With generous funding from Honorary Trustee Herbert J. Stern ’58, P’03, LL.D. ’74 and Trustee Samuel A. Stern ’03, the Stern Family Forum was founded in 2022 to supports public discussions with notable guests who bring nuance to difficult, sometimes controversial subjects.
Through the Forum, guests engage with members of the HWS campus and surrounding community on timely subjects, “challenging orthodoxy, questioning and disagreeing with each other in an appropriate fashion so that we can expand our minds, grow our thoughts and make even better things out of the things that are,” says Sam Stern.
Past speakers have included Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times Columnist Bret Stephens, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Political Commentator and Strategist James Carville LL.D. '13, P'17, New York Times Opinion Writer Frank Bruni and Fox and MSNBC Contributor and Communications Strategist Lee Carter.
About the Sterns
herbert J. stern '58, p'03, ll.d. '74
Nominated to the federal bench at age 36, Stern served as judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey and as judge of the United States Court for Berlin, where he presided over a hijacking trial in the occupied American Sector of West Berlin. His book about the case, Judgment in Berlin, won the 1974 Freedom Foundation Award and became a film starring Sean Penn and Martin Sheen, who portrayed Stern. A former trial lawyer, Stern prosecuted the mayors of Jersey City, Newark and Atlantic City, N.J. as well as the U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey. He is the author of Diary of a DA: The True Story of the Prosecutor Who Took on the Mob, Fought Corruption, and Won, the multi-volume legal work Trying Cases to Win, and two historical novels Wolf and Sins of the Father. He earned a B.A. in history from Hobart and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. He was awarded an honorary degree from HWS in 1974 and the Hobart Medal of Excellence in 1990. He was the lead donor for Stern Hall, which provides HWS with 27,000 square feet of academic space including classrooms and faculty offices.
samuel a. stern, esq. '03
Stern currently practices law at Stern, Kilcullen and Rufolo LLC, based in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He previously worked at Kobre & Kim LLP, as well as in the U.S. Department for Justice as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and as a state prosecutor both in Florida and New Jersey. In addition to his experience as a trial lawyer, Stern is an accomplished teacher of cross-examination techniques and serves as a member of the faculty at the University of Miami School of Law and at the University of Virginia School of Law’s Trial Advocacy College. Stern's first book,The Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Cross-Examination, explores famous movie court cases through the lens of fundamental principles of cross-examination. A history major at HWS, Stern went on to earn his J.D. from Fordham University School of Law. In 2019, he was elected to the HWS Board of Trustees, and serves as the Vice Chair of the Audit and Compliance Committee.
New York Times opinion writer Frank Bruni and Lee Carter, communications strategist and Fox and MSNBC contributor, explored today’s divided political culture — and how to move beyond it.
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and political commentator and strategist James Carville LL.D. ’13, P’17 shared their insights on the 2022 midterms, the issues animating voters, and strategies for effective campaigns, governance and political cooperation.
“Thoughtful introspection” was the running theme of Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times Opinion Columnist Bret Stephens’ dialogue during the inaugural event of the Stern Family Forum series.
