Banking      

The Firm offers a comprehensive variety of services to financial institutions, ranging from representation in lending transactions, to advice and representation on licensing and regulatory matters before state banking and other administrative agencies, to the defense and prosecution of lender liability actions.

The Firm provides representation to major banks and bank groups, finance and mortgage companies, thrift institutions, commercial lenders, insurance lenders and other institutional lenders.  The Firm has represented financial institutions in virtually every type of loan transaction, including  unsecured, secured and asset-based loans, leveraged buyouts, project and construction financing, revolving credit facilities, letters of credit, securitized transactions, ESOP financing, mortgage financing, leveraged lease financing and participation arrangements.

The Firm has substantial expertise in the area of loan workouts and restructuring.  It represents and advises financial institutions in all phases of such matters, from the negotiation of the restructuring to the prosecution of the foreclosure proceedings and insolvency proceedings in state and federal courts.

The Firm also advises multi-state lenders on licensing and compliance matters, involving complete statutory and regulatory schemes, relating to the development of loan products and related marketing programs to be made available within the State, mergers and acquisitions and the establishment of institutions within the State.

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Bankruptcy 

The Firm represents clients engaged in workouts, reorganizations and insolvency-related matters, as well as advises businesses in financial difficulty.  In addition to representing businesses in this regard, the Firm represents secured and unsecured commercial lenders, creditors, insurance companies and institutional lenders, as well as official committees.  Such representation encompasses out-of-court compositions and restructurings, as well as the full range of formal bankruptcy proceedings and arrangements and resultant post-petition financing and other creditor’s rights matters.

The services provided by this area of the Firm enable the Firm’s clients to adapt to and effectively respond to the pressures of changing economic conditions, ensuring comprehensive representation in a diversity of circumstances in which financial failure or the potential for such failure arises.

Corporate & Commercial 

The Firm provides a comprehensive range of corporate and commercial services to a wide variety of business clients, including partnerships, closely-held companies, limited liability companies, middle-market corporations, national and international corporations, commercial banks, insurance companies, and various other institutions.  The services provided to such clients include but are not limited to ongoing advice and consultation, as well as transactional and litigation based representation in such areas as:  

• Business Formation

• Business Arrangements

• Business Disputes

• Debt financing 

• Equity Funding

• Joint Ventures

• Mergers and Acquisitions

• Refinancing

• Corporate Growth and Diversification 

• Recapitalizations 

• Project Development and Financing

• Trade Regulation

• Debt Restructuring

• Regulatory Compliance

• Licensing

• Commercial Counterfeiting

• Construction Activities

Environmental 

The Firm offers a full service approach to the vast array of environmental issues that confront business operations on a daily basis.

The Firm provides comprehensive services to clients, regarding compliance with federal, state and local environmental requirements.  The Firm has extensive experience working with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice in a wide diversity of environmental matters.    The Firm is experienced in handling complex multi-party environmental litigation, as well as in negotiating “common sense” non-litigation resolutions of such matters.   The Firm is highly proficient in the handling of the entire scope of environmental matters including, but  not limited to those relating to the Industrial Site Recovery Act,  the Spill Compensation and Control Act,  the Comprehensive Environmental Response Act, the Compensation and Liability Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act,  as well as, numerous state and federal environmental regulations.

Family law 

The Firm is extremely sensitive to its responsibility to its clients to effectively and compassionately address the many issues that arise in this area of law.  While remaining faithful to this responsibility, the Firm provides services in regard to a wide range of family related issues and problems.  The Firm has extensive experience and expertise in the areas of divorce litigation and related matters such as custody, visitation, alimony, child support and equitable distribution of property.  It also is adept in the handling of adoptions, guardianships, name changes, and domestic disputes.

Franchising 

The Firm offers a full range of representation on both sides of franchise related matters.  The Firm counsels franchisors and potential franchisees in the drafting and negotiation of franchise agreements, related leases and supplier contracts.  When disputes arise, the Firm provides skillful services in regard to termination, renewal and transfer matters.  The Firm, also, assists in the registration of appropriate trademarks and service marks, as well as prosecutes and defends franchise related trademark and service mark infringement claims, including preliminary injunctive relief applications.  The Firm, also, is well versed in the law relating to implied covenants of good faith, which frequently become issues in franchise litigation.

Health Care 

The Firm is exceptionally knowledgeable in all areas, relating to health care coverage and benefits, as well as regulations relating to Medicare, Medicaid and other health insurance plans.  The Firm appears before various administrative and judicial bodies in furtherance and defense of claims on behalf of individuals and professionals regarding such matters.  From the merger, sale or acquisition and growth of medical and dental practices to the appearance before professional boards, the Firm provides invaluable assistance to its professional clients.  The Firm, also, is readily available to assist such clients as to the resolution of disputes and litigation, if necessary.

