Governmental Affairs Lawyer Mary Kay Roberts Honored

Riker Danzig Scherer Hyland & Perretti partner Mary Kay Roberts was honored with the Mary Philbrook Award by the Women's Political Caucus of New Jersey on Feb. 8, 2018, at the Passion, Power, Progress Awards event held at the Hyatt Regency in New Brunswick. The Mary Philbrook Award is presented to a woman with a distinguished legal career “during which she has removed barriers and created opportunities for other women in the interest of advancing equality in all spheres.” Mary Philbrook of Jersey City was the first woman attorney in New Jersey, and used her legal training to advance women's rights, including a gender-free writing of the modern New Jersey Constitution, which made discrimination on the basis of sex unconstitutional. She was instrumental in the founding of what is now Douglass Residential College at Rutgers University. A suffragist, she supported Alice Paul in the fight for the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S Constitution. Roberts is a partner in the firm's governmental affairs group and manages the firm's Trenton office.

Virginia Long Inn of Court Hears Five Experts' Top Five Tips

The Justice Virginia Long Family Law American Inn of Court hosted its first program of the 2018 spring term on Feb. 8, 2018. The meeting took place at the Culinary Conference Center at Hudson Community College, located at 161 Newkirk Street in Jersey City. The program, “Five Experts Present Their Top Five Tips,” consisted of a panel of five professionals in different industries related to family law: a real estate broker, a real estate appraiser, a financial advisor, a forensic accountant, and an individual specializing in pension valuations and the QDRO process. Each expert gave his or her top five tips or addressed the top five “most frequently asked questions” as related to clients going through divorce. Inn barrister Ashley Vallillo Manzi, of Ruvolo Law Group, presided as the program's moderator. The Inn schedules monthly programs on current issues of family law and is a New Jersey CLE provider.

Toft Named to NJIT Board of Trustees

Dennis M. Toft
[Photo Credit: Tracy Harman Photography.]

Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi in West Orange announced that Dennis M. Toft, chair of the firm's environmental law group, was named to the board of trustees of the New Jersey Institute of Technology. “I look forward to serving as a member of NJIT Board of Trustees and helping further the mission of this venerable institute of higher learning,” Toft said. “NJIT graduates have been among the innovation leaders in the Garden State for more than a century, and the invitation to join the governing body tasked with creating the next generation of New Jersey scientists and engineers is both an honor and a true responsibility.” Toft counsels clients on all aspects of environmental law. He was recently inducted into the American College of Environmental Lawyers, and serves on the boards of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, the New Jersey chapter of NAIOP and the New Jersey chapter of the Nature Conservancy. He is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Columbia Law School.

Berckes Joins NJSBA Leadership Academy

Kristyl Berckes
[Photo Credit: Lynn Goodwin.]

Kristyl M. Berckes, an associate with Norris McLaughlin & Marcus in Bridgewater, has joined the New Jersey State Bar Association Leadership Academy Fellows for the 2017-18 class. The academy is open to New Jersey attorneys who have been in practice for at least five years. Fellows are obligated to attend nine meetings throughout the year, culminating in graduation at the NJSBA annual meeting and convention in Atlantic City, and are expected to participate in mentoring, bar activities, or community service. Berckes represents clients in all aspects of matrimonial and family law. In 2016 Berckes was awarded the NJSBA Young Lawyer's Division Professional Achievement Award and was recognized by the National Academy of Family Law Attorney's as a Top 10 Family Law Attorney Under 40. She earned her J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law and her B.A. from Boston College. Berckes clerked for Essex County Superior Court Judge James G. Troiano. She is co-chair of the Somerset County Bar Association's Young Lawyer's Division.