Douglas K. Wolfson
Douglas K. Wolfson’s practice includes public and private sector investigations, mediations and arbitrations, appellate, chancery and employment litigation, zoning, land use and smart growth issues. He is well known for his hands-on management of complex matters and his innovative settlement and mediation techniques. Mr. Wolfson has successfully mediated sensitive employment and catastrophic injury cases involving both the public and private sectors, as well as insurance coverage and construction cases. He has also been appointed Special Master and Special Discovery Master in a wide variety of matters, including Mass Torts.
Education:
After serving as law secretary to the Honorable David D. Furman, (Chancery Division and Appellate Division), Mr. Wolfson joined Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis LLP as an associate in 1978 and was a partner there from 1984 until being sworn in as a Superior Court Judge in 1991.
While on the Bench, he specialized in handling employment discrimination, complex litigation land use litigation and environmental cases. Judge Wolfson has published numerous judicial opinions in the areas of zoning and planning, real estate brokers/N.J. Guaranty Fund, the U.C.C. tort law, special education, criminal law, family law and Constitutional challenges. He has also authored numerous legal articles on a wide range of subjects affecting the public at large, including land development, affordable housing and electronic banking.
In 2002, Mr. Wolfson left the bench to accept the position as the Assistant Attorney General of New Jersey and Director of the New Jersey Division of Law, the highest ranking civil litigation position in the Office of the Attorney General.
Mr. Wolfson has had extensive court room experience as an attorney, having appeared in State and Federal courts, and has had extensive Appellate experience, before the Appellate Division and Supreme Court of New Jersey resulting in numerous published opinions.
Mr. Wolfson has also been a frequent lecturer and has spoken at events sponsored by the New Jersey Judicial College, the Institute of Continuing Legal Education, New Jersey State Bar Association and the Hispanic Bar Association on topics relating to employment law, land use and zoning litigation, Mt. Laurel and the Federal Civil Rights Act.
Publications:
“Exclusionary Zoning and Timed Growth: Resolving the Issue After Mount Laurel,” 30 Rutgers Law Review 1237-1259 (1977)
“From the Legislature: An Overview of the Report of The National Commission
On Electronic Fund Transfer Systems,” 6 Rutgers Journal of Computers & The Law 103-111 (1977)
“You Can Bank On It: An Analysis of Judicial Branch Bank Characterization and an Alternate Proposal,” 5 Rutgers Journal of Computers & The Law 103 (1977); Co-Author with S. Stevens
“An Appropriate Remedy for Redressing Unconstitutional Zoning Decisions—Damages,” New Jersey State Bar Assoc., Vol. II, No. 1, Land Use Law Section, Aug. 1982
“The Politics of Producing Affordable Housing,” 121 N.J.L.J. 1078-1079, 1091, May 1988
“Settling Land Use Litigation While Protecting the Public Interest: Whose Lawsuit Is This Anyway?” 23 Seton Hall Law Review 16 (1993); with R.S. Cohen and K.M. Dal Cortivo
Contributing Editor, Real Estate Law Journal, 1977-1981
Education:
- Rutgers University School of Law-Newark, J.D. 1977
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey-New Brunswick, A.B. 1974
- New Jersey, 1977
- U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, 1977
- New Jersey Bar Association
- Middlesex County Bar Association
- Adjunct Professor Rutgers School of Law-Newark, 1984-Present
- Assistant Attorney General of NJ/Director of the Division of Law, 2002-2003
- New Jersey Superior Court Judge, serving assignments in Family, Criminal and Civil parts, 1991-2002
- Former member of the District VIII, Ethics Committee
- Selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America in Alternative Dispute Resolution and Real Estate Law
- Designated “Lawyer of the Year” for North Jersey in the area of Land Use and Zoning by Best Lawyers in America (2011)
- Listed in Chambers USA-America’s Leading Lawyers for Business in the Alternative Dispute Resolution & Real Estate: Zoning/Land Use practice areas
- Listed in New Jersey Super Lawyers publication in the area of Alternative Dispute Resolution
- Listed in The New York Area’s Best Lawyers publication in the area of Land Use and Zoning
After serving as law secretary to the Honorable David D. Furman, (Chancery Division and Appellate Division), Mr. Wolfson joined Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis LLP as an associate in 1978 and was a partner there from 1984 until being sworn in as a Superior Court Judge in 1991.
While on the Bench, he specialized in handling employment discrimination, complex litigation land use litigation and environmental cases. Judge Wolfson has published numerous judicial opinions in the areas of zoning and planning, real estate brokers/N.J. Guaranty Fund, the U.C.C. tort law, special education, criminal law, family law and Constitutional challenges. He has also authored numerous legal articles on a wide range of subjects affecting the public at large, including land development, affordable housing and electronic banking.
In 2002, Mr. Wolfson left the bench to accept the position as the Assistant Attorney General of New Jersey and Director of the New Jersey Division of Law, the highest ranking civil litigation position in the Office of the Attorney General.
Mr. Wolfson has had extensive court room experience as an attorney, having appeared in State and Federal courts, and has had extensive Appellate experience, before the Appellate Division and Supreme Court of New Jersey resulting in numerous published opinions.
Mr. Wolfson has also been a frequent lecturer and has spoken at events sponsored by the New Jersey Judicial College, the Institute of Continuing Legal Education, New Jersey State Bar Association and the Hispanic Bar Association on topics relating to employment law, land use and zoning litigation, Mt. Laurel and the Federal Civil Rights Act.
Publications:
“Exclusionary Zoning and Timed Growth: Resolving the Issue After Mount Laurel,” 30 Rutgers Law Review 1237-1259 (1977)
“From the Legislature: An Overview of the Report of The National Commission
On Electronic Fund Transfer Systems,” 6 Rutgers Journal of Computers & The Law 103-111 (1977)
“You Can Bank On It: An Analysis of Judicial Branch Bank Characterization and an Alternate Proposal,” 5 Rutgers Journal of Computers & The Law 103 (1977); Co-Author with S. Stevens
“An Appropriate Remedy for Redressing Unconstitutional Zoning Decisions—Damages,” New Jersey State Bar Assoc., Vol. II, No. 1, Land Use Law Section, Aug. 1982
“The Politics of Producing Affordable Housing,” 121 N.J.L.J. 1078-1079, 1091, May 1988
“Settling Land Use Litigation While Protecting the Public Interest: Whose Lawsuit Is This Anyway?” 23 Seton Hall Law Review 16 (1993); with R.S. Cohen and K.M. Dal Cortivo
Contributing Editor, Real Estate Law Journal, 1977-1981
