Steven P. Weissman is a founding member of the firm. He has litigated dozens of consequential cases in both state and federal courts and administrative agencies on behalf of public and private sector unions. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Labor and Employment Law Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association and a coordinator of the Section’s Public Employment Committee. He is a contributing author of ICLE’s publication, New Jersey Labor and Employment Law, has been a bencher for the Sidney Reitman Employment Law American Inn of Court, has been featured as a speaker at annual conferences of the New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC), and has contributed articles to the Labor and Employment Law Quarterly, a publication of the New Jersey State Bar Association. Mr. Weissman is an Instructor in the Public Sector Labor Relations Certificate Program, jointly sponsored by PERC and the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations (SMLR), is a member of the State Advisory Council to SMLR, and is on the adjunct faculty of SMLR. He received his J.D. from Rutgers School of Law-Newark in 1978.
Annmarie Pinarski is a member of the firm. She joined the law firm in 2004 and represents unions, employees and social justice organizations. Before joining the firm, she clerked for the Honorable List Margaret Smith, U.S.M.J. in the Southern District of New York and then for the Honorable William J. Martini, U.S.D.J. in the District of New Jersey. She was an Articles Editor with the Rutgers Law Review and a Marsha Wenk Public Interest Fellow. She received her J.D. from Rutgers School of Law in 2000.
William G. Schimmel is a member of the firm. He leads the firm’s New York practice. He has appeared in state and federal courts in New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Michigan where he represents labor unions, individuals and Taft Hartley Funds in administrative and judicial proceedings. He is a member of the AFL-CIO Lawyer’s Coordinating Committee and the National Lawyers Guild. He is also a part-time lecturer at the Rutgers University, School of Management and Labor Relations, Union Leadership Academy. He received his J.D. from the Detroit College of Law in 1994.
Ira W. Mintz is a member of the firm. Before joining the firm in 2011, he was on the staff of the New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) for 25 years, most recently as its General Counsel and prior to that as the Special Assistant to the Chair. Mr. Mintz is a member of the Executive Committee of the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Section. In cooperation with the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations, he developed the Certificate Program on Public Sector Labor Relations, and taught classes on PERC procedures and the Scope of Negotiations. He received his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin in 1973 and his J.D. from Rutgers School of Law-Newark in 1985.
Flavio L. Komuves is a member of the Firm. Before joining the Firm in 2019, Flavio worked as a litigator for State and regional firms, plus four years as New Jersey Deputy Public Advocate in charge of the voting rights program. His election law practice and his work on behalf of Unions and their members, including work on related pension and welfare funds, has taken him to state and federal courts, both at the trial and appellate level, as well as administrative tribunals. Flavio also volunteers to serve the Bench and Bar through his service on the Advisory Committee on Extrajudicial Activities and as a Trustee of the New Jersey Appleseed Public Interest Law Center. He received his J.D., summa cum laude, from Seton Hall University School of Law in 1997.
Jason Jones is an associate with the firm who specializes in representing unions in employee disciplinary proceedings. Before joining the firm, he was Associate Staff Counsel with the Pennsylvania State Education Association and Assistant Counsel with the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board. He received his B.A from Loyola University in 2000 and his J.D. from Syracuse University School of Law in 2003.
Justin Schwam is an associate with the firm. He has significant experience representing clients in labor and employment matters before state and federal courts and agencies. Before rejoining the firm, Mr. Schwam was an associate at a large national law firm. He received his J.D. in 2011 from Rutgers-Newark School of Law, where he served as Managing Notes Editor of the Rutgers Law Review. Following law school, Mr. Schwam was a judicial clerk for the Hon. Ariel A. Rodriguez, P.J.A.D. Mr. Schwam received his B.S. in music education in 2002 from West Chester University.
Patricia A. Villanueva is an associate with the firm. She received her J.D. from the Rutgers School of Law in 2019, where she was the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Women’s Rights Law Reporter. She received the Outstanding Law Student Award from the National Association of Women Lawyers and the Clinical Legal Education Association. During law school, Ms. Villanueva also interned for the Equal Employment Opportunity Office and the Honorable Patty Shwartz of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. She received her B.A., magna cum laude, from Rutgers University-Newark.
Rosemarie Cipparulo is of counsel to the firm. She practices in the areas of union-side labor law, employment law, constitutional law, civil rights, ERISA and the representation of social and economic justice organizations since 1999. Ms. Cipparulo is also a teaching instructor at the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations, teaching classes in collective bargaining. She received her B.A. from Rutgers University in 1996 and J.D. from Rutgers Law School in 1999.
Brett M. Pugach is of counsel to the firm, focusing on voting rights and labor law. One of New Jersey’s leading election law attorneys, Brett has represented voters, candidates, and organizations on a variety of election law issues concerning political campaigns, voting rights, constitutional rights, filing petitions, ballot access, ballot placement, redistricting, recounts, and election contests. He has significant experience handling a variety of labor matters before state and federal courts and agencies as well as collective bargaining. Brett was appointed to the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Special Committee on Election Law. He has been featured on various TV and radio programs and is frequently invited to speak on democracy and labor and employment topics. His work has been featured in various publications, including Rutgers University Law Review, which published his article, The County Line: The Law and Politics of Ballot Positioning in New Jersey. Brett received his Juris Doctor, cum laude, from Rutgers University School of Law-Newark in 2011 where he was Managing Notes Editor for the Law Review and Co-Chair of the Moot Court Board. He earned his Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, in Political Science and in Policy Studies from Syracuse University and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.
Yael Bromberg is of counsel to the firm. She is also Principal of Bromberg Law LLC and Chief Counsel for Voting Rights for the Andrew Goodman Foundation. Ms. Bromberg has litigated in federal courts across the country and here at home in New Jersey. She previously worked in the Washington, D.C. headquarters of Common Cause, and taught and supervised litigation in Georgetown University Law Center’s Civil Rights Clinic and Voting Rights Institute. Her prior experiences include a clerkship with the Honorable Dickinson R. Debevoise in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. Ms. Bromberg is a graduate of Douglass College and Rutgers School of Law-Newark, where she served as a Kinoy/Stavis Fellow in the Rutgers Constitutional Rights Clinic and received upon graduation the Eli Jarmel Memorial Award for greatest interest and proficiency in public interest law. In 2015, she received the Eric Neisser Public Service Alumni Award in recognition of her work in democracy law. Ms. Bromberg’s scholarship, “Youth Voting Rights and the Unfulfilled Promise of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment,” was recently published in the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law. Ms. Bromberg is barred in New Jersey, New York, and the District of Columbia.
David A. Mintz is a founding member of the firm. Mr. Mintz has represented private and public sector unions in negotiations and arbitrations, before administrative agencies, and in state and federal litigation. He prevailed in one of this nation’s largest arbitration awards returning thousands of laid-off employees back to work with back pay. He also represented employees in employment discrimination and ERISA cases securing million dollar settlements, and successfully litigated before the NCAA. Mr. Mintz received his J.D. from Columbia Law School, has a Masters Degree from the London School of Economics and is currently retired. He now provides counsel to the firm and other clients on a pro bono basis only.