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Duane Morris Welcomes 12 Attorneys in Newark

February 7, 2022

Duane Morris Welcomes 12 Attorneys in Newark

February 7, 2022

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NEWARK, N.J., February 7, 2022—Twelve attorneys, led by John B. McCusker, have joined Duane Morris LLP’s Newark, New Jersey, office. In addition to McCusker, the group includes partners Alicyn B. Craig, Rosemarie DaSilva, Kathleen A. Hirce and Alice M. Shanahan in the firm’s Trial Practice Group and Michael R. Futterman and Patrice E. LeTourneau in the firm’s Employment, Labor, Benefits and Immigration Practice Group. Special counsels Catherine C. Lopez and Suzanne M. Murphy and associates Michael Camastra, Louis Formisano and Allison N. Zsamba have also joined the firm’s Trial Practice Group. Legal assistants Marianna Sharpe and Julia Cabrera-Nelson and paralegal Deborah Rocker have joined Duane Morris as well. The group focuses the bulk of their work on employment and environmental matters, as well as complex commercial litigation. The attorneys and staff join from McCusker, Anselmi, Rosen & Carvelli, P.C.

“It is amazing to see how our intense focus on recruiting is yielding meaningful results, as evidenced by this terrific team of attorneys,” said Duane Morris Chairman and CEO Matthew A. Taylor. “Taken together, this group adds new skill sets and client relationships to our Newark office and adds range to our employment and environmental capabilities. After a very strong 2021, we are continuing our robust growth momentum and are actively recruiting talent to advance Duane Morris and execute on our strategic plan.”

“We’re pleased to welcome this team of attorneys and staff to Duane Morris in Newark. They add significantly to our capabilities and add meaningfully to our scale here,” noted David Sussman, who was named as the new managing partner of the firm’s Newark office on January 1, 2022. “I look forward to working with them to grow their practices and deliver comprehensive service to our client base.”

“Our team is experienced in very complex and high-stakes matters,” added McCusker. “As part of Duane Morris, with its collaborative culture, a business focus on industry teams and its national platform, our group and our clients will be well positioned for continued success.”

John B. McCusker represents corporate and individual clients, including Fortune 500 petroleum and pharmaceutical corporations, in employment discrimination, environmental/remediation and complex commercial litigation matters. In his employment practice, he defends clients against claims of discrimination, retaliation and Employee Retirement Income Security Act and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission violations, as well as claims by employees through the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. McCusker also litigates large, complex, environmental matters on behalf of major oil companies. An experienced civil and criminal trial attorney in New York and New Jersey, he served as a prosecutor at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, where he tried more than 40 felony cases in 1982-1990, most notably People v. Joel Steinberg. McCusker often teaches trial advocacy, including at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

McCusker is a graduate of Villanova University School of Law (J.D., 1982) and Muhlenberg College (B.A., with honors, 1978).

Alicyn B. Craig has significant experience in all areas of environmental law, from regulatory advice to complex litigation. Her state and federal litigation practice focuses on soil and groundwater contamination as well as state agency cost-recovery actions. Craig also frequently deals with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the New York Department of Environmental Conservation on compliance issues and is accomplished in negotiating investigation, remediation and allocation matters. She also handles purchase and sale agreements for contaminated properties, including retail service stations, terminals and refineries. In addition, Craig defends corporate entities from employment-related claims under New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination, New Jersey’s Family Leave Act and federal statutes such as Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.

Craig is a graduate of Seton Hall University School of Law (J.D., 2000) and the State University of New York at Albany (B.A., 1997).

Rosemarie DaSilva has extensive experience in a wide range of state and federal commercial litigation and transactional matters. She focuses her practice primarily on environmental law, including negotiation of investigation and remediation matters, claims resolution and complex multi-party litigation; as well as employment and commercial litigation. She regularly interacts with New Jersey and New York regulatory agencies. Most recently, DaSilva was the chief administrative officer of McCusker, Anselmi, Rosen & Carvelli, in which she handled all aspects of human resources, recruiting, workload management, client relations, marketing and public relations. In addition to her practice, DaSilva has served as a New Jersey state court mediator for New Jersey. She previously served as general counsel to the Essex County, New Jersey, Improvement Authority. DaSilva began her career at Day Pitney. She was the legal coordinator for the Jersey Battered Women’s Shelter Legal Advocacy Project, implementing legal training and supervision of more than 90 volunteer attorneys for the pro bono representation of battered women. She also founded and was president of the Portuguese Bar Association of New Jersey.  

DaSilva is a graduate of Rutgers University School of Law–Camden (J.D., 1990) and Rutgers University (B.A., 1987).

