By Seth Augenstein
Staff Writer
E. Carter Corriston is a Bergen County institution. He’s been an attorney for four municipalities, counsel for the Bergen County Housing Authority for 32 years, and he’s been a trustee of Bergen County Community College for the better part of a decade. He’s been a Democratic Party stalwart through both Republican and Democratic periods of control in Bergen. He’s seemingly been everywhere, and met everyone – pictures with Jon Corzine, James McGreevey and even former Chief Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist line the walls.
But his services – and his heart – still remain firmly in Englewood Cliffs.
The longtime attorney – who is one of the most renowned personal injury attorneys in the Northeast – is embarking on his 40th year of service to his hometown borough.
"I’m going to stay as long as I can do it," Corriston said in an interview from his Hackensack office.
He grew up in Cliffside Park and then graduated with his Fordham law degree in 1960. Corriston’s career began as a partner in the law firm of Breslin and Breslin. He rose to prominence as he studied under prestigious lawyers including future New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Roger Breslin. Later on, from the advantages of being connected with such legal minds, he would go on to trailblaze some record-setting, multimillion-dollar settlements from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, almost all involving car accidents, that made national headlines. It was a personal injury paradise that has since become much more difficult to navigate.
But he combined his love for the process of deciding the law to the process of making the law as an elected official.
"I don’t know; I was attracted to [politics]," he said.
Corriston, a lifelong Democrat, ran for and won a seat on the Republican-dominated council in 1967, and never looked back. He held office until he resigned in 1993. In 1996, he was back as Borough Attorney, a position he’s held to this day.
His accomplishments include cultivating what is now known as the Trillion-Dollar Mile along Route 9W. The commercial properties, which started off with Prentice-Hall’s arrival in the late 1950s, have offset taxes in the borough and kept taxes among the lowest in Bergen County. Corriston and late Mayor Joseph Parisi, Sr. – who Corriston initially convinced to run – were the mainstays who guided Englewood Cliffs into the unique balance of commercial and residential ownership.
"He is just a part of Englewood Cliffs. He’s almost the personification of what a public official should be," said current Council President Ilan Plawker.
His career is dotted with appointments in other towns, including River Vale, Mahwah and Paramus. He estimated that he’s attended up to 2,000 municipal meetings in his decades in the various Bergen towns. But he’s also served as the president of the Fordham University Alumni Association, and as director of the school’s advisory committee. He even founded and ran Englewood Cliffs Senior League baseball for teenagers. Along the way, he’s put his three children through Fordham University – three of whom are now in Corriston’s firm – and he’s accumulated 13 grandchildren who keep him busy.
But there’s still always time for Englewood Cliffs and the endless challenges of running a municipality – even one as small as his longtime home.
"I still like the challenges," he said with a smile. "But I’ve had enough of all those night meetings."
E-mail: augenstein@northjersey.com or call 201-894-6723
