Corporate Law Department

The Corporate Law Department is headed by senior partner, Raymond J. Lesniak. The Firm's corporate clients range from small, privately-held firms to large publicly-traded institutional clients. The Corporate Department is one of the Firm's largest, and offers clients virtually every type of corporate legal advice.

Business Law, Commercial and Financial Transactions Division

The Business Law, Commercial and Financial Transactions Division is headed by senior partner, Paul M. Weiner. This division is responsible for all aspects of business, commercial, financial and corporate services, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, venture capital, development and construction, as well as commercial loan transactions involving real estate or asset-based security. The Firm's clients include large and small financial institutions such as regional and community banks, bank holding companies and thrift institutions, as well as major developers.

Land Use, Development and Real Estate Division

Our Land Use, Development and Real Estate Division handles all aspects of real estate development from acquisitions, zoning and planning, financing and construction through leasing and sale. Our clients range from small local developers to large international companies engaging in real estate development.

Substantial zoning and land use experience representing major developers along with serving numerous land use boards and governing bodies places the firm in the unique position of having faced almost every conceivable land use matter under the New Jersey Municipal Land Use Law, Redevelopment and Economic Laws, Wetlands Act, Stream Encroachment, and all the other related fields one encounters when undertaking development.

In the past several years we have assisted in the obtaining of major residential and commercial approvals not only along the Hudson River, but also represented clients and appeared before land use agencies in virtually all New Jersey counties. We are also asked to appear in Court as special counsel on behalf of clients who are not satisfied with the ultimate results they received in a municipality.

Partners have served as Editor of the MLUL published by the New Jersey Planning Officials, written books in the field, and regularly teach Development Law for Rutgers University to a variety of groups. We have also served as the head of the Land Use Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association.

Real estate experience ranges from simple purchase and sale to highly sophisticated transactions including sale and leaseback arrangements and air rights development projects, as well as creative conceptual structuring to meet the needs and achieve the results and objectives of our clients. The attorneys in this section regularly participate in the development, financing, leasing and sale of all types of real estate, including office buildings, shopping centers, hotels, condominiums, apartment buildings, manufacturing facilities, industrial and research parks, and single family subdivisions. We include a complete review and analysis of the various environmental issues confronted on each transaction.

Government Law Division

The field of government law encompasses many subjects, all of which can be provided for by Weiner Lesniak LLP. Our attorneys are proficient not only in the general field of municipal law, on behalf of various public and quasi-public entities, but in such specialized fields as environmental law, labor law, tax appeals, condemnation and redevelopment law, cable television law and public finance. In conjunction with the firm's Litigation Department, Weiner Lesniak LLP offers a broad range of litigation expertise, either in a general litigation capacity or on those special projects where Special Counsel is required. The firm's list of government clients includes a myriad of public entities throughout the State of New Jersey. The Government Division also represents boards of education throughout the State in their various general and specialized needs. The division is headed by partner Paul M. Weiner.

Education Department

The Education Department is headed by partner, Mark A. Tabakin. In our role as school board attorneys, we provide a full range of services including attendance at regular and special meetings of the Board; preparation of documents necessary for the conduct of the business of the Board; preparation and review of documents in connection with bids and contracts; services in connection with the annual school election, budget process, and budget appeals; sending-receiving relationships; review all aspects of construction contracts; handling of real estate matters; attendance at special education conferences; handling of all aspects of litigation including increment withholding, tenure appeals, special education classification and placement appeals, EEOC/Civil Rights matters, bidding procedures, construction litigation, injunctions, etc.

In our role as school board attorneys, we have a wealth of experience in all facets of labor/personnel matters. As Labor Counsel and Chief Negotiator, we review and analyze all relevant Collective Bargaining Agreements; prepare language and economic proposals on behalf of the Board; file and/or respond to Petitions for Scope of Negotiations Determination or unit clarification petitions before the Public Employment Relations Commission; assume the position of Chief Negotiator, representing our clients at all negotiating sessions through mediation and fact-finding; handle all labor-related litigation, including grievance arbitrations, Unfair Practice and other proceedings before the Public Employment Relations Commission, EEOC/Civil Rights matters, wage and hour matters before the Department of Labor and any other labor-related litigation.

Litigation Department

The Litigation Department is headed by partners Howard E. Brechner and Richard L. Rudin. Our Litigation Department serves as counsel to numerous national and international companies, businesses, government entities, and individuals in federal, state and local courts and before federal administrative agencies. The Department utilizes computerized technology and engages in litigation, both locally and nationally. Litigation Department attorneys are sensitive to alternative dispute resolution methods, as well as the interrelationship of business and litigation issues, and are experienced in working with house counsel of corporate and governmental clients.

Commercial Litigation Division

The Commercial Litigation Division, headed by Richard L. Rudin, provides the largest and most broad-based of all of our litigation sections. Attorneys in this section are equipped to respond to emergent situations involving injunctive relief proceedings and are experienced in handling intensive litigation including sophisticated matters dealing with corporate and general commercial issues, securities fraud, anti-trust, environmental, patent infringement, contract, and other commercial matters.

