Diversity

Greenbaum Rowe is committed to diversity and equal opportunity. Our firm's most fundamental strength is its people. We recognize that our ability to serve our clients is enhanced when our workplace environment values and reflects the diverse experiences and perspectives of the community at-large. Greenbaum Rowe welcomes people of all backgrounds to our firm as employees, clients and suppliers. At Greenbaum Rowe, our diversity mission is simple: to cultivate a diverse, professional workplace that encourages collegiality and excellence.

Greenbaum Rowe is a founding member of the New Jersey Law Firm Group, a non-profit organization that assists minority students attending Seton Hall and Rutgers Law Schools in obtaining employment. Among the activities of the Group are a job fair, a mentoring program, roundtable discussion groups with law students, and a scholarship program. The firm also recruits at various minority job fairs, and reaches out to student groups, such as the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, the Black Law Students Association, and the Latin American Law Students Association, to attend its in-house recruiting functions. We also sponsor and support professional associations established to advance the progress and development of minority attorneys, including the Asian Pacific American Lawyers Association of New Jersey, the Garden State Bar Association, the Hispanic Bar Association, and the New Jersey Women Lawyers Association, and we support the activities of the New Jersey State Bar Association in promoting and enhancing the diversity of that professional association and within the profession. In 2009, the firm will participate in the Rutgers Law Newark Minority Student Program 1L Summer Internship Program by hosting a first year law student who will work as a legal intern with the firm.

Greenbaum Rowe further promotes diversity by adopting workplace policies that respond to the needs of a diverse workforce. In addressing work-life balance issues, we endeavor to be responsive to the needs of working parents. The firm has a leave of absence policy for all associate attorneys, regardless of gender. Part-time and flexible hours have been arranged for partners as well as associates. Mindful of the critical importance of health care insurance, Greenbaum Rowe offers such coverage for the same-sex domestic partners of our employees. In the September 22, 2008 edition of the New Jersey Law Journal, their article on minority data among New Jersey law firms stated that Greenbaum, “where 21 of the 33 associates are women, has the greatest gender diversity among associates of all the firms [in the state].”

Attorney Accomplishments:

Partner Raymond M. Brown gave the keynote speech at the Middlesex County Bar Association’s "NAACP and the Law: Celebrating 100 Years" event in January 2009. In February 2009, Mr. Brown participated as a moderator at Tavis Smiley’s State of the Black Union (SOBU) televised symposium, held in Los Angeles and broadcast live on C-SPAN.

As part of our ongoing commitment to diversity, we have established a Diversity Committee comprised of some of the firm's leading practitioners, to develop and oversee policies to carry out our mission. This committee is comprised of the following attorneys.

Raymond M. Brown, Chair
Mr. Brown is a partner of the firm in its Litigation Department and chair of the White Collar Defense & Corporate Compliance Practice Group. He concentrates his practice in internal investigations and all other aspects of white collar criminal defense. Mr. Brown has been a trial lawyer, teacher and legal journalist since 1974. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of the Federal Bar of the State of New Jersey and is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers as well as the American Board of Criminal Lawyers. He is a past president of the Association of Criminal Trial Lawyers of New Jersey and former member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Mr. Brown is the Host of the Emmy Award winning New Jersey Network Program "Due Process" and has provided legal analysis and coverage for many broadcast venues. Mr. Brown has taught International Criminal Law in the Seton Hall/American University Program at Cairo, Egypt and at Seton Hall University's School of Diplomacy and International Relations. He has spoken on over 200 occasions to criminal and civil lawyers, law enforcement personnel and judges, students and a variety of citizen groups. He is a 2007 recipient of a Freedom Fund Award given by the NAACP Newark Branch.

Alan E. Davis
Mr. Davis is a name partner of the firm, immediate past chair of the Corporate Department, and a member of the firm's Management Committee. Mr. Davis has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America since 1987 for Corporate Law and Mergers & Acquisitions. He is also listed in Chambers USA - America's Leading Business Lawyers since 2003 as a leading lawyer in the Corporate/M&A practice area. Mr. Davis has practiced law for more than 40 years and is a noted business law authority. Mr. Davis served as Chair of the Board of Trustees of Monmouth Medical Center (2004 - 2006). Since 1993, he has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Monmouth Medical Center Foundation and served as its Chair (1996-98). Mr. Davis is also a member of the Board of Trustees of Monmouth University and its Executive Committee and serves as Chair of its Committee on Trustees. In addition, he is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Saint Barnabas Corporation, New Jersey's largest hospital system. From 1995-2002 he served as one of two Governor's Representatives on the Board of Trustees of the Public Employees Retirement System of New Jersey.

John D. North
Mr. North is a partner of the firm and a member of its Litigation Department. He has successfully tried numerous jury and non-jury cases in state and federal courts. He has tried over 60 jury cases to verdict, including significant cases in the fields of banking, legal malpractice, medical malpractice, products liability, and construction. In 2006, he obtained the largest personal injury verdict in New Jersey, a $26.2 million verdict in a products liability "crashworthiness" case. Mr. North is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He has also been elected as Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, a trustee of the Trial Attorneys of New Jersey, and as a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates. He is an associate member of the American Association for Justice. Mr. North has been invited to speak on trial practice issues before bar groups and in continuing legal education programs. He is listed in Super Lawyers - New Jersey Edition in the Civil Litigation Defense category.

Christine F. Li
Ms. Li is a partner of the firm in its Real Estate Department and serves as Chair of the Planned Real Estate Practice Group and Co-Chair of the Distressed Real Estate Practice Group. She focuses her practice in condominium and planned real estate development law and also has experience in the acquisition and sale, financing and leasing of commercial and residential real estate. She is the recipient of the 2013 Arthur S. Horn Distinguished Service Award from the NJ State Bar Association Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section, in recognition of significant contributions to the development of Real Property Law in New Jersey. She is a member of the Asian Pacific American Lawyers Association of NJ and is listed in the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association’s (NAPABA) Directory of Asian Pacific American Partners and Senior Attorneys in Major U.S. Law Firms. Ms. Li is listed in The Best Lawyers in America; Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business; and in Super Lawyers - New Jersey Edition in the Real Estate categories. She is a Fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers and a member of the College of Community Association Lawyers.

Richard L. Hertzberg
Mr. Hertzberg is a partner with the firm in its Litigation Department. He concentrates his practice in commercial litigation and professional liability defense. He has handled matters involving issues of lender liability, partnership law, insurance law, ERISA law and securities regulation. Mr. Hertzberg received his law degree from Columbia Law School (1988). He is admitted to practice in the state and federal courts of New Jersey and New York. Mr. Hertzberg is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and is a subject of biographical record in Who's Who in American Law (7th Edition) and Who's Who Among Rising Young Americans. In addition to the Diversity Committee, Mr. Hertzberg serves on the firm's Recruiting Committee and oversees its Summer Associate Program.