One-on-One Interview
with Bob Ackerman
of Magna Legal Services

Bob Ackerman

Co-Founder & Chairman of the Board

Magna Legal Services

Bob Ackerman: Postcard from Brooklyn 

A postcard from Brooklyn doesn’t really make sense. It’s not exactly an idyllic seaside resort. Indeed, as Magna co-founder Bob Ackerman recounts, he ran on some mean streets growing up there in the 1950s and ‘60s. But those mean streets taught him plenty of life lessons that have helped him navigate the buttoned up legal world and some of the biggest court cases in the country. 

Tell me about growing up in Brooklyn. 

I was born in Brooklyn, and it was the greatest place to grow up. 

But don’t get me wrong, life was not simple. I grew up in public housing and there was danger all around.

There was a schoolyard outside our house and there were hundreds of people of all ages in that schoolyard at all times. You could play stickball, basketball, punchball, kickball, or any other game anyone can come up with or you make up.  

Occasionally, you would be drafted into boxing matches on the handball courts. If you fought a guy and did well, you would then fight another guy. And so on. It taught you to be tough and it gave you confidence. But you always tried to stay out of trouble.

You say it was like living in the movie Goodfellas. 

You learned to move on and stay out of trouble. Everyone knew everybody. There were always lots of characters.

But you also have a Brooklyn love story. 

We used to hang out at the “corner” and that was where all the action occurred, which included meeting new people from the neighborhood. That’s where I first met the love of my life and about a week later I saw her at a party. We spoke and 4 children, 13 grandchildren and 56 years later, we’ve never been apart. 

Your love life kind of got delayed while you took care of some business. 

I was around 17 when I met my wife. Every night there was a bad story about who got in trouble. My dad finally said, “You are going to the Marine Corps.” 

At 17, I stopped running the streets of Brooklyn, and I ran the streets of the U.S. Marine Corps. And that was a whole new level. 

After the Marines, things turned around as far as your love life and your professional career. 

I got married after the Marines and my sister went to a court reporting school in New York. Her Steno machine was gathering dust so my dad said I should give court reporting a try. I gave it a shot and eventually it turned into everything that we have today: We’ve got a huge number of major cases and a lot of our work is repeat clients. Magna is one of the largest court reporting companies in the country. We also provide jury consulting, trial presentation, record retrieval, and interpretation. 

Tell me a crazy story about being a court reporter in Philadelphia. 

These were wild times in Philadelphia! I was working as a court reporter during the sentencing of the guy that was found guilty of starting the prison riots in Philadelphia. The guy gets in front of the judge and says the judge is not honorable enough to sentence him. So, the judge continues to argue with him. 

So, I’m thinking, if this guy gets mad enough, he is going to jump over me to get to the judge and all I’ve got is my court reporting tripod. Security guards are behind the curtains in the courtroom, in those times they had machine guns more for an outside group storming the courtroom, and I figured I’ll be caught in the line of fire and killed if they start shooting. 

Sure enough, the guy gets angry and flies over my table towards the bench. Two older court officers are wrestling with him and trying to hold the guy back. More security comes and they grab him.  

Then what happened?  

He got sentenced.  

Magna Founding Partners, Bob Ackerman, Peter Hecht, Jon Ackerman & Mark Calzaretta, at Chopped for CHOP 2022
Magna Founding Partners, Bob Ackerman, Peter Hecht, Jon Ackerman & Mark Calzaretta, at Chopped for CHOP 2022

What makes you most proud about Magna? 

The four co-founders, Pete Hecht, Mark Calzaretta, and my son, Jonathan Ackerman, have stayed together and maintained a trust that is unyielding both on business and personal levels. It’s that trust that has kept us growing and together. I love those guys! 

As Magna has grown, how do you maintain quality control? 

There are C-level executives, managers, etc., and the four co-founders are extremely on top of it throughout the separate areas we oversee.

However, I cannot say enough about our employees, most of which have been with us more than 20 years. They are dedicated, loyal, trustworthy, and proud of their products.  

The company is also service-oriented, and we are all about being good to our clients. We are a sales-oriented business. If there is a problem, our salespeople get involved and straighten it out, and probably end up getting more business out of it by solving the problem. 

What’s next for you?

No big plans. This has been my life. No plans to go anywhere else at this point. Just watch the business grow. 

Do you have any hobbies?

Golf. And I admire most of the big names in the game, particularly Tiger Woods. 

Is there anything you regret?

Yes. We never put our business on reality television. It would probably still be running. 

Do you ever go back to Brooklyn? 

Not much, but when I do, I see that it is a truly different world. I’ve seen it go from people living in the streets to one of the most expensive properties in America.