Famed personal injury attorney Bob Zeff dies at age 87

A. Robert Zeff (born Avram Abbot Zeff), 87, died June 6,  in Westport, Conn.

Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Feb 2, 1934, Zeff grew up in Detroit, where he played high school baseball well enough to pitch at the University of Michigan and for the Tigers Farm Team until bad knees forced him to make other career plans.

Zeff graduated from the University of Detroit Law School at 22 and was among the youngest applicants to ever pass the Michigan bar exam in 1957. 

He began trial practice immediately in his ailing father's law firm and the name Zeff & Zeff PC still exists 65 years later. Although he was initially a “pink-faced young lawyer trying to retain his father's clients,” by the early 60's Zeff had successfully built the firm's practice in handling catastrophic personal injury cases.

When million dollar verdicts first began, Zeff became a national leader in seven figure recoveries. 

He was proudest of a series of press injury cases that changed the industrial codes in Detroit's plants.

Newsweek covered him among the "Top 20 Personal Injury Trial Attorneys" and his closing arguments to juries were events that drew spectators from all parts of the courthouse.

The Michigan Institute of Continuing Legal Education featured cassettes of his 'Million Dollar Arguments' and he authored the chapter on closing arguments in ICLE's "Michigan Civil Procedure During Trial." 

His reputation was aptly captured by a Detroit News columnist who observed  "Defense attorneys cringe when Zeff enters the courtroom."  In 1975 he was inducted into the Inner Circle, a group limited to 100 of the best trial lawyers in the United States.  

Zeff is survived by his wife Susan and his niece Sandra (Mark) Gold,.

Zeff was a member of Congregation Shaarey Zedek Synagogue in Southfield, Michigan, and Palm Beach Orthodox Synagogue in Florida. He was an avid supporter of Israeli causes and a generous benefactor of Hebrew University, where the Zeffs established the Susan and A. Robert Zeff Graduate Scholarship Endowment Fund for law school students in perpetuity. 

Donations in his memory should be directed to the Division of Hematologic Neoplasia, Dana Farber Institute, 450 Brookline Ave, Boston, Mass 02215