Judge Derman’s experience as a practicing attorney includes tax (she has an L.LM. in tax from New York University), corporate, securities, contract negotiation, real estate, estate planning and estate administration, and planned real estate development. As a civil trial judge in Middlesex and the Presiding Judge of the Civil Division in Somerset Counties, Judge Derman tried and settled thousands of personal injury matters, ranging from slip and fall and UM/UIM and malpractice cases to complex, multiparty litigation. The Judge also handled employment litigation, trying and settling sexual harassment, CEPA, and workplace discrimination cases, as well as several million-dollar construction defect and injury cases.

In the Chancery Court, Judge Derman oversaw matters dealing with corporate and partnership matters, with many cases emanating from family succession issues, quiet title actions with emphasis on easements, medical and other restrictive covenant questions, as well as securities and trade secret disputes. Judge Derman considers her experiences in practice, handling estate administration and estate planning, as having served her well as Probate Judge in Somerset County where she tried and settled Will contests and elective share, undue influence, breach of fiduciary duty, and fiduciary accounting cases, among other matters. Judge Derman is also a member of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel.

Judge Derman’s service in the Family Division provided the experience to provide the child custody and parenting time arbitration services recently approved by the Supreme Court in Fawzy v. Fawzy, 199 N.J. 456 (2009), as well as mediation or arbitration services with regard to alimony, child support, equitable distribution, and relocation.

The firm is pleased to have Judge Derman join the firm to lead us in the growing field of ADR. She is available to assist litigants in resolving disputes in a prompt and cost-effective manner.

DiFrancesco, Bateman, Coley, Yospin, Kunzman, Davis & Lehrer, PC ( www.dbnjlaw.com ) is a full service law firm in New Jersey which provides a broad range of legal services, including Alternate Dispute Resolution. For additional information about the matters in this bulletin or in the firm’s ADR practice, please contact Judge Harriet Derman, Ret. who heads the firm’s ADR Practice Group.