Kriti Mehrotra
As a documentary series revisiting the January 26, 2011, death of Ellen Rae Greenberg, ABC’s/Hulu’s ‘Death in Apartment 603: What Happened to Ellen Greenberg’ is simply gripping. It incorporates not only archival footage and documents but also exclusive interviews to really shine a light upon this complex and ongoing case. Among those to play a significant role here is James “Jamie” Schwartzman, the uncle of Ellen’s fiancé, Sam Goldberg, and the man who took possession of her devices prior to her funeral.
James Schwartzman is a Career Attorney With a Stellar Reputation
While not a lot of information regarding James Schwartzman’s background, early years, or qualifications is known as of writing, he did develop an interest in law at an early age. He thus enrolled in college to study the same as soon as he graduated from high school and passed the bar exam before kickstarting his career as a clerk for the US District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He then moved forward in his career to such an extent that he became a significant part of the Stevens and Lee law firm in 2005.
In fact, according to the Philadelphia magazine, James has been recognized as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer from 2004 through 2024, was named one of the top 100 Super Lawyers in Pennsylvania and in Philadelphia. As per reports, he is actually considered one of the most prominent lawyers since he is believed to be among the top 5 percent of lawyers in the Commonwealth. Therefore, when his nephew Sam Goldberg’s fiancée was found dead inside their shared apartment on January 26, 2011, with a knife sticking from his chest, he was involved.
According to records, James had contacted the property manager to ask if he and other family members could come over and gather some of Ellen’s personal belongings prior to her funeral. Amongst other things, they grabbed her cell phone and laptop before handing them over to the police when the medical examiner contradicted the initial assumption made at the scene by ruling her death as homicide. This verdict was changed to suicide again in February of the same year, but while the Goldbergs and Schwartzmans are okay with this decision, Ellen’s family has always asserted she did not take her own life. So, this case is still ongoing 14 years later.
James Schwartzman Has Never Directly Addressed Ellen’s Case
Thanks to the efforts of Ellen’s parents, a lot more information regarding the investigations into her death has come to light, including that her devices showed a search history related to suicide. However, as per the show, the evidence of this search history was not present during the initial investigation into her death, and only came to light years later in the late 2010s or early 2020s. Hence, there have been questions about when exactly the searches were made or if they are backdated on purpose, but it’s imperative to note that no charges have ever been filed against Sam, Jamie, or anybody else for that matter.
Since Sam’s family has preferred to remain away from this matter, the only thing James has said about this is that he does indeed believe Ellen died by suicide. As for the speculations around him taking her devices, a spokesperson recently stated that James was given permission by the police to go in and take Ellen’s belongings. As per Fox News, James did not take Ellen’s handbag or diary, but he admitted to removing her computers and cellphones. “The door was damaged and unsecure, and he took out items that he thought might be stolen,” the representative said. Since then, Sam’s family has simply been trying to move on.
James Schwartzman Continues to be Involved in the World of Law
Having been involved with Stevens and Lee since 2005, James is now a primary shareholder at the law firm as well as the Chair of the
James was also appointed by Governor Tom Wolf in 2018 as a Judge on the Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline and as President Judge. He stepped down from this position upon serving his full 4-year term. However, we should mention that previously, he also served as Chairman of the Pennsylvania Judicial Conduct Board, of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania’s Disciplinary Board, of the Continuing Legal Education Board, and ofthe Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts (IOLTA) Board.
Today, though, in his 70s, James primarily serves at Stevens and Lee as well as his own law firm, Schwartzman and Associates, in Wayne, Pennsylvania. The recipient of the Villanova Law Alumni Association Award for Public Service and several accolades has done a lot in his career and is really proud of it, so it appears as if he now prefers to spend a lot of time with family too. Unfortunately, not much is known about his private life since he prefers to keep the details of the same away from the limelight, but it does seem like he is a dedicated family man too.
