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![Giordano, Halleran & Ciesla PC <br/><br/><br />
Somerset Development has relied on Michael Bruno’s know-how expertise to allow it to transform the former Bell Labs R&D facility into the 2 million square foot retail stunner it is today. <br/><br/><br />
“I continue to work on Bell Works almost on a daily basis,” said Bruno, co-chair of Giordano, Halleran & Ciesla PC’s Real Estate, Redevelopment & Planned Real Estate Development practice area. <br/><br/><br />
The developers came to him again for the ongoing redevelopment of Somerville, where he secured subdivision and site plan approval in May for a collaborative project more than 10 years in the making. The project involves New Jersey Transit, Somerville and the developers, featuring a mix of rental apartments, for-sale townhomes, commercial space and community areas. <br/><br/><br />
“It’s part of the success story of revitalizing some of the downtown areas that needed to be revitalized,” Bruno said. “Retail has totally changed. [We’re] bringing life back to the downtown areas.” <br/><br/><br />
He’s also had his hand in many of the redevelopment projects on the former Fort Monmouth Army Base property, including the ongoing development of Commvault’s worldwide headquarters.](https://njbiz.com/files/2018/06/EP-180629900-3.jpg "Michael Bruno")
![Sills Cummis & Gross PC<br/><br/><br />
At North Arlington's Queen of Peace High School, Michael Carucci both found his calling as a lawyer and met his future wife. <br/><br/><br />
His experiences inspired him to give back to his alma mater, creating an alumni association to support QPHS by estab-lishing scholarships for students and networking infrastructure for fellow alums. <br/><br/><br />
The school's president dropped a major truth bomb during their first board meeting: The school was in serious finan-cial trouble, and if the group didn't raise $1 million in the next six weeks it would have to close. <br/><br/><br />
Carucci, a member of the Litigation Practice Group at Sills Cummis & Gross PC, and about 20 fellow board members got to work. He created a campaign on gofundme.com; the team held a rally for the school and scheduled press inter-views, while each personally solicited major donors. <br/><br/><br />
They met their mark — $1 million within six weeks. Within a couple more months, they'd secured a total $1.7 million. <br/><br/><br />
The 2016-17 school year went off without a hitch, but in June, Carucci and the QPHS community were hit with some terrible news: In the wake of greater-than-expected financial challenges, the Archdiocese of Newark was closing the school. <br/><br/><br />
Carucci was devastated. <br/><br/><br />
“[But] we don't regret for one minute what we did to save the school, because we believed in the mission of the school and the good that it did for us,” he said. “We wanted other students in the future to benefit like we did.” <br/><br/><br />
His commitment to education — which he attributes to the dedication of his mother, a longtime schoolteacher — con-tinues. He was appointed as a commissioner this year to the New Jersey School Ethics Commission, and he's also in-volved in raising money to demolish and rebuild the playground at Sacred Heart School in Lyndhurst, where he at-tended elementary school.](https://njbiz.com/files/2018/06/EP-180629900-5.jpg "Michael Carucci")
![Archer <br/><br/><br />
When Bill Caruso helped start New Jersey United for Marijuana Reform in 2014, some colleagues told him he was throwing away his legal career. <br/><br/><br />
The legislators whom he lobbied would snicker, and when they were done, he said, “We were told this was a waste of time; Chris Christie said it to me himself.” <br/><br/><br />
Fast-forward to 2017, when Gov.-elect Phil Murphy named him to his transition advisory team. Through NJUMR, Caru-so, who is of counsel at Archer, had been working with Murphy for a year prior to his candidacy. <br/><br/><br />
The goal of NJUMR had always been to eliminate the question of legalization and make it when, not if, and why, not how. <br/><br/><br />
“Most of the advocacy effort was for the public and whoever the governor was going to be,” he said. “I think that’s what we did, because it was a paramount issue in [Murphy’s] campaign.” <br/><br/><br />
In the last year, Caruso helped run trips out West to states with legal cannabis for legislators who were maybe on the fence about legalizing it here in Jersey. The idea was to find the argument that worked for each individual. <br/><br/><br />
