New Jersey Law Journal Professional Excellence

Of all the Law Journal's honors, Litigation Departments of the Year, Legal Departments of the Year and GC Impact awards are often the most interesting because we get to review a range of often complex legal work. When it comes to determining the trajectory of the individuals and entities they represent, litigators and in-house counsel both bear a heavy weight. The groups and individual practitioners honored here have shone under that pressure. Legal teams are in many cases smaller than in eras past, and the market for legal services is changing in other ways, so we go into this process with a keen awareness of all the hard work that went into these accomplishments.

Again this year, we've asked honorees to share some insights about what went into the year that was, how they approach the work generally, and more. Again, they kindly obliged us and shared some instructive (and sometimes surprising) thoughts. We thank them for taking the time. And we thank everyone involved in the nomination process, regardless of outcome.

So please take some time to read the Q&As linked below.

A link to the digital edition of the magazine is here.

We hope to see you at our June 12 Professional Excellence gala, where you'll get to learn more about—and perhaps meet—these terrific honorees.

— David Gialanella, Assistant Managing Editor of Regional Brands, ALM Media

Litigation Departments of the Year

Sills Cummis & Gross – General

Gebhardt & Kiefer – Insurance (Small)

Riker Danzig Scherer Hyland & Perretti – Insurance (Midsize)

Pashman Stein Walder Hayden – Appellate

Lerner David Littenberg Krumholz & Mentlik – Intellectual Property

Tanenbaum Keale – Products Liability

Legal Departments of the Year and GC Impact Awards

Prudential Financial – Diversity

Dun & Bradstreet – Pro Bono

Celgene – Law Department Management

Leslie Kaltenbach (Chubb)

Kevin Norman (Johnson & Johnson Innovation)

Brian Quigley (New Jersey Assembly Majority Office)