Steady, industrious and with a long record of successes, Joseph O'Neill is one of the most able and respected leaders of modern New Jersey trial law. Based in bucolic Vineland, N.J., for more than 30 years - well away from the legal throngs in North Jersey and Philadelphia - O'Neill built a national reputation as a thorough litigator with an impressive record - both in criminal and civil law. Indeed, the Bayonne, N.J., native holds what's likely a record or sorts: More than 250 cases of his have gone to verdict in his career (including one with his partner, Chuck Coant, before the U.S. Supreme Court, in 2000, on criminal-sentencing guidelines, which drew national publicity and changed the law in 38 states.) O'Neill went to law school only after a prospective employer, reviewing an aptitude test, suggested he set his sights higher. After law school at night, O'Neill joined a South Jersey firm, trying 18 cases in his first year. "I always thought I'd go back" to the New York area, he says, but he grew on Vineland. "Everyone is a polite, and the lawyers are gentlemanly warriors." Colleagues in the trial bar describe O'Neill the same way: Civil, always well prepared, and a lawyer's lawyer.