Harold Baer Jr.

American judge (1933–2014)

Harold Baer Jr. (February 16, 1933 – May 27, 2014) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Born in New York City, New York, Baer received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Hobart College in 1954, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He received his Bachelor of Laws from Yale Law School in 1957.

Baer's father, Harold Baer, was a longtime New York Supreme Court justice, born in New York City. Baer Jr.'s own legal career began as an assistant to the General Counsel of Greater New York Mutual Insurance in 1958. He was then Assistant Counsel to the New York State Commission on the Governmental Operations of the City of New York (1959–60) and New York State Commission of Investigation (1960–61). From 1961 to 1967 he was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York. He then served as Executive director, Civilian Complaint Review Board New York City Police Department from 1967 to 1968 before going back to the United States Attorney's office as Chief of the Criminal Division from 1970 to 1972. He was then an adjunct professor at New York Law School from 1974 to 1983.

Baer was elected to serve in the New York Supreme Court for New York County in 1982 and served until 1992. While serving as a state trial judge, he was among the first in the United States to rule that a same sex couple could be considered a family, so that the surviving member of the couple could benefit from tenant protections under the New York Rental Control laws. Although his decision was reversed by the Appellate Division, the Court of Appeals agreed with him in the landmark case of Braschi v. Stahl Associates Co. He was then Executive Judicial Officer for the Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Service, Inc from 1992 to 1994.

He was nominated by President Bill Clinton to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on April 26, 1994, to fill a seat vacated by Judge Robert W. Sweet. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 9 and received his commission the next day. He took senior status on September 8, 2004, serving in that status until his death.

Baer died on Tuesday, May 27, 2014.

Smith v. Islamic Emirate of Afg., 262 F. Supp. 2d 217
US v. Bayless, 913 F. Supp. 232 (SDNY 1996); revised 921 F. Supp. 211 (SDNY 1996)
Authors Guild v. HathiTrust (SDNY Oct. 10, 2012)

New York Evidentiary Foundations (1998), with Randolph N. Jonakait, E. Stewart Jones Jr., and Edward J. Imwinkelried. Judges Under Fire: Human Rights, Independent Judiciary, and the Rule of Law (2011).