Hospitality 

The Firm has long-standing, exceptional and diversified experience and expertise in regard to all facets of the hospitality industry.  Such experience and expertise encompasses, but is not limited to real estate acquisitions, construction and development, franchising, intellectual property, mergers, sales, acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic alliances, financing and management.  As the need may arise, the Firm is extremely adept at handling any disputes in this area through alternative dispute resolution, arbitration and litigation.

Insurance 

The Firm has long specialized in all aspects of insurance law, including regulatory compliance, litigation and corporate affairs.  The Firm has extensive experience in the area of insurance company insolvency and has provided representation on behalf of state insurance guaranty associations in connection with issues of statutory reform and interpretation, litigation and interaction with insurance departments and liquidators.  Additionally, the Firm is highly skilled in the representation of insurance companies in both commercial and personal lines coverage disputes, as well as in other litigated matters.  In addition, the Firm has represented numerous clients in coverage claims against insurance companies.

Intellectual property 

The Firm offers exceptional expertise, as to the entire range of intellectual property matters, as well as marketing and advertising issues that confront businesses, not-for-profit organizations, and individuals.  The Firm is highly skilled in all matters relating to copyrights, trademarks, service marks, trade secrets, privacy rights, publicity, entertainment, publishing, arts, licensing, internet and website and technology.

Areas in which the Firm consistently has demonstrated unique capabilities in this area, include but are not limited to:

• Copyright, trademark and service mark searches and registrations

• Coordination of patent prosecutions in collaboration with specialized patent attorneys

• Pursuit and defense of copyright, trademark, service mark and unfair competition claims

• Negotiation and preparation of Agreements in various areas, including, but not limited to acquisition of rights, licensing, royalties and merchandising.

• Advice, guidance and assistance in relation to discoveries, developments and advancements in such areas as medical products, technology, pharmaceuticals, healthcare products, multi-media, database protection and inter-active media.

• Review and creation of marketing plans, advertising copy, packaging copy and inserts from the view points of trademark, service mark and copyright protection, as well as regulatory compliance.

• Assistance in the consummation of licensing, advertising, marketing, entertainment, publishing, media, distribution, contract manufacturing, joint ventures, strategic alliances, and other relationships.

• Representation in litigation, arbitration, mediation and regulatory agency proceedings in connection with all facets of intellectual property.
  

International 

The Firm offers a wide range of services to domestic and international clients throughout the world in all areas of its practice.  In addition to providing comprehensive representation to foreign corporations and United States subsidiaries of foreign corporations, the Firm provides assistance to domestic businesses, including banking institutions in connection with a full range of commercial and financial, international transactions.  The Firm, also, has significant experience and expertise in the representation of domestic and foreign clients in the negotiation and consummation of numerous international and domestic mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic alliances, as well as various forms of dispute resolution.

Labor and Employment Law 

The Firm primarily is committed to the representation of management in labor and employment matters, but does provide representation to individuals in such matters, as well.  The Firm negotiates and prepares employment agreements, counsels and assists executives in the creation and modification of employee handbooks, as well as policies and procedures relating to various terms and conditions of employment in their dealings with at-will-employees.  The Firm also negotiates collective bargaining agreements, arbitrates labor grievances and negotiates and consummates severance agreements.  The Firm routinely appears before the National Labor Relations Board and the Public Employment Relations Commission in matters involving representation campaigns and in defense of unfair labor practice charges, as well as in state and federal courts to enjoin strike violence and labor agreement violations.

The Firm also has extensive experience counseling its clients and, if necessary, litigating on behalf of its clients in all areas of employment law, including, but not limited to discrimination, sexual harassment, wrongful discharge, breach of employment agreements, covenants not to compete and nondisclosure agreements.  Firm attorneys have appeared on behalf of employers and employees in state and federal courts and before administrative agencies in furtherance and  defense of such claims.

Litigation 

The litigation attorneys in the Firm are highly experienced in all phases and complexities of civil litigation, arbitration and alternate dispute resolution.  Areas of expertise within this area of the Firm include, but are not limited to insurance, environmental, toxic tort, product liability, real estate, construction, labor and employment, contracts, personal injury, banking, intellectual property, trade regulation, corporate, trusts and estates, communications, professional liability, and securities law.