The Commercial Litigation Division involves highly specialized litigation and is distinguished by its unusually great risk exposure. The attorneys in this section are experienced in the development and use of computer litigation support systems as well as complex discovery and trial strategy planning methodologies.

Labor and Employment Law Division

Over the years, the concept of labor and employment law has expanded beyond the traditional scope of collective bargaining and arbitrations to include employment litigation, civil rights, wrongful discharge, discrimination and union avoidance, just to mention a few. Weiner Lesniak LLP not only handles those traditional aspects of labor law for both private and public employers, but also provides expertise in employment law litigation, civil rights law, equal employment law, employee benefits law, wrongful discharge law, wage and hour law and union avoidance. In addition, the firm renders advice and assistance to clients in such expanding fields as ERISA, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Family Leave issues.

For our public sector clients, we provide a full range of labor relations services including, review and analyze all relevant Collective Negotiations Agreements; prepare bargaining proposals; file and/or respond to petitions or proceedings before administrative bodies such as the Public Employment Relations Commission, Department of Personnel, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Division on Civil Rights; represent our clients at all negotiating sessions through mediation and fact-finding; handle all labor-related litigation, including grievance arbitrations, EEOC/Civil Rights matters, wage and hour matters before the Department of Labor and any other labor-related litigation. We offer an experienced team of attorneys that we believe provide the very highest quality of representation in the labor setting. Our Labor team is composed of partners, Jacqueline A. DeGregorio and Mark A. Tabakin, and associates, Brian J. Aloia and Margaret A. Miller.

Tort Defense Division

Personal rights litigation has high emotional content and involves the extensive use of technical and medical experts. Our Tort Defense attorneys are highly skilled in the defense of tort litigation involving such areas as product liability, premises liability, personal injury, employment discrimination and civil rights, professional liability including medical and legal malpractice, in addition to high exposure auto claims. Clients of our Tort Defense Division include several of the nation's largest insurance companies, as well as public entities and major corporations involved in self-insurance programs.

Workers' Compensation Division

The Workers' Compensation Division is headed by Louis M. Masucci, Jr. The Division serves as claims counsel to insurance companies, as well as self-insured business and government entities. In addition to litigation services, the Division also provides assistance for risk management issues, defends fraudulent claims and runs seminars.

Environmental Law Division

The Environmental Law Division handles environmental claims exclusively. It is headed by partner Raymond J. Lesniak. Mr. Lesniak has written extensively and lectured nationwide on environmental law matters.

Weiner Lesniak LLP has expanded its practice to include a Toxic Tort practice group and opened an office on Long Island, New York, for the benefit of its clients. Arthur D. Bromberg, Esq., Anna M. DiLonardo, Esq. and Colleen M. Cronin, Esq. have joined the Firm as partners, along with five associates and numerous paralegals to head the Toxic Tort practice group. At the present time, these personnel are overseeing the defense of more than 20,000 lawsuits pending in New York, New Jersey and numerous other jurisdictions around the country. The Firm currently represents more than twenty companies involved in the Asbestos Health Litigation. These companies are a diverse group which represents nearly all types of defendants sued in the asbestos litigation from manufacturers to distributors, contractors and premises owners.

Arthur Bromberg has represented various companies in the asbestos litigation arena for more than twenty-five years. Mr. Bromberg has represented a wide variety of companies in both New York and New Jersey and serves as National Counsel for several companies supervising the defense of their asbestos cases around the country. As a result of Mr. Brombergs expertise in the medical defense of asbestos claims, he has been retained as special medical counsel for a number of additional defendants represented by other firms in the Asbestos Health Litigation.

Anna DiLonardo has been actively involved in the defense of Asbestos Health Litigation claims for more than fifteen years and has coordinated the defense for many clients in New York City Asbestos Litigation as well as nearly every county throughout the State of New York.

Mr. Bromberg and Ms. DiLonardo have been appointed to the New York Supreme Courts Asbestos Litigation Case Management Committee. In this capacity, they serve as advisers to the Court and assist in setting policies for the handling and disposition of these highly complex and technical matters. In addition, the Firms partners are also founding members of the Joint Medical Defense Group, a cooperative group that shares responsibility for preparing medical defenses on common cases. Membership in this group, which is by invitation only, results in substantial cost savings to the Firms clients. Both Mr. Bromberg and Ms. DiLonardo act as liaison counsel in many of the New York City Extremis clusters and are called upon by the Court and Special Master to resolve disputes and to enable the Extremis cases, which are prepared on a very short schedule, to proceed to trial as efficiently as possible.

The Firms Toxic Tort Department relies upon the partners, associates and paralegals to prepare the myriad of defenses available to its varied client base on both liability and medical issues. Preparing the medical defense in asbestos cases can be both complex and expensive, and the attorneys and paralegals have developed an expertise in preparing medical defenses, reviewing medical records and obtaining medical materials that results in excellent preparation of the defense as well as a cost savings to its clients.