C.J. SEITZ JR. ’76

A Legal Leader Who Thinks Outside The Box

BY MAURA CICCARELLI, FREELANCE WRITER

In high school, C.J. Seitz Jr. ’76 says he was “an inch away” from going to the U.S. Maritime Academy and pursuing a career as a Merchant Marine.

“Sailing was one of my passions early in life and later I had a fascination with meteorology because of sailing, particularly offshore ocean sailing,” he says. “And my grandmother was a meteorologist at the Hudson, New York, airport during World War II.”

But, the way things suddenly happen in sailing or in life, he decided to change course. He decided to attend the University of Delaware and double majored in political science and geology with a focus on meteorology.

He went on to become a career lawyer and corporate litigator and then a judge. In 2019, he became Chief Justice Seitz of the Delaware Supreme Court.

Along the way, he learned an important lesson. “What makes for an interesting life is being willing to go outside your everyday box and explore new thoughts and ideas and uncommon and uncomfortable things,” he says. “As you get older, it is even more important to seek out new experiences and be receptive to ideas that are not your own. In other words, don’t be afraid to take a chance.”

Family legal legacy, future career

The legal field has strong roots in the Seitz family tree. His father, Collins J. Seitz, was a judge for over 50 years, first on the Delaware Court of Chancery and then the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Three of his four children went into law. C.J.’s sister, Virginia Seitz ’74, was the first woman to serve as Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice from 2011 to 2013.

Two University of Delaware professors urged C.J. to pursue a legal career.

“I had a terrific professor named Jim Soles who is legendary in Delaware teaching circles and politics. Professor Soles was the guiding force behind many of the great careers of Delaware judges and lawyers. He and another UD professor, Jim Magee, inspired me to pursue a path in law. They took me under their wings. They knew who my father was and wanted to see me do things other than become a sailor.”

After getting a degree from Villanova University School of Law, he became a member of the Delaware Bar in 1983 and joined Connolly Bove Lodge & Hutz LLP in Wilmington.

Because there weren’t many firms specializing in intellectual property and patent litigation, Connolly Bove was in high demand around the country, expanding to more than 100 lawyers in Wilmington, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles during Seitz’s time there. He litigated corporate, commercial and intellectual property cases and advised clients on issues of Delaware corporate law.

“I learned so much from so many great mentors,” he says. Then, he got what he calls his “second career” growing the firm’s corporate litigation services for large firms located elsewhere in the country that had to litigate in Delaware, where many companies incorporate.

In 2011, he and several other attorneys started their own boutique law firm in Wilmington, Seitz Ross Aronstam & Moritz LLP, to specialize in corporate litigation in Delaware.

“Law is a wonderful profession. There’s nothing like it,” Seitz says. “You get to learn all about a client’s business or about someone’s life and you advocate on their behalf. Then you put that case down and pick up the next one and learn a whole new interesting set of facts and law. It’s really quite rewarding and exciting to pursue a career as a trial lawyer.”

Then, in 2015, Seitz was nominated by then Delaware Governor Jack Markell to be a Delaware Supreme Court justice, a position he held for more than five years. Then, he was appointed chief justice in 2019.

Chief Justice Seitz hears appeals from the Court of Chancery, Superior Court and the Family Court. He also oversees the arms of the court that handle lawyer discipline, the bar exam and judicial conduct. As part of his administrative duties, he manages the administrative office of the courts, which handle the day-to-day operation of the court system’s 1,300 employees.

Seitz also travels frequently to speak about the benefits of Delaware court system. “The Delaware courts are ranked consistently as one of the finest state court systems in the Country,” he says. “The Supreme Court and the Court of Chancery are world-renowned for resolving some of the country’s largest business disputes.”

At Tower Hill

Seitz started at Tower Hill in the sixth grade after public school, which he says wasn’t an easy transition in the 1970s.

However, he has vivid memories of many of his high school teachers “who were all motivated to make sure everyone did their best,” he says.

“The English and history teachers were really good teachers and we respected them,” he notes. He particularly remembers his French teacher, Colette Cotter, and Head of School Malcolm Coates. He also played soccer and baseball, noting that coach and history teacher George Stetson “was a terrific coach and teacher who inspired many students.”

On the personal side

Seitz says his wife of 28 years, Gail, “is one of the most interesting people in the world.” In addition to raising their three children, Danielle, Brandon and Meredith, and supporting him in his career, she has been a professor at the University of Delaware, worked for the DuPont Company in Information Systems, worked on political campaigns and even rode her bicycle across the U.S.

For fun, a favorite Seitz family destination is Vermont. Two Seitz children attended college and law school in Vermont. Seitz, who has been a pilot for more than a dozen years, keeps a plane at Wilmington Airport so he and his family can fly back and forth to Vermont, where they like to vacation and ski in the winter.