Bernard Segal

Bernard G. Segal (June 11, 1907 – June 1, 1997) was an American lawyer known for his advocacy for the poor and his work in the civil rights movement.

Segal was born in New York City but spent his childhood in Allentown and Philadelphia. He received both his bachelor's and law degrees at the University of Pennsylvania. Upon his graduation from law school, Segal became a deputy attorney general in the office of William A. Schnader, the Attorney General of Pennsylvania.

At 24, Segal was the youngest deputy attorney general in state history. When Schnader lost a race for governor and established his own firm in 1935, Segal quickly became a partner, eventually serving as chairman of the firm, now known as Schnader, Harrison, Segal & Lewis.

In the 1950s, Segal became the first Jewish lawyer elected chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association, the nation's oldest bar association. In 1969, he became president of the American Bar Association. In fifty years as a corporate lawyer specializing in appellate work, Segal represented clients including Bell Telephone, RCA, NBC, Hertz Corporation, Gimbel Brothers, and also United Parcel Service, where he served for many years as director and general counsel.

Segal argued nearly 50 cases before the Supreme Court of the United States, but as a lawyer Segal took a broad view of his calling. Segal was known as the nation's foremost advocate of merit selection of judges. In the mid-1950s he persuaded then Attorney General Herbert Brownell and President Dwight D. Eisenhower to submit to the American Bar Association Committee on the Federal Judiciary the names of all prospective federal judicial nominees, including the Supreme Court, for a report and recommendation on their qualifications. That practice has continued ever since, with Presidents very rarely appointing a Federal Judge found "Not Qualified" by the ABA Committee. Segal chaired that Committee for six years and continued his key role in judicial selection long after he relinquished his chairmanship.

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