first matrimonial law clerk. Judge Glickman had all the qualities one would desire in a Judge. He was (and is) extremely bright, even-tempered, compassionate and very funny. He was also a wonderful and considerate boss, who worried that I didn't stay too late at the Courthouse (although most nights I went home with oodles of files. Motion practice was weekly then).
Following my clerkship, I was hired by Cole Berman & Belsky, which later merged into Cole Schotz. At the time, I was the only woman lawyer in the firm. I didn't want to be pigeon-holed too early into matrimonial law. Fortunately, I was able to work on complex civil litigation, as well as family law and trusts and estates. Among other excellent attorneys, I was privileged to work with Morrill Cole. From there, I became an Assistant Essex County Counsel under the leadership of David Ben-Asher during the halcyon days of the Peter Shapiro administration. My workload as an Assistant County Counsel focused on complex civil litigation, including prison overcrowding cases. During this period, I was privileged to work with two outstanding attorneys, who served the Federal District Court as Special Masters: the late Sidney Reitman and the now retired Chief Justice James Zazzali.
My next jobs were in small Hackensack firms. At Rose & DeFuccio, I was privileged to work with another amazingly brilliant attorney and mentor, Arthur Rose. Around the same time, I became active with Women Lawyers in Bergen County ("WLIB"), serving as President of WLIB for two terms.
After Deborah's birth, I joined the firm of Steven Morey Greenberg, where I worked on complex civil litigation in Federal and State Court and family law. In 1989, I became a Trustee of the Bergen County Bar Association ("BCBA"), serving three terms (nine years). When I joined the BCBA Board, I was the only woman trustee. This has changed over the years. During and after BCBA service, I began decades of NJSBA service.
More than 20 years ago, I opened my own office in Hackensack, which later was expanded to include an office in Verona. Around this time, I became interested in Alternative Dispute Resolution. I became an arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association and from there, segued into mediation.
Today, most of my practice focuses on ADR: mediation, arbitration and collaborative law. Although I mediate, I still know how to advocate, and continue to represent clients in court matters. Along with others, I created the NJ ICLE Civil and Family Mediation Courses, which I still teach. I also taught at Seton Hall Law School and lecture frequently for ICLE and other organizations. Years ago, I started ADR Day, which is a daylong annual symposium on conflict resolution topics. ADR Day is scheduled this year at the Law Center on Friday, June 7, 2013 (check ICLE listings for more information). I have been honored to receive many awards for my pioneering work in ADR, including the NJSBA Dispute Resolution Section's "Boskey" Award for ADR "Practitioner of the Year," a "Legends of ADR" Award and a "Distinguished Service" Award from the NJSBA and NJ ICLE.
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Bonnie Blume Goldsamt Esq.
Verona NJ
(973) 857-6220
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