Alumni Achievements
The New Jersey State Senate has confirmed Camelia M. Valdes ’96 as Passaic County prosecutor. Valdes, who had been an assistant federal prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark, is the first Latina to hold the office of county prosecutor. She joins Monmouth County prosecutor Luis Valentin ’89 as one of the state’s two Latino county prosecutors.
Greta Gooden-Brown ’82, state insurance fraud prosecutor since 2001, has been appointed a Passaic County Superior Court Judge. Deputy Attorney General Riza Dagli ’97 was appointed acting insurance fraud prosecutor, succeeding Gooden-Brown.
Carolyn Wright ’84, who had been Essex County deputy chief assistant prosecutor, was sworn in as a judge of the Superior Court in Essex County and assigned to the Family Division.
U.S. Senator Robert Menendez ’79 co-sponsored a Senate resolution officially apologizing for slavery and racial segregation. The resolution was passed a day before
 |
Barry Evenchick ’63, a member of Walder, Hayden & Brogan, P.A., reviewed The Great Decision: Jefferson, Adams, Marshall and the Battle for the Supreme Court by Cliff Sloan and David McKean for the Star-Ledger. (6/21/09)
Burlington County Superior Court Judge Thomas S. Smith, Jr. ’73 retired at the end of June after 12 years on the bench. He had served as presiding judge of the Criminal Division since 2001. Judge Smith was the first African-American on the county bench and, when appointed in 1997, just one of 17 black judges in the state.
James F. Nagle ’73 has joined the Global Engineering and Construction Group of JAMS, the country’s largest private provider of mediation and arbitration services. He remains a partner with Oles Morrison Rinker & Baker LLP in Seattle. Nagle is a Fellow and member of the board of governors of the American College of Construction Lawyers and founder and past chairman of the Public Contract Law Committee of the ABA’s General Practice Section.
William S. Greenberg ’67, a partner of McCarter & English, LLP, has been awarded a Medal of Honor by the New Jersey State Bar Foundation. In announcing the award, the bar foundation said, “William Greenberg has a distinguished career as a litigator, teacher and author who has made outstanding pro bono efforts on behalf of New Jersey’s members of the military.”
Robert S. Garrison ’01 has joined Florio Perrucci Steinhardt & Fader. L.L.C. as of counsel. He had been director of Laborers Eastern Region Political Education Fund and administrator of the NJ State Laborers Political Action Committee.
The New York County Lawyers’ Association has inducted Ann Berger Lesk ’77, partner at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, as president for a second year.
Kenneth B. Anderson ’82 has joined the New York office of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP as special counsel in the Entertainment, Media and Technology Practice Group. He had been with Loeb & Loeb.
Rosemary Alito ’78, a partner of K&L Gates LLP, has been elected to the board of directors of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers.
Some of the World War II experiences of Edwin Kolodziej ’51, who served in the 95th Infantry Division, have been recorded for the Rutgers Oral History Archives. Kolodziej's role in helping the Allies capture the French city of Metz was highlighted in a recent episode of the History Channel’s Patton 360 series (Home News Tribune, 5/24/09).
Andrew Kaplan ’99 has joined Sills Cummis & Gross P.C. as of counsel in its Corporate Practice Group. He is based in the Princeton office.
Leonard R. Olsen, Jr. ’68 has become of counsel to Gawthrop Greenwood, PC, West Chester, PA. His practice focuses on wills, trusts and other estate planning instruments, and advising clients on commercial transactions and income tax matters. Olsen had been general counsel of XL Environmental and its predecessor, ECS, Inc.
The Rutgers University School of Engineering has named Benjamin Williams ’08, senior manager, MR Valuation Consulting, LLC, a Medal of Excellence winner. Williams, who holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical and computer engineering from the School of Engineering, specializes in appraising energy and utility property worldwide. The award recognizes his contributions in helping the company expand from one office in New Jersey to sites in New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, Chile, China, and Hong Kong. He currently manages the New York office.
Jacqueline Brevard ’77, vice president, chief ethics and compliance officer of Merck & Co., Inc., has joined the board of trustees of the Paper Mill Playhouse.
Richard I. Stempler ’01, of counsel to the Stempler Law Center with offices in West Caldwell and New York, has earned accreditation from the U.S. Green Building Council as a LEED Accredited Professional. He represents developers, condominium associations, cooperatives, businesses, financial institutions, and individuals on commercial and real estate transactions. Stempler was previously an associate with the law firms Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP and Thacher, Proffitt & Wood LLP.
Seyfarth Shaw LLP has promoted James S. Yu ’00 to partner in the litigation department in its New York office. He will focus on products liability defense, trade secret litigation, and commercial litigation.
