Articles

Profile of the Hon. William T. Glover

By Michael Goldsmith

Newly elected State Supreme Court Justice William T. Glover brings over thirty five years of litigation experience to the Queens Bench. But Justice Glover did not always aspire to the judiciary. "I originally wanted to be a baseball player," said the native Brooklyn resident. "I grew up in Marine Park, where baseball was a religion."

Injuries forced the aspiring pitcher-outfielder to change career plans. At St. John's University College the undergraduate began to discover a scholarly aptitude, winning a history essay prize in his second year. "At that time, my ambition was to become a journalist," recalled the Judge. However, by his senior year, he had been introduced to public speaking and was the co-captain of the varsity debating team. "It was here that I learned oral argument," said the Judge. Because of the urging of a fellow debater, (the son of a Congressman), the evolving collegian decided to attend Law School. "Until then, I had never even met a lawyer," reminisced the Judge.

Justice Glover attended St. John's School of Law where he served as the school Moot Court captain, and represented S.J.U. in national competition.

Upon graduation, the newly admitted attorney gained trial experience with an insurance carrier.

Within two years, Justice Glover became associated with Raphael, Searles, & Vischi, a litigation firm (with labor and corporate law specialties) on Lexington Avenue. Because the firm was expanding its labor law practice, Justice Glover attended New York University Graduate School of Law evenings as an associate attorney, and was awarded an LLM degree in Labor Law.

In l967, Justice Glover became a partner in the firm, and three years later the "AV" rated law firm of six partners and ten associates was renamed Raphael, Searles, Vischi, Scher, Glover & D'Ella. Justice Glover's represented employers, unions and pension funds in collective bargaining and labor litigation throughout the tri-state region. The collective bargaining agreements were often negotiated under crisis conditions, with the involvement of federal mediators and under threat of imminent strike. In addition, the multi-skilled attorney tried commercial, tort and criminal cases in Federal and State Courts, and even had seven criminal trials besides co-authoring briefs in a labor law case filed in the United States Supreme Court.

In l980, following the death of Sidney O. Raphael a few months before expiration of its ten year lease, the law firm dissolved. With his prior firm's litigation matters, the future Justice then went into practice in Nassau County with his wife, Catherine, who was admitted to the bar the previous year.

At the new firm of Glover & Glover, Justice Glover, as a litigator and arbitrator, tried substantial matters in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Michigan, in addition to commercial, tort, labor and civil rights litigation in New York.

Prior to his donning of the robes of the judiciary, Justice Glover legal experience was frequently used as an arbitrator. He was appointed by Office of Court Administration to act as sole arbitrator or chairman of tri-member panels in over 50 Civil Court Queens actions. He served the AAA as sole arbitrator in commercial, no-fault, and complex pension matters.

Noteworthy among his arbitral decisions is a 38 page opinion (Eberhard Foods, Inc.) published in BNA 6 Employee Benefit Cases, l961, concerning a million dollar pension dispute which was written after seven days of stenographically recorded hearings in Detroit. Justice Glover's interpretation of a then recent federal statute, (the Multi Employer Plan Amendments Act), and its application to the facts were found to be correct in a de novo review of the full record by the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals (Michigan United Food & Com. Workers v. Eberhard Foods Inc., 831 F. 2d 1258).

Justice Glover is a gray haired man well over six feet tall, with a self depreciating sense of humor. When asked to tell a war story, rather than speak of one of his triumphs, he chose to regale this reporter with the following story:

"In 1962, as a young litigator, two of my assigned cases were on the trial calendar - One in Suffolk Supreme; the other in Nassau Supreme. I was committed to try the case in Suffolk. As for the Nassau case, I was "semi" ready and did not expect it to be reached for a week. I therefore foolishly instructed my law assistant answer "Ready" when the calendar was called."

"At that time, I was not experienced enough to know that in

Nassau County, the judges cleared their calendars before Easter. After Easter, all the trial parts were empty, and immediately available for trials."

"The case in Suffolk ended up settling that day. I was very pleased, and took a late lunch, making it back to my office in Manhattan at 4:00 PM, only to find pandemonium. When my associate answered "Ready," he was sent out to pick a jury. The firm had to send in an experienced attorney to do so. Twelve jurors and two alternates were ready for a trial to begin the next day."

"After working until midnight, I realized that there was no way I could try this personal injury case without an additional day's preparation."

"The next morning I made the best oral argument in my life "on flexed knee" to a justifiably very angry trial judge. Fortunately, my three adversaries were gentlemen, and offered no opposition to a one day adjournment. The judge, after almost dismissing the case, finally took pity on my client and granted the extra day."

"The case concerned a sheet metal worker who was injured when he slipped off a metal rung of a ladder implanted in a brick wall of a building. The accident occurred when contributory negligence and assumption of risk was a complete defense and the owner, general contractor and sub-contractor had quickly had inspections made of the allegedly loose rung after the accident." "I was able to prepare my case during my one day adjournment. After a five day trial, the jury verdict was 10-2 in favor of the defendants."

"Besides the obvious, I learned from this experience to be careful of a "one man jury." One of the jurors was an expert on brick work, who simply didn't buy the plaintiff's story."

Justice Glover stayed athletic throughout his adult life, playing competitive basketball until the age of forty three. However, within a decade, nagging leg injuries were slowing him down, and ultimately he had successful hip replacement surgeries in the early 1990's.

From August 1991 until June, 1998, Justice Glover served as counsel to the Queens County Clerk in 1991.

Until his election to the Bench, Justice Glover had a long pro bono career in Queens, serving as a member of Community Board 11 for over twenty years, and as a director of he Queens Public Communications Corp and Chairman of Draft Board 154 in place for sixteen years. In addition, he was an officer and member of the Board of Managers of the Queens Bar Association for almost a decade.

For relaxation, Justice Glover reads history, and listens to classical music. Still a baseball fan, he "kidnaps" his wife each summer to make an annual summer pilgrimage to Fenway Park.

The judge and his wife Kay have two daughters.

Justice Glover was elected to the Queens Supreme Court on November 3, 1998, as the candidate of the Democratic, Republican, Liberal and Independence parties.