Former N.J. Supreme Court Justice Jaynee LaVecchia joins top law firm

Retired New Jersey Supreme Court Justice LaVecchia joins top law firm.

Retired New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Jaynee LaVecchia, who entered the high court in 2000, has joined a top law firm.

Retired New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Jaynee LaVecchia will join Newark-based law firm McCarter & English, the firm announced Monday.

LaVecchia, 68, left the court at the end of 2021 after serving nearly 22 years — longer than any female state Supreme Court justice.

She announced last March she would retire at the beginning of its new term in the fall. But she ended up staying on the bench until Dec. 31 as last fall’s election cycle postponed her potential replacement’s review by the state Senate. The review of civil rights attorney Rachel Wainer Apter to replace her did not happen during the just-expired two year-legislative cycle, but she is expected to be renominated by Gov. Phil Murphy.

Joe Boccassini, McCarter’s managing partner, said LaVecchia brings a unique perspective to the firm.

“The depth of her litigation experience, coupled with her unique insight into the state’s regulatory landscape, will make her an excellent resource to our clients as well as our lawyers,” Boccassini said.



LaVecchia will join the firm’s Business Litigation Group. She begins her new job Feb. 7.

“As a retired Justice of New Jersey’s highest court, she is uniquely qualified to advise clients on both trial strategy and appellate issues as well as facilitate the resolution of complex disputes,” Jose Linares, chair of the firm’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Group, said in a company statement.

LaVecchia, who joins the ranks of former justices who have moved on to prestigious firms after leaving the bench, said she was looking forward to her new role.

“I am thrilled to begin this new phase of my career at McCarter and proud to be joining a team of attorneys distinguished by their powerful and unwaveringly professional advocacy for their clients,” LaVecchia said in a statement.

LaVecchia was nominated by former Republican Gov. Christie Todd Whitman, and began her Supreme Court term on Feb. 1, 2000.

During her two decades on the bench, LaVecchia honed a reputation as a pragmatic, compassionate jurist with a sharp intellect. She authored opinions on some of the state’s most important issues, from school funding to privacy rights.

In one of her most influential opinions, Abbott XXI from 2011, LaVecchia said it was the state’s obligation to fulfill its promise to fund a thorough and efficient education for children as required by the New Jersey Constitution.

LaVecchia also officiated her first same-sex marriage in New Jersey in April 2017.

She is a graduate of Douglass College at Rutgers University and a 1979 alum of the Rutgers School of Law in Newark. She was admitted to practice in New Jersey in 1980.

Before being nominated to the state Supreme Court, LaVecchia served as state Commissioner of Banking and Insurance, Deputy Chief Counsel in the Office of Counsel to former Gov. Thomas H. Kean and as Director of the Division of Law within the Department of Law and Public Safety.

In her resignation letter on March 8, 2021 from the state Supreme Court, LaVecchia said while she served many public service roles, her time on the state’s highest court was truly special.

“I can only add at this moment that to have been able to serve on our highest Court for more than 21 years has been the greatest honor that I as a lawyer in the State of New Jersey could ever hoped to have,” she wrote.

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Suzette Parmley may be reached at sparmley@njadvancemedia.com or follow her on Twitter: @SuzParmley

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