Goldberg Segalla elevates seven NJ attorneys to partner

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Goldberg Segalla, a Buffalo, N.Y.-based firm with offices in Princeton and Newark, has elevated seven New Jersey attorneys to partner following a year of countrywide growth.Goldberg Segalla, a Buffalo, N.Y.-based firm with offices in Princeton and Newark, has elevated seven New Jersey attorneys to partner following a year of countrywide growth.

The elevations are part of a larger swathe of advancements at the firm across the country. Altogether, 37 attorneys were promoted to partner and eight to special counsel.

Three Newark-based attorneys were elevated from associate to partner. Four attorneys based in Princeton also gained the title.

“They earned it. Our firm has grown and as they’ve grown, the ranks of our associate class has grown,” said Princeton office Head Partner David Osterman. “Each one of them was judged on their individual merits and found to be worthy of it.”

According to Osterman, each attorney was nominated, vetted by partnership and management and voted on by the owners of the firm.

“The reality is, not everyone who’s hired eventually makes partner and not everyone who’s an associate or even a good associate is elevated to partner,” he said. “We are not a lock step firm. People don’t move in unison the way a lot of big firms do it. We consider ourselves a pure meritocracy.”

This has been a banner year for Goldberg Segalla, which has opened three more offices in the country and hired over 100 attorneys. This group of promotions marks its largest-ever group of new partners.

In Newark, David Rutkowski was promoted to partner in the toxic tort group. Teagan Allen was promoted to partner covering general liability law, and James Durgana made partner in the workers’ compensation practice.

In Princeton, the newly named partners include, Elizabeth Adekunle, workers’ compensation;  Leah Brndjar, product liability; Jonathan Fabozzi, trucking; and Elizabeth Chang general liability and employment and labor.

“Ultimately we ask ourselves one fundamental question – did they make us better?” Osterman said. “When they meet our standard of being excellent lawyers and even better human beings, and are able to make us better, that’s when we ask them to become partners.”