Although each of the Firm’s litigators is well versed in various areas of law, the Firm adheres to its policy of bringing together in each matter those in the Firm with specialized expertise in any given area potentially or actually in dispute to assure the most  comprehensive, effective, and expedient representation.  The Firm has found that this approach often results in the avoidance or early curtailment of a dispute, as well as significant savings to the client.

In addition to its exceptional record in representing clients in state and federal court and regulatory proceedings, the litigation attorneys of the Firm are well versed and quite accomplished in complementary and alternate dispute resolution such as mediation and arbitration.  Our clients, therefore, are afforded every opportunity to avail themselves of alternate means by which to resolve disputes, while employing the latest modalities of claim resolution.

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Municipal and Land Use 

The Firm provides a wide range of services with respect to matters involving public entities.  Attorneys of the Firm have extensive experience and expertise in the areas of land use planning and proposals, development projects, public contracts, bidding procedures, municipal tax appeals and public employment.

Attorneys of the Firm have represented developers and other clients in connection with applications before planning boards and zoning boards of adjustment.  They have also served as counsel for such land use boards.  They have appeared on behalf of clients before county tax boards and the New Jersey Tax Court with regard to both commercial and residential property tax appeals and have represented municipalities, as tax appeal counsel.  In addition, attorneys of the Firm have represented public entities in such positions as Municipal Prosecutor, County Counsel , Municipal Attorney and Special Counsel to the Governor.

Personal Injury 

The Firm has extensive experience in the prosecution and defense of personal injury claims of all types and complexities.  Its attorneys have achieved major judgments and settlements in favor of its clients.  Moreover, they have defeated countless personal injury claims on behalf of a wide spectrum of clients.

Product Liability 

The Firm has diversified expertise in handling  numerous product liability matters, including but not limited to those pertaining to  manufacturing defects, improper design, failure to warn, improper warnings and instructions, breaches of implied and express warranties, and the like.  Among the many products of which it has special expertise are those in the fields of manufacturing, media, chemicals, technology, pharmaceuticals, electronics and foods.

Professional Liability 

In the medical and health care field the Firm has a long record of successfully representing seriously injured victims of medical, surgical, nursing and dental malpractice.  It has represented patients, who have been deprived of the benefits of early diagnosis of breast, endometrial, cervical, pancreatic and other curable cancers.    Its clients include profoundly injured children, as a result of obstetrical malpractice, victims of misdiagnosis or neurological emergencies and those, who have suffered serious and permanent injury, as a result of medical and surgical emergency room errors.  As a result of its many years of experience handling such cases, the Firm has developed extensive research capabilities and data bases, as well as expert witness and consultant resources in major academic medical centers and teaching hospitals on which it can depend in order to represent its clients most effectively.  In addition, the Firm’s professional liability attorneys are regularly called upon to represent and advise physicians, as their personal counsel, in concert with designated defense counsel in malpractice litigation, especially in such cases when inadequate insurance coverage and asset protection are of concern to the professional.

In the area of legal malpractice, the Firm has had a long and successful record of representing those who have been victimized by attorney malpractice, as well as attorneys who have been wrongfully accused of malpractice.  In addition, it is frequently called upon to furnish expert witness and consulting services to both plaintiffs and defendants in cases involving claims that could result in substantial civil liability.  This expertise is also utilized proactively before litigation arises by furnishing risk avoidance counseling to lawyers and law firms in an effort to prevent and reduce the incidence of malpractice and legal ethics violations claims.   The Firm, also, is called upon to analyze complex issues of compliance with or departures from appropriate standards of legal practice and rules of professional conduct.  The Firm’s professional liability attorneys frequently appear in numerous state and federal courts to give expert testimony in litigated matters.  Several reported judicial cases have cited the Firm’s work as the basis for their decisions.  Indeed, several landmark court decisions in several states are directly attributable to the expert testimony furnished by the Firm’s professional liability specialists.  In furtherance of its commitment to increasing the quality of legal services to the public, the Firm’s professional liability attorneys represent victims of legal malpractice when such litigation is warranted, thereby, having a salutary effect on raising the level of competence of practicing attorneys and increasing the quality of their services.  By the same token, in an effort to discourage frivolous law suits the Firm will staunchly defend any attorney against whom an unwarranted claim of malpractice or unethical conduct is brought.

The Firm also furnishes representation in connection with a wide range of other professionals such as mediators, accountants, clergymen, and brokers in the real estate and securities industries.  The Firm’s experience in traditional professional malpractice cases has enhanced its ability to keep pace with the rapid expansion of liability litigation in these and other specialty areas.