Hon. Barry Kamins ’68 has been appointed an administrative judge of Kings County, New York, which is the top position of Kings County Supreme Court’s Criminal Term. Judge Kamins is past president of the New York City Bar Association, the Brooklyn Bar Association, and the Kings County Criminal Bar Association. He has served for the past year as a Criminal Court judge.
Patrick G. Brady ’80 has joined the Newark office of Epstein Becker & Green, P.C. as a shareholder. His practice focuses on complex employment litigation, representing corporations on alleged wrongful discharge, sexual harassment, breach of contract, discrimination, FLSA collective actions, and pattern and practice class actions.
In a run-off election, Elbert Guillory ’71 has been elected to the Louisiana State Senate, representing District 34. He had held the District 40 House of Representatives seat.
The New Jersey State Bar Association Section on Elder and Disability Law has named its annual lifetime achievement award after Marilyn Askin ’70, chief legislative advocate for NJ AARP. Last year Askin became the first recipient of the award. She is the founder and first president of the NJ Bar Section on Elder Law (now Elder and Disability Law) and was the first certified Elder Law attorney in the state. Askin is completing her 25th year teaching Elder Law as an adjunct at the law school.
Nelson Monteiro ’84 has become of counsel to Javerbaum Wurgaft Hicks Kahn Wikstrom & Sinins.
Todd Wilson ’02 has opened the Law Offices of Todd Wilson in Toms River to handle commercial and business litigation as well as special education, criminal, and municipal court matters.
Hon. Ronald Chen ’83, New Jersey Public Advocate, has been appointed to the State Planning Commission.
James LePore ’73 has published his first book, a suspense-thriller titled A World I Never Made. LePore practiced civil law in New Jersey until selling the practice 10 years ago and moving to Vista, NY.
The 2009 New Jersey Super Lawyers magazine has a cover article profile, titled “Mr. Connected,” of Angelo Genova ’78, a partner and co-founder of Genova, Burns & Vernoia.
Meryl Gonchar ’81, a partner at Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis LLP and chair of the Land Use Practice Group, has been named co-chair of the firm’s real estate department.
Dennis Strain ’73 has retired after 34 years working for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
Gibbons P.C. has promoted Christopher Walsh ’93 and E. Evans Wohlforth ’94 to director. Both practice in the business and comemrcial litigation department.
Edward H. Kerwin ’99 has been named a partner of Ronan, Tuzzio & Giannone.
Kathleen Connelly-Agnostak ’90 and Susanne Peticolas ’80 have been named by NJBiz to its 2009 list of New Jersey’s “Best 50 Women in Business.” Connelly-Agnostak is a partner of Lindabury McCormick Estabrook & Cooper P.C. and Peticolas is a director of Gibbons P.C.
Mark Neary ’85 has been appointed clerk of the New Jersey Supreme Court. The appointment becomes effective May 1, upon the retirement of Stephen W. Townsend. In announcing Neary’s appointment, Chief Justice Stuart Rabner said, “Mark has served the Supreme Court as an attorney in the Office of the Clerk for 18 years. He brings a wealth of experience on matters of the Court’s operations, as well as solid legal and managerial skills to this appointment.”
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP has named Michael D. Dorum ’91 a partner in its New York office. He is a member of Skadden’s Investment Management Group and focuses his practice primarily on mergers and acquisitions and securities offerings involving financial institutions and industrial companies.
Judge Judith M. Barzilay ’81 of the U.S. Court of International Trade delivered a lecture titled “Environmental Protection at the U.S. Court of International Trade: Walking the Tightrope Between Protecting the Environment and Complying With Our International Agreements” at the University of Kansas School of Law. A Kansas native, Judge Barzilay in 1988 became the first in-house customs and international trade counsel at Sony Corporation.
< The April 11 issue of Newsweek profiled Elizabeth Warren ’76, Harvard Law School bankruptcy professor and chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Among Warren’s publications is the 2003 book, The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Mothers and Fathers Are Going Broke.
Judge Margarita López-Torres ’79 of Surrogate’s Court, Brooklyn, NY, received the Ruth E. Moskowitz Award, given by the Gender Fairness Committee of Brooklyn Supreme Court. López-Torres was the first Latina to serve on the Civil Court in New York City, the first surrogate judge of color in the State of New York, and the first woman surrogate in Kings County.
Baker & Hostetler LLP has named John J. Carney ’90 the national co-leader of its white collar defense and corporate investigations practice, one of the leading such practices in the country. Carney, a partner in the New York office, is a former securities fraud chief, assistant U.S. attorney, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission senior counsel, and practicing CPA.
