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Find Lawyers in Newark, New Jersey for Commercial Litigation
Practice Area Overview
Litigation increasingly occurs in various venues, from state and federal courts to private arbitrations and administrative hearings. Proceedings can involve business-to-business disputes or any number of government agencies. Understanding the motivations and outlook of each of the litigation participants is important for determining weak points to exploit and strong points that will persuade the audience in question. During the past decade, commercial litigators have seen a dramatic uptick in multidistrict and inter-disciplinary litigation, making the stakes higher, the cases more complex, the parties more numerous and the discovery more complicated and unwieldy. Firms that are able to develop and implement a creative legal approach to each individual problem, efficiently focus on the key legal and factual issues, and master and manage the various aspects of these complex matters will be the busiest in the years to come.
In the current challenging economic climate, commercial litigators are under increasing client pressure to keep costs in check, which has both sides testing the efficacy of alternative fee arrangements and the scope of reasonable discovery. Whether the “death of the billable hour” is ultimately realized, the keys to a commercial litigator’s success will continue to be strong client relationships, thought leadership, practical management skills, deep experience, and personal commitment.
Mr. Alworth is Chair of the firm’s Commercial & Criminal Litigation Group and was twice selected, in 2022 and 2018, the Best Lawyers ® “Lawyer of the Year” in his practice area for the Newark region. He regularly appears as trial counsel before state and federal courts, as well as the American Arbitration Association. Over the past decade, with a unique niche in crisis management and risk avoidance, Mr. Alworth has counseled clients in some of the most complex transa...
Mariel L. Belanger maintains a diverse civil litigation practice in state and federal court. With respect to commercial litigation, Mariel has assisted clients in a wide array of industries in matters involving contract disputes, unfair competition, and trade secret and employee mobility issues, among others. Mariel also represents employers in employment-related cases both in court and before administrative agencies and has represented management against single- and multi-employee claims inv...
Joseph L. Buckley is a member of the Firm’s Management Committee and Chair of the Litigation Department. He has over 35 years of first chair trial experience in a wide variety of complex cases in federal and state courts in New Jersey and New York. He is certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Civil Trial Attorney.
Michael S. Carucci is a Member of the Sills Cummis & Gross Litigation, Appellate, and Corporate Investigations and Integrity Practice Groups. He handles complex business litigation and regulatory enforcement actions; conducts internal investigations of large private, non-profit, and public organizations; and advocates for clients on appeal. Mr. Carucci has successfully litigated a variety of cases both at the trial court level and the appellate level, including before the New Jersey Supre...
David L. Cook is a Member of the Sills Cummis & Gross Litigation Department. He primarily represents corporations and banks in litigation involving complex commercial disputes in state and federal courts throughout the United States. His extensive background involves a broad range of experience including representing Fortune 500 companies in antitrust class actions, major international banks and corporations in U.S. sanctions and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigations, media compani...
Trent S. Dickey is resident in the Firm’s Newark and New York offices. He has more than 40 years of experience representing major domestic and foreign corporations in all aspects of complex commercial, intellectual property and management-side employment litigation. His clientele span a broad spectrum of industries in both the public and private sectors. Mr. Dickey has successfully litigated hundreds of cases, both jury and bench trials, in federal and state courts throughout the nation...
Mark E. Duckstein has been affiliated with the Firm since 1987, during which time he has engaged in a wide variety of litigation matters pending in state and federal courts. Mr. Duckstein concentrates his practice on the representation of corporations and other business enterprises in complex litigation involving real estate, including complex commercial landlord-tenant issues, commercial torts and contract disputes. He has extensive experience representing commercial and retail landlords, in...
Selina M. Ellis maintains a diverse complex civil litigation practice in New York and New Jersey federal and state courts, with an emphasis on intellectual property, employment matters, contract and securities disputes, and class action defense. Prior to joining the firm, Selina was an associate at Connell Foley LLP in New Jersey and Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP in New York. She served as a law clerk to the Honorable Dennis M. Cavanaugh, United States District Judge for the Distric...
Richard H. Epstein is Deputy Managing Partner of Sills Cummis & Gross and Co-Chair of the Firm’s Litigation Department, which received the Benchmark Litigation award for “New Jersey Firm of the Year” for eight consecutive years (2024-2017), and was named the New Jersey Law Journal “General Litigation Department of the Year, Midsize” in 2023 , 2020 , 2019 and 2016 . See Award Methodology . No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court ...
