The Honorable Freda L. Wolfson (ret.), partner and Chair of Lowenstein Sandler’s Alternate Dispute Resolution practice, will receive a Special Recognition Award from the Trial Attorneys of New Jersey (TANJ). The award will be presented on October 16 at the 56th Annual Trial Bar Awards Reception.
TANJ is a statewide organization dedicated to fighting for the rights of the public, bench, and bar. One of its main priorities is preserving the jury trial system, which is consistently facing challenges such as delays, backlog and the shortage of judges. TANJ is made up of members from the civil and criminal plaintiff and defense bars, and former members of the judiciary.
Judge Wolfson’s practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, special master appointments in federal and state courts, including multidistrict litigations (MDL), serving as an expert, monitorships, internal investigations, and presiding over mock trials and oral arguments. She leverages her judicial experience managing complex commercial cases to help clients achieve satisfactory resolutions on a wide variety of civil and regulatory issues.
Judge Wolfson has frequently served as a special master and mediator in federal and state civil actions, which typically involve high-stakes disputes, including, among others, data breaches, corporate divorces and securities matters; pre-litigation and pre-arbitration matters; and mass consumer mediations. Judge Wolfson also represents and consults pharmaceutical clients in patent-related matters. Additionally, Judge Wolfson has served as a mock judge for parties in high profile cases involving patents and pharmaceutical product liability.
Judge Wolfson was nominated to the District Court in 2002, ascending to the Chief Judge post in 2019. Prior to her appointment, she served as a U.S. Magistrate Judge for over 16 years, one of the few women and one of the youngest members of the district court in the nation. In 2014, she was appointed by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to represent the Third Circuit on the Judicial Conference Committee on the Administration of the Magistrate Judge System; she then served as Third Circuit District Judge Representative on the Judicial Conference of the United States.
During her 36-year judicial tenure, Judge Wolfson authored thousands of opinions on issues such as securities litigations, shareholder derivative lawsuits, products liability, commercial transactions and financial fraud, civil rights, and constitutionality of federal and state statutes. She presided over a multitude of civil and criminal trials, including Hatch Waxman ANDA patent infringement cases; one of the largest excessive fees litigations associated with securities and mutual funds; employment discrimination matters; civil rights claims under section 1983; and white collar criminal cases. She was also appointed by the Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) Panel to oversee some of the nation’s largest MDLs, including In re Johnson & Johnson Talcum Powder Prods. Mktg. Sales Practices & Prods. Liab. Litig., the second largest MDL in the country.
About Lowenstein Sandler LLP
Lowenstein Sandler is a national law firm with over 350 lawyers based in New York, Palo Alto, New Jersey, Utah, and Washington, D.C. The firm represents leaders in virtually every sector of the global economy, with particular emphasis on investment funds, life sciences, and technology. Recognized for its entrepreneurial spirit and high standard of client service, the firm is committed to the interests of its clients, colleagues, and communities.