Rutgers Holds Careers in Law Panel March 9

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – When economic times get tough, college seniors get going – to graduate or professional schools. As New Jersey and the nation struggle to rebound from the deepest recession since the Great Depression, that axiom has never been truer.

Law school always has been a popular “way station” between the sheltered world of undergraduates and the real world of competition-hardened business people. But many who contemplate a career in the law actually know little about the profession’s many opportunities when they complete those lengthy law school applications and sign up for the perspiration-inducing LSATs.

To introduce interested students to some potential career paths, the Office of the Vice President for Undergraduate Education at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, will present its annual Careers in the Law panel 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 9, at the Eagleton Institute of Politics, 191 Ryders Lane, New Brunswick. The public is invited to this free program. Milton Heumann, professor of political science and the school’s prelaw adviser, will moderate. Topics and panelists follow:

·         Small firm litigation: Elizabeth Eilender (Of Counsel) is one of the senior trial attorneys at Jaroslawicz and Jaros in New York. Her diverse litigation practice includes representing businesses as well as individuals in commercial disputes, breach of contract, defamation, medical malpractice and discrimination matters.

·         Employment law: Sharon P. Margello, an attorney with Ogletree Deakins in Morristown, represents management in all areas of employment law, including employment discrimination, restrictive covenant, collective actions and wrongful discharge litigation. She graduated from Douglass College in 1974.

·         In-house counsel: Vaughn McKoy is president of the PSEG Foundation and also served as a director in Customer Operations and Human Resources, as well as associate general counsel in the Law Department. He was a federal and state prosecutor and worked in private practice before joining PSEG. He earned a Bachelor of Science in the Administration of Justice from Rutgers in New Brunswick before graduating from the Rutgers School of Law-Newark.

·         Judging: Cornelius Sullivan has been recall judge in Criminal and Family Court in Burlington County since 2006. He presides over an early disposition calendar in Criminal Court and hears domestic violence cases in Family Court. He was a judge of the Superior Court in the county from 1982 to 2005. Sullivan was in the Family Court Division, specializing in juvenile matters, from 1996 to 2005. From 1982 to 1996, he was a judge in the Criminal Division in Burlington County and served several terms as presiding judge.

·         Patent law: Roy Wepner is a partner in the firm Lerner, David, Littenberg, Krumholz & Mentlik, LLP in Westfield. He focuses his practice on patent litigation, including appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He has taught patent law at Rutgers School of Law-Newark.