Charles J. Falletta is a Member of the Firm’s Litigation Department with over 20 years of experience in defending complex commercial and class action litigations, as well as product liability and mass tort litigations for a variety of regulated products including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, consumer products and foods. Mr. Falletta also has extensive experience managing e-discovery to execute efficient, case-specific e-discovery solutions.
Hervé Gouraige is a Member of the Sills Cummis & Gross Litigation Department. Mr. Gouraige is a civil and criminal litigator/trial lawyer who practices in the areas of white collar and regulatory defense, securities litigation, federal and state RICO actions, health care fraud litigation (False Claims Act and kickback cases), internal corporate investigations, general commercial litigation, including class actions, and antitrust litigation. He has represented corporate and individu...
Jeffrey J. Greenbaum, Chair of the Firm’s Class Action Practice Group, is an active litigator and trial attorney in the Federal and State Courts with a specialty in complex business litigation and in defending class action litigation. He has handled cases of national prominence, chaired the ABA Section of Litigation Class Actions and Derivative Suits Committee and is a frequent lecturer in the class action field. He has handled numerous matters involving securities, RICO and consumer fr...
Keith R. Hemming is Chair of the Sills Cummis Construction and Energy Law Practice. He practices in the area of commercial law, with an emphasis on representing owners, contractors, renewable energy firms, designers and manufacturers of building products. Mr. Hemming regularly advises clients on complex commercial transactions and litigates claims in various federal and state courts, as well as arbitration tribunals involving all aspects of the design, procurement and construction of infrastr...
James M. Hirschhorn focuses on appellate litigation, federal and state civil RICO actions, and representing regulated industries in connection with administrative and regulatory matters. On behalf of clients in the health care industry, Mr. Hirschhorn conducts administrative and appellate litigation before regulatory agencies and in the courts. Mr. Hirschhorn is a former Director of the Division of Rate Counsel, New Jersey Department of the Public Advocate, a former Attorney-Advisor in the Of...
Josh Howley, who is part of the Firm’s Litigation Department, a member of the Firm’s Management Committee, and General Counsel of the Firm, regularly practices in state and federal courts, including bankruptcy courts, primarily in New York and New Jersey. One of his specialties is representing traditional lenders, hedge funds, servicers and receivers in asset recovery litigation. Mr. Howley is also frequently hired when mortgage loans go into default and the borrower asserts defen...
Ms. Janukowicz handles a wide range of criminal and complex business matters in both state and federal courts throughout New Jersey and New York. Her commercial litigation practice focuses primarily on briefing and arguing discovery and dispositive motions in connection with securities and common law fraud, class action defense, and construction matters. In her criminal practice, she has prepared legal briefs in both trial and appellate contexts, arguing intricate matters of criminal procedur...
Ahmed J. Kassim is a Member in the Sills Cummis & Gross Litigation Department. An experienced litigator and trial lawyer, he handles high-stakes product liability and complex commercial disputes in courts around the country. Mr. Kassim represents some of the world’s best-known companies across an array of industries, including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, consumer products, telecommunications, insurance, banking, and retail. Clients value his ability to zealously advocate for t...
Joseph L. Linares concentrates his practice on litigation, contract drafting and complex negotiations. Joseph handles a multitude of dispute types including contract claims and drafting, intellectual property, employment, construction and torts as well corporate/business law and transactional work. In addition to servicing established corporate clients, he also provides counsel for non-profits, small businesses, and start-up ventures. Joseph has completed a secondment as corporate counsel at ...
Mr. McDonald leads the firm’s Consumer Class Action Defense Team. He represents businesses in a broad range of unfair business practice/consumer class actions and complex commercial disputes. He is recognized for his work in connection with consumer protection and advertising laws, and he uses his experience to achieve cost-effective, efficient results for his clients through the early and strategic use of motions to dispose of cases or by positioning them for favorable settlements. Mr....
Thomas S. Novak has focused on insurance and construction disputes for over 30 years in the state and federal courts of New Jersey and New York. He began his career representing surety companies in construction litigation. His involvement in construction disputes led to the development of a practice representing architects, engineers and owners in cases involving negligence in the design of construction projects, breach of construction contracts and construction lien litigation.
