Early Life and Education

Steven R. Rothman was born on October 14, 1952 in Englewood, New Jersey, to Philip and Muriel Rothman. He has a twin brother, Arthur, and an older sister, Susan.

Steve attended the Roosevelt Public Elementary School in Englewood until the fifth grade when the family moved to nearby Tenafly. He graduated from Tenafly Public High School in 1970 where he was senior class president, first clarinet, first chair in the orchestra and named Best School Citizen. He was also a member of the Tenafly High School Madrigal Singers, played the lead in the high school production of “Twelve Angry Men”, wrestled, and played soccer and tennis.

Rothman family: Arthur, Muriel, Susan, Philip and Steven, c. 1957

College photo of Steve Rothman 1971

College photo of Steve Rothman, 1971

In his senior year, Steve Rothman was the chair of the 18-Year-Old Vote Campaign for Tenafly, New Jersey, which sought to secure the New Jersey Legislature’s support for the proposed Twenty-sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to lower the national voting age to 18.

Steve was a freestyle and backstroke swimmer in a New Jersey Jewish Community Center swim league.

While at Syracuse University, where he majored in Political Philosophy, Steve Rothman was selected to serve on the University Judicial Board, the student supreme court, and was elected Chief Justice by its members. He was also lead singer in a folk-rock music group named “Sweet Rock”. He graduated from Syracuse University in 1974 with a B.A. Degree.

From 1974 to 1977, Steve attended the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Missouri, where he was awarded a Juris Doctor degree in 1977.

In each of his three years at law school, he was a High School Law Project member, teaching his course on the “U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights” to high school students in the St. Louis City and Metropolitan area.

In 1975, Steve won the “Best Oralist” Award in the Washington University School of Law Moot Court Competition. The following year, he and his partner Gerald Kline placed first among twelve teams representing six law schools at the Eighth Circuit Moot Court Regional Competition in Rapid City, South Dakota, also winning “Best Brief”.

Steven R. Rothman was admitted to the New Jersey Bar in 1977 and became a practicing New Jersey attorney, before being admitted to practice law in New York, as well, in 1982. In 1984, he was admitted to practice law before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Steve Rothman with friend and fellow graduate on Law School Graduation Day, 1977