New Jersey Lawyers

Criminal Defense Law

374 Millburn Ave unit 202e, Millburn, NJ 07041, USA

Family and Divorce Law

2414 Morris Avenue, Suite 104, Union, NJ 07083

Attorney Wolfenson appears before the state courts of New Jersey and the United States District Court for the Districts of New Jersey. He is a member of the New Jersey Bar Association, Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section. Attorney Wolfenson has lectured for the Graduate Realtor Institute of the New Jersey Association of Realtors, and currently lectures for first-time homebuyers with the Housing Partnership Ownership Center in Dover, New Jersey.

Labor Law

60 Park Pl #600, Newark, NJ 07102, USA

Arnold Shep Cohen concentrates his practice in private and public sector labor, employment, and employee benefits law. He has been practicing law for over 40 years and is a member of the New Jersey and New York Bars. He has twelve reported decisions with the New Jersey Supreme Court, has numerous reported decisions in federal and state trial and appellate courts, as well as numerous decisions from administrative agencies, such as the New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission, the New Jersey Civil Service Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights and the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He has negotiated a voluminous number of labor agreements and handled thousands of arbitrations and administrative hearings in various industries and levels of government. Mr. Cohen is the former Chair of the Labor and Employment Law Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA). He is a Fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and has been an Adjunct Professor for over 30 years at Rutgers School of Law – Newark, where he teaches a Labor Arbitration Seminar, Labor Negotiations Seminar, and Alternative Dispute Resolution. Mr. Cohen is the former Editor-in-Chief of the New Jersey Labor and Employment Law Quarterly, NJSBA and was a member of the Editorial Board of New Jersey Lawyer, The Weekly Newspaper. Mr. Cohen is an editor and co-author of New Jersey Labor and Employment Law, NJSBA. He is a founding Master of the Sidney Reitman Employment Law Inn of Court. Mr. Cohen writes and lectures extensively on labor and employment issues, including in the Rutgers Law Review. In 2005, he created the yearly seminarHot Tips in Labor and Employment Law, which he moderates for the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education (ICLE). This seminar normally has the highest attendance of all the ICLE labor and employment law seminars. Mr. Cohen is listed in The Best Lawyers in America (Woodward/White), Who’s Who in American Law (Marquis), New Jersey Magazine, and New York Magazine, as one of New Jersey and New York’s top super lawyers. He has received Martindale-Hubbell’s highest rating of AV for over 20 consecutive years. He has received these designations based on peer recognition and professional achievement. In 2013, Mr. Cohen was honored with the Good Corporate Citizenship Award by the United Negro College Fund. In 2015, he received the Distinguished Service Award for Excellence in Continuing Legal Education in recognition of the many hours of devoted service he rendered to ICLE. In 2017, he was named “Lawyer of the Year” by The Best Lawyers in America for employment law practitioners. In 2018, he received the Award of Merit from the Essex-West Hudson Labor Council, AFL-CIO, in recognition of his commitment to his community service and continued support of the labor movement. Mr. Cohen is a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Labor Museum, where he is the elected secretary. He is the host of The World of Workradio show broadcast weekly on public radio WDVR-FM, where he interviews guests about work, labor and business. Mr. Cohen holds an AB Summa Cum Laude from Rutgers College, a J.D. from Rutgers School of Law – Newark and an LL.M. in Labor Law from New York University School of Law. In 2018, Mr. Cohen won two precedent setting cases before the New Jersey Supreme Court. In In the Matter of William R. Hendrickson, Jr., Department of Community Affairs, it was decided that progressive discipline applies to a public employee who used a sexist and disrespectful gender slur about his supervisor. An Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) recommended that after a suspension, the employee should be reinstated to his former Civil Service position with the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, and awarded back pay. The Civil Service Commission did not have the quorum needed to modify, reject, or adopt the initial decision of the ALJ, who heard the evidence and recommended the penalty. The Supreme Court reversed the appellate court when it interpreted for the first time the amended statutory law on quorums. It found that where there is no quorum at the Civil Service Commission, the ALJ’s decision is “deemed adopted.” It ruled for the first time that the “deemed adopted” decision must receive the same level of deference by a reviewing appellate court as does a Civil Service Commission decision made with a quorum. In Communication Workers of America, AFL-CIO vs. New Jersey Civil Service Commission, the Supreme Court considered the New Jersey Legislature’s first exercise of its constitutional authority under the Legislative Review Clause of the New Jersey Constitution, which allows it to challenge the efficacy of an agency’s regulation. The Supreme Court struck down a proposed amendment by the Civil Service Commission to the New Jersey Administrative Code, which permitted the introduction of the concept of “job banding” at the Department of Transportation. This allowed a grouping of titles into a single broadband. Under the proposed rule, employees could advance between banded titles without competitive examinations, and the Appointing Authority would have discretion to choose among all the candidates who demonstrate the required competencies, rather than choosing from the three highest ranking eligible candidates, after an examination. This rule was struck down by the Supreme Court, which determined that a competitive examination was required for selection from among the three highest ranking candidates. In perhaps his most significant decision, in 2001 Mr. Cohen won a decision at the New Jersey Supreme Court in State vs. International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, Local 195. This decision reversed antiquated precedent dating back 150 years regarding the common law doctrine of “no work, no pay.” It found that public employees who are unjustly deprived of work opportunities are entitled to back pay as a remedy from an arbitrator. Prior to this case, they would not be entitled to back pay unless they actually worked.

