Attorney Profiles

Wayne J. Positan chairs the firm's Labor, Employment and Government Group and concentrates his practice in the areas of labor and employment representing management and defendants; non-compete litigation; governmental law representing public entities and officials in litigation; appellate practice; and commercial litigation.  He is a New Jersey Court-Approved Mediator.  In several nationally reported cases, he obtained a successful no-cause of action jury verdict in the defense of individual defendant picketers in Baliko v Stecker, a sexual harassment suit brought by female construction workers crossing a picket line; successfully defended former Attorney General Peter Verneiro in a suit brought by former Superintendent Carl Williams of the New Jersey State Police; and represented Pepsi Bottling Group in the largest wage and hour case in the history of the New Jersey Department of Labor.  He has also been involved in many appellate decisions which have shaped the development of labor and employment law in New Jersey, such as LePore v National Tool, one of the original whistleblower suits.  He has extensive experience in the area of collective bargaining negotiations and labor arbitration.  He was involved in the negotiation of the project labor agreement at the Meadowlands landfill, and mediation/arbitrations covered by it.

He has been recognized as one of the top employment defense lawyers in New Jersey by Chambers USA America's Leading Business Lawyers since its inception in 2003; Top 100 New Jersey Superlawyers by New Jersey Monthly Magazine, Top Lawyers by New Jersey Monthly Magazine and New York Magazine, and by Best Lawyers in America every year since 1993 in the area of labor and employment law.  In 1996, he was selected to the inaugural class of 100 prominent labor and employment attorneys nationally to The College of Labor and Employment Lawyers.  He has also been elected as a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.  He is listed in Who's Who In American Law; Who's Who In America; The International Who's Who of Management and Labour Attorneys; and Who's Who In The World.

He has extensive involvement in the national and state legal community.
AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION:  Board of Governors (2006-2009); House of Delegates (2003-present); Chair, ABA Commission on Multijurisdictional Practice (2000-2002); Coordinating Council, ABA Center for Professional Responsibility (2000-2002).
NEW JERSEY STATE BAR ASSOCIATION:  President (2006-2007); Executive Committee (2002-present); Board of Trustees (1998-2002); Chair, Labor and Employment Section (1995-1997).  Editor-In-Chief, NJ Institute for Continuing Legal Education book New Jersey Labor and Employment Law (1998; 2nd Edition 2005).  Organized and Moderator:  ICLE Labor Law Forum and Bench/Bar Conference (1994-present).  Recipient: Professional Lawyer of the Year Award  by the New Jersey Commission on Professionalism in the Law (2002). 
ABA SECTION OF LITIGATION:  Chair, Fellows of the Section (2005-present); Section Liaison to ABA Day in Washington (2004-Present); Co-Director of Divisions (2001-2002); Co-Director of Division I-Administration (2002-2005); Member, Section Council (1997-2000); Co-Chair, Section Annual Meeting (1996); Co-Chair of the Task Force on the Merit Selection of Judges (1996-1997);  Section Advisory Committee on Nominations; Task Force on Hurricane Katrina, and Co-Chair, Committee on Employment and Labor Relations (1990-1993). 
ESSEX COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION:  Member.  Recipient of ECBA Professional Achievement Award.  (2002).
He is also a member of the Association of the Federal Bar, the New Jersey District Court Historical Society, the Defense Research Institute, and served as a Master in the Reitman Labor and Employment American Inn of Court.

He has spoken at over a hundred continuing legal education programs and lectures, and has served as a commentator on the subject of labor and employment law, litigation, legal ethics, and the profession in conjunction with the ABA, the ABA Commission on MJP, The Conference of Chief Justices, The National Conference of Bar Presidents, The National Caucus of State Bar Associations, the National Association of Bar Executives,  the ABA Section Officers Conference, the ABA Sections of Litigation, Anti-Trust Law; Law Practice and Management, Real Property, Probate and Trust Law, the National Conference on Professional Responsibility, the NJSBA, NJ ICLE, NITA,  Connecticut Bar Association, the ABA Journal, the New Jersey Law Journal, the New Jersey Lawyer, New Jersey Lawyer Magazine, the New York Times, the Star Ledger, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Chicago Tribune.  He originated and served as a member of the Board of Editors of the book Jury Instructions in Employment Litigation (ABA 1994, 2005); co-authored the Employment Torts chapter of the book Business Torts Litigation (ABA 1993, 1998), and co-authored the chapter on Special Evidentiary Concerns in the Employment Litigation Handbook (ABA 1998).  He was a panel member/moderator of the ABA National Teleconferences on Ethics Issues in Multijurisdictional Practice (February 2000) and The Last Word on Ethics 2000 (December 2002).  He has participated as a speaker in the ABA Section of Litigation DVD/Video series:  73 Ways to Win (2001); 64 Ways To Build An Excellent Litigation Practice (2002), and Ethical Issues:  40 Solutions For Litigators (2005).  His presentation on Practical Tips For Employment Litigators is part of the ABA Ready-On-Line CLE Now website.

He has also been involved in many community and pro bono efforts, such as:
Member, Board of Trustees, Montclair State University
NJSBA Pro Bono Award (2006) for filing an amicus brief on behalf of the NJSBA before the New Jersey Supreme Court in LaManna v Performance Insurance Company regarding the question of whether parties could voluntarily change the mandated number of jurors required to reach a verdict in a civil case.
Member, New Jersey State Bar Foundation.  (2002-present)
Humanitarian and Achievement Award-The Columbian Foundation (2002)
Pro bono mediator for the Essex County Chancery Division (1990-present)
Pro bono mediator in the New Jersey Court-Appointed Mediator program
NITA Trial Advocacy Training Program for Legal Services Attorneys as Co-Chair and Faculty Member
United Way of North Essex.