Michael R. Futterman concentrates his practice on employment counseling and employment litigation in state and federal courts and before administrative agencies throughout New York and New Jersey. He represents management and employers in all types of workplace disputes, including discrimination, harassment, retaliation, whistleblower, noncompete and trade-secret matters. Futterman defends employers in wage-and-hour suits before the U.S. Department of Labor on issues including overtime pay violations, misclassification of workers’ exempt or independent contractor status, “off the clock” work and tip theft. He also handles complex business litigation matters, including partnership and corporate disputes, real estate and property litigation, business fraud, unfair competition, shareholder and brokerage claims. Futterman’s practice includes drafting and negotiating business contracts; handbooks; and employment/independent contractor, noncompete and separation agreements. He also advises management on the vast employment laws affecting businesses, including wage-and-hour compliance, noncompete and trade-secret protection, hiring and termination, policies and procedures, leaves of absence and disability accommodation. In 2014, he was named one of the New Jersey Law Journal‘s New Leaders of the Bar, a listing of the top 50 lawyers under the age of 40 to watch in coming years. He is on the board of directors of Moms Helping Moms Foundation, Inc., a New Jersey diaper bank and on the advisory board of NJ LEEP, a New Jersey based mentoring organization.

Futterman is a graduate of the University of Miami School of Law (J.D., cum laude, 2004), where he was articles and comments editor of the Inter-American Law Review, and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and the University of North Carolina, Greensboro.

Kathleen A. Hirce focuses her environmental compliance practice on highly complex environmental matters and has significant experience in the petrochemical and gasoline industries. She advises clients on environmental investigations and remediations at former refinery, terminal and service station properties in compliance, regulatory, claims and litigation matters. In addition, Hirce manages claims and litigation related to releases from underground storage tanks and other sources. She handles all aspects of environmental law, including policy, enforcement, regulatory compliance, negotiations and settlements with regulatory entities, pursuit of potentially responsible parties, permits, audits, remediation, property transfers, Superfund matters, environmental risk assessments and management of environmental liabilities. A former magazine reporter and editor, Hirce also has defended media organizations in defamation and privacy claims. She volunteers as a mentor with the New Jersey Law and Education Empowerment Project, the nonprofit organization based at Seton Hall University School of Law that offers law-related and college-access programming to Newark middle and high school students and guidance to the organization’s alumni who are in college.

Hirce is a graduate of Seton Hall University School of Law (J.D., 2005), where she was a member of the Seton Hall Circuit Review, and Bryn Mawr College (A.B., 1998).

Patrice E. LeTourneau’s practice focuses on assisting businesses of all sizes in a broad range of employment, commercial and environmental matters before state and federal trial courts and courts of appeals. In addition to litigation, she has conducted numerous internal investigations and has significant experience advising companies on preventative litigation practices. LeTourneau clerked for the Honorable Rosemary E. Ramsay, J.S.C., where she successfully completed the Superior Court of New Jersey’s mediation training course and is a qualified mediator in the Law Division, Special Civil Part.

LeTourneau is a graduate of Seton Hall University School of Law (J.D., cum laude, 2007) and the University of Rhode Island (B.A., magna cum laude, 2003).

Alice M. Shanahan has extensive experience representing and counseling clients in highly complex environmental matters. She handles all aspects of environmental law, including policy, enforcement, regulatory compliance, settlements with regulatory entities, pursuit of potentially responsible parties, permits, audits, remediation, transactions, property transfers, Superfund matters, environmental risk assessments and management of environmental liabilities. Shanahan’s practice has a special emphasis on contamination from downstream petroleum operations and soil and groundwater contamination. She serves as in-house, as well as lead counsel for the petrochemical and gasoline industries at major environmental remediation sites and in cost-recovery claims involving environmental agencies and third parties. In doing so, she often leads teams of professionals—including hydrogeologists, chemists, consultants and engineers—to develop the best case. Shanahan also negotiates and drafts documents involving consent decrees, orders and stipulations with regulatory entities, settlements, cost allocation and indemnification, and the sale, transfer, remediation and development of contaminated properties, such as former refineries, terminals and gasoline stations. She previously litigated civil cases at a large New Jersey law firm and practiced healthcare law at a Washington, D.C., law firm and an institution. Additionally, she has provided guidance through professional publications on environmental and healthcare topics—such as a manual for the Department of Justice on Title VI violation investigations and an update on Environmental Protection Agency investigations of Title VI complaints.

Shanahan is a graduate of George Washington University Law School (J.D., cum laude, 2001), where she was a member of The Environmental Lawyer Law Journal and was awarded with an honorable achievement in legal research and writing. She is also a graduate of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services (MPH, 2001) and The College of the Holy Cross (B.A., cum laude, 1998), where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

About Duane Morris

Duane Morris LLP provides innovative solutions to today’s multifaceted legal and business challenges through the collegial and collaborative culture of its more than 800 attorneys in offices across the United States and internationally. The firm represents a broad array of clients, spanning all major practices and industries. Duane Morris has been recognized by BTI Consulting as both a client service leader and a highly recommended law firm.