Editor’s Note: Kelley Drye partner Robert Haig made these remarks at a memorial service for Justice Ira Gammerman on May 7. Gammerman, one of the founding justices of the Manhattan Supreme Court’s highly regarded Commercial Division died on Jan. 26.

Ira Gammerman was known to almost everyone who tried a civil case in New York County from the 1980’s until just recently. A few years back, the Historical Society of the New York Courts honored Roy L. Reardon, one of the most accomplished and respected lawyers in New York State. Roy is particularly known for his honesty and objectivity and for being a real straight shooter. As he ruminated about judges, he mentioned that he lost a case a short time before in the Commercial Division here in New York County. Those of you who know Roy know that did not happen very often. He then said that the trial judge in that case did not suffer fools gladly and in fact did not suffer anyone gladly. At that point, some of the trial lawyers in the audience began to look at one another and smile. Roy continued: the judge who ruled against him had listened carefully to the evidence and moved the trial forward quickly and efficiently. Even though Roy did not agree with the judge’s conclusions or his decision, the judge was fair and unbiased and was trying to do the best that he could. What that judge had done during the trial was really all that a lawyer could hope for and was a credit to our justice system and our society. The judge Roy was talking about was present in the room that night and that judge’s name was Ira Gammerman.

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