People often ask me how I built my practice. The fact is, the law has some huge intellects, some tremendous legal minds. I never considered myself to be one of them. Still, no one ever blew me away, especially in the courtroom. I always worked hard, harder than anyone I knew. And from the first day I committed myself to improvement, to getting better at what I do, in preparing cases and presenting complex cases in the courtroom.

I definitely got some good breaks, and the early verdicts helped me. But even then - even after I worked to win some big cases for my clients - I made it a point not to rest on my record, or sit back. I've always pushed forward in developing a greater level of expertise. As our cases have grown more complex, I know that has been essential to my and my firm's success.

Edison has always been my home. I know many people here, and even though we have a statewide practice - and even national practice - today, they still come to us when they have real problems. That's very gratifying to me. My roots, and my family, are what matter most to me.

Throughout my career I've seen very powerful corporate interests try to attack and discredit what we do as trial lawyers. Where else, and how else, can ordinary people get any kind of fair hearing without the good-faith work of a capable trial lawyer? It's amazing to me that our role as advocates must deal with such attacks, especially from the corporate and insurance entities we face in court all the time.

The community of the plaintiffs' bar, in New Jersey and elsewhere, is relatively small - everyone knows one another. It's important that a firm work to achieve the highest standards that it can, and work to represent the profession honorably. A reputation can take decades to build. It can be lost in a day.

Our firm has become more selective in the cases we take. We may review five or even ten potential cases for every one that we ultimately take on. In that respect we want the quality of our representation to be reflected in the cases that we take on.

I'd say that about a quarter to a third of all of our casework is focused class-action product-liability cases and other mass tort work. All of that is very tough, time intensive casework that crosses state jurisdictions, and can take years. But we have been successful at it - we have been involved in numerous class action litigation, including cases focusing on Vytorin/Zetia drugs, Countrywide, Phen-fen and Rezulin, among others.

But our practice continues to deliver very good results across the spectrum: Medical malpractice, products liability, accident claims and other classic personal-injury claims.

I love what I do, but family has always come first for me. My role as a husband and a father really is what keeps me focused. I think my clients know that about me - for me it's never about a document or file. It's about people. It always will be.