“I’ve had half a dozen conversations with legislators who were not comfortable with this and now they are,” he said. “I’ve had legislators wag their finger at me, ‘Don’t you dare sell me on the money.’ I had a legislator tell me their top concern was that kids were going to get a hold of this. I can’t assure them. But I can say, ‘They’re getting a hold of it now, and what they’re getting a hold of isn’t regulated.”](https://njbiz.com/files/2018/06/EP-180629900-6.jpg "Bill Caruso")
![McCarter & English LLP<br/><br/><br />
Veteran land-use and redevelopment attorney Frank Ferruggia, a partner at McCarter & English LLP, has spent dec-ades representing property owners, appealing unduly high property assessments levied by municipalities. <br/><br/><br />
In recent years, a shift has occurred, as municipalities began appealing their own assessments as being too low. <br/><br/><br />
The strategy puts property owners — and Ferruggia, as their attorney — on the defensive. <br/><br/><br />
“Being in a defensive posture is easier,” he mused. “With the property owner on defense, the burden of proof is on the municipality.” <br/><br/><br />
When one multifamily residential project with hundreds of units in North Jersey was recently assessed, the town filed an appeal because the property had just been purchased for twice that amount. Ferruggia was able to negotiate a set-tlement down to 150 percent of the original assessment. <br/><br/><br />
For multiunit properties, Ferruggia said the increase in value likely comes from millennials opting out of the single-family, white-picket-fence lifestyle. <br/><br/><br />
“Millennials would rather go to the museum than mow their lawns on a Saturday,” he said. “… We know [these multi-unit properties] are going to get an increase, but [we] try to keep the increase as low as possible.”](https://njbiz.com/files/2018/06/EP-180629900-9.jpg "Frank Ferruggia")
![Day Pitney LLP <br/><br/><br />
A partner in Day Pitney LLP's Complex Commercial Litigation practice, Mike Furey has been at the forefront of an oft-publicized case against Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, representing three hospitals that believe they were unfairly excluded from its OMNIA Tier 1 health plan and its lower patient copays and deductibles. <br/><br/><br />
Though the case is ongoing, a judge issued a decision in April in support of Furey's clients CentraState Medical Center in Freehold, Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck and Valley Hospital in Ridgewood in their complaint against Horizon, saying the insurance company needed to publicly disclose how the plans were created. <br/><br/><br />
“There is a broad, legitimate, immediate public interest in how health care is delivered in the state, how patients are insured and how they are incentivized to be evaluated, tested and treated by particular providers. Nothing I deal with in Chancery has more immediate, acute public impact [than] these matters,” wrote Bergen County Superior Court Judge Robert Contillo in his decision. <br/><br/><br />
“With Judge Contillo's decision, the public should finally have an opportunity to learn the truth behind OMNIA. If Hori-zon truly believes that health care is an important issue to the public, then it should stop its efforts to hide the docu-ments,” Furey told NJBIZ in April. <br/><br/><br />
No stranger to the New Jersey Supreme Court, which he's appeared in front of on multiple occasions (for this case and others) and chaired its Disciplinary Oversight Committee for 15 years, Furey recently was selected to serve on a com-mittee to review proposed changes to the Rules on Professional Conduct.](https://njbiz.com/files/2018/06/EP-180629900-10.jpg "Mike Furey")
![Calcagni & Kanefsky LLP <br/><br/><br />
When Martin Gandelman’s client Zohar Hod filed suit in Hudson County Superior Court against three executives at Viewtrade Holdings claiming they had divested him of majority shareholder rights without notification, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss arguing Viewtrade was incorporated in Delaware and must use Delaware courts. <br/><br/><br />
At the time, there was no precedent to bring a case concerning a company incorporated elsewhere to a court in New Jersey. But Gandelman, an associate with Calcagni & Kanefsky LLP, asserted that because the company itself was based in Jersey City and most of the key parties lived and worked in New Jersey, any issues should be allowed to be heard in court here. <br/><br/><br />
