No. 6: Rajiv Parikh

A  partner with Genova Burns, Parikh serves as chair or co-chair of a variety of teams within the firm. He chairs the India Law; Construction Law & Litigation; and Election Law & Litigation practices, and is co-chair of the Crisis Management Practice and Hotels & Restaurants Industry Group.

Parikh was transition counsel for Gov. Phil Murphy and has worked closely with the governor and his team on a variety of issues. In 2019, he was a member of Murphy’s trade delegation to India. And his work in politics extends further. Parikh has served as general counsel to the Democratic State Committee for more than five years and was lead counsel on dozens of campaigns including those of U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and U.S. Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, Josh Gottheimer and Mikie Sherrill, among others.

In addition, he leads diversity and inclusion efforts at Genova Burns. “Companies that take the effort to have cultural sensitivity training to have D&I discussion to improve the diversity of their workforce end up having [fewer claims against them and] a workforce that is more collaborative,” Parikh said during a 2020 NJBIZ panel discussion. “You lower your risk profile, your insurance companies probably will love you because there’ll be less employment claims. Your lawyers probably will hate you because they’re not [getting much work],” he joked.