I am an experienced business lawyer. I represent businesses, from startup to exit and everything in between. My practice includes business formation (e.g., limited liability companies and corporations), governance (e.g., LLC operating agreements and shareholders agreements), mergers and acquisitions (e.g., buying and selling businesses), preparing and negotiating contracts, including employment agreements, protecting confidential business information (e.g., restrictive covenants), and advising clients on a variety of issues encountered day-to-day (i.e., outside general counsel, which is sometimes called fractional general counsel).
For the first 15 years of my career, I represented clients in litigation, including trials, in the trial and appellate courts in the state and federal courts in New Jersey. Currently, my litigation practice is focused on advising clients on legal issues involved in business matters, such as lawsuits involving breach of contract and disputes among business owners (sometimes called "business divorce"). I no longer appear in court since I now focus on advising clients on business and transactional matters, but I work with experienced litigators and trial attorneys.
I am a partner in the law firm of Archer & Greiner, P.C., and a member of its Business Counseling Group and Mergers & Acquisitions Group. My firm is a full service, regional law firm with over 180 lawyers in offices in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Texas. I am in the firm's Hackensack, New Jersey office. My firm has attorneys in diverse practice areas so we can handle almost any type of legal matter. Information about Archer & Greiner, P.C. can be found at www.archerlaw.com.
I am a director and past Chair of the Board of Directors of the Business Law Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association.
I am proud to say that my peers have selected me to be included on the following lists:
The Best Lawyers in America in the area of Corporate Law. I was also selected as the 2013, 2016, 2018 and 2020 Hackensack Corporate Law "Lawyer of the Year". (This list is issued by The Best Lawyers in America, owned by Woodward White, Inc. A description of the selection methodology can be found at www.BestLawyers.com. No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the New Jersey Supreme Court.)
Super Lawyers in the areas of Mergers & Acquisitions and Business/Corporate Law. (This honor is conferred by Super Lawyers, which is issued by Thomson Reuters. A description of the selection methodology can be found at www.SuperLawyers.com. No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the New Jersey Supreme Court.)
I have also been named to the NJBIZ 2021 and 2020 Law Power 50 Lists. (No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the New Jersey Supreme Court.)
In 2002, I was recognized by the New Jersey Law Journal as one of the 40 outstanding attorneys under the age of 40 in New Jersey. (No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the New Jersey Supreme Court.)
In 2024, I wrote the brief and appeared in the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court on behalf of the New Jersey State Bar Association, which was amicus curiae (i.e., "friend of the court"), in Patel v. New Jersey Department of the Treasury, 479 N.J. Super. 26 (App. Div. 2024), a case of first impression involving how to rescind an improperly filed certificate of dissolution and termination to reinstate an LLC. The New Jersey State Bar Association recognized my advocacy by presenting me with its 2024 Amicus Award.
In addition to my hands-on experience, I have lectured on the topics of business law, such as LLCs, contracts, and legal ethics. In recognition of my work, I was named the 2020 recipient of the prestigious Alfred C. Clapp Award for Excellence in Legal Education by the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education. I have taught the transactional skills course at Seton Hall University School of Law, where we worked through an M&A transaction. I also have taught the law of business organizations at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
I have written many articles on LLCs, corporate law, litigation, and legal ethics that have appeared in such legal periodicals as the New Jersey Law Journal and New Jersey Lawyer Magazine. I was a contributing author, on the subject of drafting complaints, to New Jersey Federal Civil Procedure, published by New Jersey Law Journal Books, and was a contributing author on the subject of trial evidence for the annual supplements to prior editions of the same book. I was also the contributing author of the post-trial motions chapter in Trial Tactics Defense Litigation Manual, published by the Defense Research Institute. I served on the Editorial Board of New Jersey Lawyer Magazine for fifteen years.
I was appointed by the Supreme Court of New Jersey to serve on both a district fee arbitration committee, where I served as the committee chairman for two years, and a district ethics committee.
I had a significant role in New Jersey's enactment of the New Jersey Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act ("NJ-RULLCA") and, in recognition of my efforts, I was awarded the 2012 Distinguished Legislative Service Award by the New Jersey State Bar Association.
I received my J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law, where I was an editor of the Seton Hall Legislative Journal.
I received my B.S. in accounting, summa cum laude, from Fairleigh Dickinson University. My degree in accounting allows me to better understand business matters and provide advice to clients.
Prior to entering private practice, I served as a Law Secretary to the late Honorable Nicholas G. Mandak, the Assignment Judge for the Passaic County Vicinage of the Superior Court of New Jersey, in Paterson.
I have been actively involved in my community. I coached baseball, softball, and soccer. I was a member of the Hawthorne Board of Education for ten years and served as its Vice President, and was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Louis Bay 2d Library in Hawthorne. I also served as General Counsel (pro bono) to the St. Anthony Education Foundation, and the Hawthorne Education Foundation, New Jersey Nonprofit Corporations, and have provided pro bono legal services to the Hawthorne Soccer Association.
My wife Julie and I have been happily married for more than 35 years. We have three adult children and one grandchild.