The court agreed with him. <br/><br/><br />
“It sets a good precedent,” Gandelman said. “There are many companies entirely [operating] in New Jersey that are incorporated in Delaware. Where all the conduct is happening in New Jersey and the key players are in New Jersey, it’s important that we can bring the case here because it’s so much more difficult to bring that type of case out of state. This is the protection of New Jersey investors’ rights.” <br/><br/><br />
The case is pending in Hudson County.](https://njbiz.com/files/2018/06/EP-180629900-11.jpg "Martin Gandelman")
![McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter LLP <br/><br/><br />
When people of color and women don’t see others like themselves moving up the ladder at a law firm, they don’t stay. <br/><br/><br />
Larry Lawson wants them to stay. <br/><br/><br />
Lawson chairs McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter LLP’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee, which runs a variety of programs committed to recruiting and retaining minorities. Last year, the committee offered implicit bias training to attendees (mostly partners) at its firm-wide annual retreat. This year, the firm will offer the training to all staff — legal assistants, paralegals, mail clerks and others — to ensure fairness on all levels. <br/><br/><br />
Under Lawson’s direction, the committee has created a sponsorship program in which senior partners take second- and third-year associates under their wings, bringing them to meetings and giving them the opportunity to get on a partnership track. Lawson hopes to implement the program in the fall. <br/><br/><br />
“Corporations want to see more diversity in who works on their matters,” he said. “It’s not enough to say, ‘Oh, I have 25 people of color and women in my firm.’ No [they] want to see them work on and participate on the files. And even without that, it’s the right thing to do.” <br/><br/><br />
A retired judge, Lawson was the first African-American to sit on the bench in Monmouth County.](https://njbiz.com/files/2018/06/EP-180629900-14.jpg "Lawrence Lawson")
![Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP <br/><br/><br />
Just as technology changed the way people handle banking with PayPal, Venmo and cryptocurrency, it’s now changing the insurance industry. <br/><br/><br />
Associate Valerie Pennacchio, insurance attorney and self-proclaimed technophile, was solicited by her firm, Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP, to help create a practice group focused on InsurTech, the insurance industry’s initiative to use technology innovation to deliver insurance products and services. <br/><br/><br />
With peer-to-peer insurance companies such as Lemonade cutting out the middleman and relying on blockchain and smart contracts, Pennacchio and her team are counseling clients on how to implement new innovations in an industry in which the regulatory framework was developed without the foresight of fast-paced change. Their InsurTech prac-tice is one of only a handful in the U.S. <br/><br/><br />
Say you have drought insurance with a smart contract that monitors rainfall. If the rainfall falls under a certain level, you get an insurance payment. <br/><br/><br />
“Because we’ll have the power to more specifically assess risk [InsurTech products] premiums will better reflect that and people will buy products for their specific needs,” Pennacchio said. “It’ll be more affordable for the consumer and a cost benefit for the insurer. It’s a win-win situation.”](https://njbiz.com/files/2018/06/EP-180629900-23.jpg "Valerie Pennacchio")
![McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter LLP <br/><br/><br />
The dream of legalized sports betting in New Jersey may not have been realized if McElroy & Deutsch LLP Counsel Ron Riccio hadn’t convinced the U.S. Supreme Court that it was a state’s rights issue. <br/><br/><br />
And Riccio might not have convinced the justices without the help of Elliot Berman, his co-counsel and longtime practi-tioner of commercial litigation, who helped write the brief. <br/><br/><br />
“In regard [to state sovereignty], it’s a landmark decision,” said Riccio in May after the court released its opinion. “I think it’s going to expand beyond just sports betting into other interrelationships between the federal and state gov-ernment.” <br/><br/><br />
