For the last year and a half Matt Platkin — who Gov. Phil Murphy just nominated as the next state attorney general — has been working as a partner at Roseland’s Lowenstein Sandler. One of his most prominent partners at the firm also held the state’s top law enforcement job and followed a similar path to the post. Chris Porrino served as Gov. Chris Christie’s chief counsel before being named attorney general. Platkin was Murphy’s top lawyer for much of the governor’s first term.
For this special edition of NJBIZ Conversations, Editor Jeff Kanige spoke with Porrino about Platkin’s legal acumen, his suitability for position of attorney general and the power of the office.
“I’ll never have another job in my life and most people will never have the experience of literally being the last word,” Porrino said. “The determination of what investigations to undertake, to whom subpoenas should be issued and when and, frankly, whether to charge someone with a crime. There’s no court of appeals above the attorney general’s discretion on that.”