Personal Injury Law

40 Ethel Rd, Edison, NJ 08817, USA

South Edison native Barry R. Eichen is a Shareholder with Eichen Crutchlow Zaslow, LLP, and one of New Jersey’s most seasoned and well-respected trial lawyers. Energetic and hands-on, Mr. Eichen has built a thriving practice that is esteemed by clients, peers, and the judiciary throughout the state of New Jersey. His areas of practice include personal injury, products liability, Federal Employee Liability Act cases (FELA), medical malpractice, and other complex litigation matters. Mr. Eichen has also served on the Board of Governors for ATLA-NJ and has taught seminars at the request of ATLA. He has also earned a national reputation for handling complex, high-profile mass-tort litigation, including the Phen-Fen diet drug case, and consumer fraud class action claims. Mr. Eichen has also sat as a member of the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee for Phen-Fen Litigation, Rezulin Drug Litigation, Vytorin/Zetia Drug Litigation, as well as Schering-Plough’s Intron A Drug Litigation. He was also part of the team that successfully litigated the class action claim against LYMErix a vaccine developed to prevent Lyme disease. He has served as a prosecutor for various townships and has tried over 100 complex cases. In August of 2005, Mr. Eichen obtained a $19.2 million verdict on behalf of a railroad worker who was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis as a result of various railroads’ failure to provide adequate respiratory protection. This was one of the largest FELA verdicts in the Country for pulmonary fibrosis. In April of 2007, Mr. Eichen obtained a verdict against Ford Motor Company for a defective throttle body which resulted in a brachial plexus injury to the right arm of the plaintiff. After a 4 week trial, the jury awarded plaintiff $10,626,479.89. Mr. Eichen represented the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 2010, wherein he obtained a $51 Million verdict against Johnson & Johnson for overcharging Medicaid recipients. This verdict led to a recovery of hundreds of millions of dollars for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In a recent trial against the City Of Newark, Mr. Eichen was able to obtain a verdict in the amount of three million dollars. The case involved the failure of the City of Newark to repair a pothole that was approximately three feet wide and four feet long. The jury had determined that this was a dangerous condition that the city knew or should have known existed for approximately one year, although there were complaints that the city had neglected to repair said dangerous conditions for a period of one year. While this matter was reversed due to a procedural technicality, the case was settled prior to a retrial. That same year, he served as lead counsel in a consumer fraud class action against OSRAM Sylvania, Inc. He secured a $30 million settlement on behalf of his clients. Mr. Eichen was a part of the consumer privacy lawsuit against Facebook (now Meta Platforms Inc.) which recently settled for $90 million. He served on the science committee, along with Billy Murphy of Baltimore’s Murphy Falcone.