A former dean of Seton Hall Law School, Riccio was tapped for the case based on his 20 years of experience teaching constitutional law – and perhaps his love of the ponies. “I’m an avid fan of thoroughbred horse racing,” he said with a laugh. <br/><br/><br />
It was the age-old debate between the power of the federal government and the autonomy of states. Now, because of work by Riccio and Berman, it’s up to the states themselves to decide if they want to legalize sports betting or not.](https://njbiz.com/files/2018/06/EP-180629900-25.jpg "Ron Riccio, Elliot Berman")
![Riker Danzig Scherer Hyland & Perretti LLP <br/><br/><br />
The New Jersey Site Remediation Reform Act completely flipped the script on how contaminated sites in the state are cleaned up by creating the Licensed Site Remediation Professionals program, which removed backlogs at the Environ-mental Protection Agency and promoted redevelopment of brownfields. <br/><br/><br />
That was in 2009, and Riker Danzig Scherer Hyland & Perretti LLP’s Steve Senior helped develop it. Today, Senior, a partner in the firm’s Environmental Group, is working with others on the next round of reform, dubbed SRRA 2.0. <br/><br/><br />
“SRRA 2.0 is about taking the next step with the program to make sure we’re giving the developers the right set of protections and incentives to [redevelop],” said Senior. “It’s an initiative to improve upon the success of the LSRP pro-gram.” <br/><br/><br />
Senior is bringing together organizations like New Jersey Builders Association, South Jersey Chamber of Commerce and National Association for Industrial and Office Parks, as well as Sen. Bob Smith, D-17th District, and the DEP to work on the initiative, keeping New Jersey at the leading edge of balanced redevelopment policy in action. <br/><br/><br />
Senior’s hard work has not gone unrewarded: Then-Gov.-elect Phil Murphy tapped him to serve on the Smart Growth Economic Development Coalition’s Regulatory and Environmental Committee to advise him and his team on policies that would fuel economic growth and development.](https://njbiz.com/files/2018/06/EP-180629900-28.jpg "Steve Senior")
![McCarter & English LLP <br/><br/><br />
New Jersey’s potential in the tech and startup spheres is immense, but developer Somerset Development felt the state was lacking a center of commerce and interaction when it created the massive live-work mecca Bell Works in Holmdel. <br/><br/><br />
Sean Donahue, manager at Bell Works’ Co-lab, chose David Sorin, co-chair of McCarter & English LLP’s Venture Capital and Emerging Growth Companies practice, to bring programs for networking and learning to the co-working space. <br/><br/><br />
Those programs have since spawned a sort of “office hours” relationship between Co-lab and Sorin. He and his team meet with entrepreneurs weekly on a pro-bono basis to discuss legal and operational issues, company formation, in-tellectual property issues and cost-benefit analyses. <br/><br/><br />
“We’re thought leaders in the marketplace and do more representation of entrepreneurs and tech companies than anywhere else in the state, [so] we decided we wanted to bring that to this ecosystem,” Sorin said.](https://njbiz.com/files/2018/06/EP-180629900-31.jpg "David Sorin")
Vanguard Series: Leaders in law
NJBIZ STAFF//June 25, 2018//
Listen to this articleOur second installment of the Vanguard Series centers around the law, specifically local attorneys who stood out for their roles in important (sometimes landmark) cases or were instrumental in giving back to their profession by providing opportunities for other lawyers to get to the next level in their careers.
We polled dozens of law firms and asked them to provide us with names of attorneys who made their marks for one reason or another over the past 12 months. As I wrote in May about our Vanguard Series leaders in health care, these profiles are not about the people at the top of the org chart, but rather those within their organizations who were selected for their exemplary work.
What’s particularly special about this list is the wide breadth of practices that are featured.
From real estate and health care to intellectual property and insurance, law reporter Gabrielle Saulsbery chronicles some of the most interesting cases of the past year.
Among them: The arguments in front of the U.S. Supreme Court that led to the decision enabling New Jersey to legalize sports betting, a potential long-term bonanza for the state.
I hope you enjoy the latest Vanguard Series section: Leaders in Law.
Howard Burns
Editor, NJBIZ