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Real Estate 

The Firm is extremely well versed in all aspects of the acquisition, development, financing leasing and sale of commercial, retail, multifamily residential and industrial properties.  Moreover, its broad spectrum of knowledge and experience includes but is not limited to such areas as condemnation, tax-abated projects, three-dimensional conveyances, appearances before local governmental agencies and boards to obtain approvals for site plans, subdivisions and variances, resolution of complex title matters, negotiation of easements and other property rights and working with state and local agencies to obtain the permits and approvals necessary for real property development or redevelopment.

In development projects, clients are represented in all phases of transactions inherent in such projects, including but not limited to the acquisition of the land, financing, construction, architectural and related contracts and all other matters through the completion of the project, as well as in the negotiation and preparation of operation, maintenance, management and lease agreements.

The Firm also represents insurance companies, banks and other financial institutions in real estate financing transactions and projects.  When necessary,  the attorneys  in this area actually participate in the structuring of any such transaction or project.

Regulatory and Communications 

The Firm is engaged in a sophisticated regulatory, litigation and transactional practice in the specialized fields of communications and energy.  A significant segment of the Firm’s activities in this area involves public utilities and cable television regulatory matters. Attorneys in this practice area regularly appear before municipal bodies, New Jersey administrative agencies and in state and federal courts.  In addition to its significant regulatory role on behalf of clients, the Firm represents competitive local exchange carriers, cable television companies, paging and cellular telephone companies providers of various forms of energy and with respect to their transactional needs, including sales, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and financing transactions with lenders, as well as licensing.  The Firm also represents lending institutions with respect to their extension of financing to such companies.

Securities 

The Firm is extremely adept in all matters relating to securities, including but not limited to tender offers, public and private mergers and acquisitions, reverse mergers, initial public offerings and compliance with filing and regulatory requirements.  In addition, the Firm is very experienced in all facets of securities dispute resolution and  security firm employment related disputes in the federal and state courts, as well as before the NASD and the SEC.

Sports, Entertainment and Publishing 

The Firm provides a multiplicity of services to the sports, entertainment and publishing areas.  It provides comprehensive services in all such areas, including but not limited to sports management and representation of players and officials, live entertainment, musical recordings, filmmaking and written works.  It’s expertise encompasses the negotiation and consummation of the full range of contractual relations among artists, producers, managers, publishers, sports figures, studio recording and replication companies, distribution companies and the like.  It’s expertise also encompasses the full range of litigation, if necessary, in these areas.

Trade Regulation 

The Firm has specialized knowledge and experience in providing a wide range of services to clients in this area.  The diversity of its practice in this area is exemplified by the expertise of its attorneys in such disciplines as antitrust, business torts, deceptive practices, franchises, intellectual property, marketing, advertising, and unfair competition.  Among the many services provided to clients are:

• Advice, consultation and guidance with respect to proposed business ventures and/or formation of business arrangements such as franchises, joint ventures, strategic alliances and distributorships

• Negotiation and consummation of new business ventures and business arrangements 

• Negotiation and consummation of license and related agreements

• Advice, consultation and guidance concerning antitrust, business torts and unfair competition implications of clients' business practices

• Review of clients' marketing strategies, pricing schemes and practices, business relationships and market positions from antitrust and unfair competition viewpoints, as well as advice, consultation and guidance regarding such matters

• Monitoring of new and proposed legislation, as well as judicial rulings

• Representation in litigation, arbitration and mediation, as well as in regulatory, investigative and prosecutorial proceedings

Trusts and Estates 

The Firm provides personalized services to clients in the areas of estate planning, structuring and estates, gift planning, giving, administration of estates and trusts, and probate litigation.

Among the services provided by the Firm in this area are:

• Thorough review of the client's objectives with an emphasis on minimizing the impact of federal and state taxes

• Wills and Trusts Agreements

• Estate planning in connection with corporate benefit plans, pensions, deferred compensation programs, retirement plans and stock options

• Life insurance planning, including split-dollar life insurance, and life insurance trusts

• Family gifting and wealth transfer planning

• Closely held business planning

• Family Limited Liability Companies and Partnerships

• Planning for minor children - guardians, college planning, trusts and trustees

• Powers of Attorney and Living Wills

• Tax savings for life insurance, family residences and/or college education funds

• Elder care, disability and long-term care planning

• Creation and implementation of endowment programs

The Firm assists both individual and corporate fiduciaries in the administration of estates and trusts from the probate of a decedent’s Will through and including postmortem planning, disclaimers, representation before the taxing authorities in the event of an audit, accounting in connection with the administration of an estate or trust, and preparing the closing documents at the conclusion of the administration.  The Firm further represents fiduciaries and beneficiaries in probate litigation, including Will contests, judicial construction proceedings and contested accountings.