General Practice Law

1225 E River Rd, Bedminster, NJ 07921, USA

Area of Practice: Alternative Dispute Resolution Bernard A. Kuttner, a New Jersey attorney whose legal career spanned more than 60 years. During his career, he tried 72 Constitutional Law cases for César Chavez's United Farm Workers and also represented the NAACP among many other pro bono clients. In every pro bono case, he personally covered all fees amounting to tens of thousands of dollars in out-ofpocket expenses. In recognition of his service, the 3,500 member Essex County Bar Association called its annual Pro Bono Award the Bernard A. Kuttner Pro Bono Award. Mr. Kuttner was born on Jan. 13, 1934 in Berlin, Germany to B. Frank Kuttner and Vera (Knopfmacher) Kuttner. As Nazi edicts against Jews grew ever harsher, Frank Kuttner like most Germans of the Jewish faith lost his job. He had been employed at a large department store in Berlin. In December of 1938, one month after Kriställnacht (the Night of Broken Glass) during which Jewish houses of worship and Jewish shops were destroyed, the Kuttner family fled in a fishing boat to Rotterdam, Holland, where they stayed for a few days before boarding a ship headed for Ellis Island, New York. On January 18, 1939, a few days after Bernard Kuttnerts fifth birthday, they arrived in New York City. For a while, they lived in the Bronx with Frank Kuttner's older brother, Fred. Then the family moved to Kansas City, Missouri. There Bernard Kuttner, who spoke no English when he arrived in the United States, attended grammar school. Finally, the Kuttner family moved back East and settled in Irvington, New Jersey, where Bernard went to high school and was honored as "outstanding citizen of the year." Mr. Kuttner's long and distinguished career as an attorney Included arguing three cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Among his many other accolades and achievements, he was elected president of the Essex County Bar Association. He wrote a Code of Ethics for Governmental Officials that was adopted by more than 200 communities in the United States. He served as Judge of the State Division of Tax Appeals. He said that he chose law as a career because he wanted to help people. In high school, he was asked to be on radio programs where he talked about Civil Rights issues. Even then, they were on his mind. When it came time for college, he applied to Dartmouth and was accepted with a full scholarship. Never having been there, he set off in August 1951 for Hanover, New Hampshire where he spent four happy years. In 1955, he graduated cum laude with a major in philosophy. Then it was off to law school. At first he went to the University of Virginia Law School as a Bayley-Tiffany Scholar but had to leave after a year when he ran out of money. He transferred to the Seton Hall Law School in downtown Newark, New Jersey. Because he had to work during the day, he attended law school at night. This schedule meant that it took him four years to get his law degree. While in law school he worked for the Superior Court Judges in Essex County doing presentence investigation reports. This entailed visiting the homes of people convicted of a crime to observe the home environment and to analyze what might have caused or contributed to the conviction. Mr. Kuttner was also responsible for evaluating a prisoner's prospects for rehabilitation. As it turned out, these insights weren't wasted on him. Much of his legal career was dedicated in one way or another to helping people who had had to deal with circumstances that were often harsh and unfair. Immediately after graduating from law school, Mr. Kuttner served his clerkship with McGlynn, Weintraub and Stein, the firm of Chief Justice Joseph Weintraub who headed the New Jersey Supreme Court from 1957 to 1973. Around the same time, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, where he served part time for 12 years as a Lieutenant Commander. He did it, he said, because "1 wanted to give back to the country that had taken me and my parents in." After finishing his clerkship, Mr. Kuttner joined the firm of Toner, Crowly, Woelper & Vanderbilt, one of the largest law firms in New Jersey. It had been founded by Arthur T. Vanderbilt who was the Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court from 1948 to 1957. Mr. Kuttner remained there for eight years, defending major pharmaceutical companies and large corporations against people who had been injured. The law firm was prestigious. but Mr. Kuttner decided to go into solo practice so he could help those in need. In the spring of 1965, Mr. Kuttner had participated in the five-day, 54-mite-long march led by Dr. Martin Luther King from Selma, Alabama to the state capital in Montgomery to fight for voting rights. "One memory of that trip is that the dogs were ferocious," Mr. Kuttner said. "They were letting them loose to scare us. They would rear up and snarl as we marched along." Mr. Kuttner became a life member of the NAACP. Subsequently, the head of the NAACP in New Jersey heard about him and enlisted his help. A few miles from where Mr. Kuttner worked, the ultra-conservative John Birch Society had taken over the Roselle school board, which was banning books from the library such as J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" and John Kenneth Galbraith's "The Affluent Society." The NAACP objected. The case of State v Brown went to the New Jersey Supreme Court where Mr. Kuttner prevailed. With this victory, children who were predominantly black continued to have access to worthwhile books that the ultra conservatives had sought to ban. But the cases on which he worked of which he was most proud had to do with the United Farm Workers. Although they were based in LaPaz, California, there were many members of the Union in New Jersey. "New Jersey and New York had become the real battleground," Mr. Kuttner said. "They arrested more than 70 individuals for picketing peacefully and exercising their constitutional rights of free speech and assembly. There were people, young and old, working on the farms in the heat, not getting anything near a living wage, with no food, no water. I was trying to get them decent living wages and better treatment. Over the years, it was quite a struggle. Now they're in better shape." Hearing of this work on behalf of 30,000 United Farm Workers, most of whom were Catholic, New York's Cardinal John O'Connor invited Mr. Kuttner and his wife, Marta, to have dinner at his home at St. Patrick's Cathedral and then arranged for the Kuttners to travel to Rome to visit Pope John Paul ll. "it was a very meaningful experience.," Mr. Kuttner said. "We talked with the Pope for a good while." Then he added, "They made him a Saint."