Michael J. Blankenship ’08, an associate at Shearman & Sterling LLP, has won First Prize in the law school’s Nathan Burkan Memorial Competition, which is sponsored by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Blankenship’s winning essay is titled “Copyrighting an Imagination: Why Reforming Laws in a Virtual World Is Critical Today.”
John J. Kane ’84, a partner with Martin Kane & Kuper, has received the Civil Trial Practice Award from the Middlesex County Bar Association. Robert Chalfin ’81, CEO of the Chalfin Group Inc., received the bar association’s Transactional Award.
David Zwally ’00 has been elected a partner in the New York office of Frommer Lawrence & Haug LLP, which specializes in IP law. His practice is focused on the resolution of pharmaceutical-based disputes, litigation, and particularly patent infringement actions.
The Hon. Betty Lester ’71 has retired from the bench. Judge Lester began her career as a jurist in 1977 when she was appointed to the Newark Municipal Court. She was promoted to the Superior Court in 1985.
Richard M. Nugent ’95 has been elected a partner of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. His expertise is in the tax aspects of public and private corporate mergers, acquisitions, and spin-offs.
The Bar Association of San Francisco has appointed L. Julius Turman ’92 to its board of directors. Turman is of counsel in Morgan, Lewis & Bockius’s labor and employment practice.
Gary Reilly '05 is running to represent the 39th district on the New York City Council.
Eileen S. Fusco ’80 has been appointed to the board of directors of ICT Group, Inc., a global provider of customer management and business process outsourcing solutions. Fusco recently served as senior partner of financial services for Deloitte & Touche
To mark its 20th anniversary, the Women’s Bar Association of Western Pennsylvania honored Barbara Wolvovitz ’78 with the Susan B. Anthony Award. The award recognizes someone in the legal community who works to preserve women’s and minorities’ rights. Wolvovitz is an associate at Feldstein Grinberg Stein & McKee, Pittsburgh.
Seyfarth Shaw LLP has named James S. Yu ’00 a partner in its litigation department, specializing in product liability defense, trade secret litigation, and commercial litigation.
Rachel B. Coan ’84 has joined Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP as a New York-based partner in its financial services practice. She had been a partner in the capital markets group of Morrison & Foerster LLP.
The “101 most influential people in the Garden State,” according to the January 2009 issue of NJ Monthly, include Anthony Coscia ’84, chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; Paul Fader ’88, partner in Florio, Perrucci, Steinhardt & Fader; and Zulima Farber ’74, partner in Lowenstein Sandler.
Norris McLaughlin & Marcus has named Karol S. Robinson ’95 and Christopher Stevenson ’99 members of the firm. Robinson, who works out of the New York office, devotes her practice to cooperative and condominium law with a focus on affordable housing, non-profit organizations, real estate, and general transaction work. Stevenson focuses his practice on environmental, land use, and real estate law.
Flor Bermudez ’00 was invited to lead the session on “Homeless LGBTQ Youth and the Law” at the National Network for Youth’s Symposium 2009: Celebrating Youth, Inspiring Leadership, and Creating Change. Bermudez is a staff attorney with the Youth In Out-of-Home Care project of Lambda Legal, New York.
< Joseph H. Orlando ’89 has been appointed clerk of the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey. He will oversee central office operations and support for Appellate Division judges and their staff throughout the state. Orlando joined the judiciary in 2001 as chief of labor and employee relations. Prior to that he was business administrator for Marlboro Township and was in private practice. |
Jessica Catlow ’03 and David M. Katz ’03 have joined the New York office of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. as part of an expansion of the firm’s national employment, labor and benefits practice group. Both had been with Dreier LLP.
The New Jersey Audubon Society elected M. Karen Thompson ’78 to its board of directors for a three-year term. Thompson is a member of Norris McLaughlin & Marcus.
Jonathan Berschadsky ’00 has been elected a partner of Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto. He is engaged in the litigation and prosecution of patents in a variety of technology areas.
Hon. La Tia W. Martin ’79, New York State Supreme Court, Bronx County, was elected president of the National Association of Women Judges.
Barnes & Thornburg, Indianapolis, has promoted Deborah Pollack-Milgate ’99 to partner. She is a member of the intellectual property department and focuses on IP litigation, commercial litigation, including antitrust litigation, and appellate matters.
The Star-Ledger profiled the work of Jane Hanson ’84, executive director of Partners for Women and Justice, in a Feb. 18 column. Hanson founded the group, whose office is in Montclair, almost six years ago.
Ericke Cage ’07 has joined the Washington, DC, office of Virginia Congressman Tom Perriello as legislative counsel.