Mark S. Olinsky has been a civil and criminal trial lawyer for more than thirty years. He served as a federal prosecutor in the Office of U.S. Attorney Samuel A. Alito, Jr. and is Past President of the Association of the Federal Bar of New Jersey. Mr. Olinsky’s diverse caseload includes complex business disputes, health care litigation, complex commercial landlord-tenant litigation, and white-collar criminal defense. His courtroom experience includes many jury and bench trials, arbitrat...
Tricia B. O’Reilly is an accomplished litigator and trial attorney with more than twenty years of experience in the fields of commercial litigation, employment law, and internal investigations. As a commercial litigator, Tricia has assisted clients across a broad range of industries in matters involving commercial contract disputes, shareholder oppression, unfair competition, fraudulent business practices claims, intellectual property, and antitrust litigation, and in defending complex,...
Beth S. Rose is a Member of Sills Cummis & Gross, where she is Chair of the Product Liability Practice Group and a Co-Chair of the Litigation Department. She has tried complex product liability cases to verdict in state and federal courts throughout the country. Ms. Rose is the lawyer to whom General Counsel turn when they need an aggressive but practical approach to “bet the company” product liability matters. Clients rely on her expertise to develop successful and cost-effec...
Joseph B. Shumofsky is an accomplished trial lawyer and Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He is Co-Chair of the Sills Cummis & Gross White Collar Criminal Defense Practice Group and a Member of the Firm’s Litigation, Corporate Investigations and Integrity, and Tax Fraud and Controversy Practice Groups. His practice focuses on white collar criminal defense, internal corporate investigations, complex business disputes, and counseling corporations that are victims of whi...
Mr. Torcicollo has a broad-based commercial litigation practice with substantial trial experience in a variety of forums, including federal courts, the state courts of New York and New Jersey, and both AAA and private party arbitration. He has extensive experience handling construction-related disputes, including contract claims and claims relating to change orders, construction defects, scheduling and delay, construction liens, public bidding, and design. His practice also includes commercia...
Mr. Valen represents an exceptional range of domestic and international clients in major complex dispute resolution and business counseling matters in the United States and abroad. His experience, business judgment, and training help him serve the needs of corporations and individuals in both civil and criminal litigation, enabling him to efficiently handle his clients’ most significant matters involving either governmental or private claims, including commercial litigation, white colla...
Peter G. Verniero is Chair of the Sills Cummis & Gross Corporate Investigations and Integrity and Appellate Practice Groups. Mr. Verniero joined the Firm in September of 2004 after serving as the then youngest member of the New Jersey Supreme Court in modern history. Prior to his judicial service, Mr. Verniero served as the 51st Attorney General of New Jersey as well as chief of staff and chief counsel to Governor Christine Todd Whitman. He is the only person in the state’s history ...
Liza M. Walsh is a highly sought-after litigator with experience representing some of the country’s largest and most prestigious companies. She focuses her practice on federal and complex commercial litigation, with an emphasis on intellectual property, antitrust and class action defense matters. In her more than 30 years of experience, Liza has defended major pharmaceutical companies in significant patent litigation and acted as liaison counsel to groups of defendants in multi-party li...
Michael P. Crowley, Of Counsel to the Sills Cummis & Gross Litigation Department, focuses his practice on commercial and real estate litigation. His experience includes title disputes and coverage investigations, mortgage fraud and forgery actions, and other general commercial matters.
Jessica K. Formichella focuses her practice on state and federal commercial litigation matters. Jessica served as Law Clerk to the Honorable Peter G. Sheridan, U.S.D.J., United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, and to the Honorable Jose L. Fuentes, P.J.A.D., Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division. Prior to joining the firm, Jessica was an associate at a large regional law firm. Jessica earned her J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law, cum laude , where sh...
Ms. Oks handles a wide range of complex business and commercial litigation matters in both state and federal courts throughout New Jersey and New York. Her practice focuses primarily on various aspects of general and complex commercial litigation, including factual investigation, discovery and strategy, briefing and motions practice, and appellate filings in connection with class action defense, common law fraud, breach of contract, business torts, and multi-party construction disputes.
Francis W. Yook focuses his practice on commercial and business litigation and has significant experience handling a variety of civil work, including real estate, product liability, mass torts, and environmental matters. Francis clerked for Judge Edward S. Kiel in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, and Judge Lisa A. Firko in the New Jersey Superior Court. Before joining Walsh, he was an associate at a large regional law firm. Francis is the Immediate Past Preside...
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.