Meet the Founders

SEYMOUR E. "SY" SIEGEL
(1922-2007)

Co-Founder of Siegel & Siegel, P.C.

My father, Sy was a great father and role model. He was a highly skilled trial lawyer who, in his prime, was one of the most highly regarded trial lawyers in the state. He was a tough but ethical adversary. He was born in the Bronx during the Great Depression. As a teenager, to earn money to help my immigrant grandparents, he was an accomplished trumpet player and played in various dance bands and spent his summers playing in the resorts of the Catskill Mountains. He graduated from Evander Childs High School in the Bronx and from The College of the City of New York where he studied Economics. He served in the US Army during World War Two from 1942-1945 in the European Theatre of Operations, where he received two Purple Hearts. After the war, while working a full time job, he earned his law degree from Rutgers Law School in 1950. He was admitted to the New Jersey Bar in 1952 and was admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court in 1958. My father tried over 1,000 civil cases. He and my mother, Elaine instilled in me the values which I hold fast to today: family, honesty and hard work.

GERALD D. SIEGEL

Co-Founder of Siegel & Siegel, P.C.

I was born and raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey where I graduated from Victor Mravlag School 21, Hamilton Junior High School and Thomas Jefferson High School in 1971. In my junior year of high school, a friend, who was a year older than me, showed me a catalogue from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. I fell in love with the images of the campus as it looked “like college is supposed to.” So, in the fall of 1971, at age 17, I went off to Athens, Ohio into a world that I had never before experienced. I studied Political Science, took some interesting courses from some great professors. Ohio University helped frame my philosophy and values about justice and fairness. With those values in mind, after graduating from OU, I moved to New England and went to law school in the sleepy little village of South Royalton, Vermont at Vermont Law School. I was a member of the third graduating class in 1978. For a new school, we had very bright professors, drawn from the Ivy Leagues law schools, for the most part. Most were only a few years older than us and they challenged us. Law school was hard, but it gave me a model for problem solving and taught me how “to think like a lawyer.” I am very grateful for the wonderful education I received at VLS. After graduation, I moved to Central New Jersey, took the bar exam and became licensed in the New Jersey State Courts and the New Jersey Federal courts on December 6, 1978.
The professional accomplishment which I value the most is my Certification by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Civil Trial Lawyer. I suppose it is validation for my hard work, trial experience and recognition by our New Jersey Supreme Court, for which I have so much respect. I also obtained it in order to demonstrate to my clients that I had the commitment to obtain a credential which they could value and to give them a competitive advantage. I am also member of the Middlesex County Bar Association and the New Jersey Association for Justice.
I also served on the Middlesex County District Ethics Committee and I currently serve on the Civil Lawyers Committee in Middlesex County. I am also approved by the Superior Court to arbitrate personal injury cases in Middlesex and Mercer Counties and I have been retained by other attorneys in the personal injury field to mediate personal injury cases. On the community side of things, I served as a Judge in the Vermont Law School Moot Court Competition and the Princeton University Mock Trial Competition. My biggest accomplishment in life is my family. I am married and have three accomplished children. I live in Plainsboro and I have coached more than 35 seasons of recreational soccer, basketball and baseball for my kids and other children in the community.
I enjoy the challenge of helping people navigate the medical and legal process of a personal injury case. I enjoy working with medical professionals and using the medical evidence to prove an injury.