Philip Halpern testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing to be U.S. district judge for the Southern District of New York, on Oct. 30, 2019. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

Collier Halpern & Newberg managing partner Philip Halpern told a U.S. Senate panel Wednesday that it would be the "professional honor of a lifetime" to serve as a federal judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The remarks came as the Senate Judiciary Committee considers President Donald Trump's nominees to fill district court vacancies across the country.

Halpern, a graduate of the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, told lawmakers that his confirmation would fulfill a dream that started when he began his legal career clerking for former Southern District Judge Irving Ben Cooper in 1980. At Collier Halpern, he has since gone on to build a practice that focuses primarily on commercial litigation, estates, employment litigation, real estate litigation and securities litigation, according to the firm's website.

"For me, not only is it an honor to be here and to be considered, but it is a lifelong and career-long ambition of mine to serve as a judge in the federal courts," he said in an opening statement to the committee.

"If I'm so lucky as to be confirmed, I can assure you that I will use every day to apply the law as written to the facts presented me," he said.

Halpern was considered alongside Barbara Bailey Jongbloed, a state court judge who Trump nominated to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, and Bernard Maurice Jones II, a federal magistrate judge selected to serve on the Western District of Oklahoma bench.

The panel followed a hearing for former Nevada Solicitor General Lawrence VanDyke and Southern California federal prosecutor Patrick Bumatay, whose nominations to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit had raised political concerns about the American Bar Association's rating system for judicial candidates, as well as the White House's selection of nominees without the approval of home-state senators.

Halpern's session, however, avoided the controversy of the earlier hearing, and the candidates were asked a series of largely noncontroversial questions over the course of about 20 minutes.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, focused on Halpern's work on a 1997 case involving Trump and his hotel companies, and asked whether Halpern would have to recuse himself from any future cases against the president or his family.

Halpern clarified that he had represented then-Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau, who had been accused of malicious prosecution and other torts in that case. Any decisions on whether to recuse as a judge of the Southern District, would be guided by 28 U.S.C. 455, he said.

"That requires me to look at that case, in the circumstance of that case, and discharge my oath and obligation as to whether or not that's something I should recuse myself from," Halpern said.

Responding to a question by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, regarding workplace harassment, Halpern said he would maintain a close working relationship with his staff and follow a "zero tolerance" policy for sexual misconduct or harassment.

"Chambers staff is not that large, and so I intend to be hands-on like I have in these decades of working," he said. "Should I even get a whiff of any kind of inappropriate remark or otherwise, I'll address it directly."

The hearing adjourned without a vote to advance the nominations to the full Senate.

Halpern was nominated last October to fill a seat vacated by U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel, who took senior status in August 2017. Trump renominated him for the position January.

A litigator in White Plains for 30 years, Halpern is admitted to practice law in New York and Connecticut, and regularly appears in the federal and state courts nationwide. According to his law firm bio, he has taken cases to successful verdict in more than a dozen states.

Halpern authored a two-volume book on civil procedure in 2002 and has also authored several articles for the New York State Bar Association and the American Bar Association. He also serves as an adjunct professor at Pace Law School.

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