TEL: 201-525-6222
FAX: 201-489-7055
mmeisel@coleschotz.com
V-Card 

Legal Secretary: Nadine Lorenzo
TEL: 201-489-3000, ext. 5104
nlorenzo@coleschotz.com

Selected by his peers as among the Best Lawyers in America for his trial abilities, Michael S. Meisel tries significant cases, and argues appeals, in the federal and state courts. A certified trial lawyer, his noteworthy cases include the $12 billion Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company reorganization, where Mr. Meisel was lead litigator and special advisor to the New Jersey Insurance Commissioner and the Attorney General.

Chairman of the firm's Litigation Department, Mr. Meisel tries business cases of every variety. His practice includes shareholder disputes, directors & officers liability, surety, and corporate/insurance reorganization. Mr. Meisel also has successfully tried numerous cases in arbitration, mediated disputes, and often serves as special master, mediator and arbitrator. In all these fields, Mr. Meisel has earned professional distinction among his colleagues and with the courts.

Mr. Meisel also has served on the Supreme Court Civil Practice Committee and as a Federal Bar Association trustee. A former bar examiner, he frequently lectures and has demonstrated trial technique for the Institute of Continuing Education, Surety Claims Institute and International Association of Defense Counsel.

Mr. Meisel's current and past service and distinctions include:

Best Lawyers in America, Business Litigation and Appeals

Top 100 New Jersey Lawyers

The New York Area's Best Lawyers, Appellate Law and Commercial Litigation

Executive Board, Law Firm Alliance 

President, Passaic County Bar Association

Chairman, New Jersey State Bar Association (Fidelity and Surety Law Committee)

Chairman, New Jersey State Bar Association (Bankruptcy Section)

Lawyer Member, Advisory Committee for the Third Circuit

Trustee, Association of the Federal Bar of New Jersey

Trustee, Historical Society, District of New Jersey 

Lawyer Member, New Jersey Supreme Court Civil Practice Committee

Mediator, the United States District Court, District of New Jersey

Arbitrator, United States District Court, District of New Jersey and New Jersey Superior Court

Arbitrator, International Chamber of Commerce, Court of Arbitration

Member, Board of Bar Examiners and the Supreme Court Committee on Bar Admissions

Lecturer, litigation technique and surety law for the Institute of Continuing Legal Education, Surety Claims Institute, and International Association of Defense Counsel

Ethics and Fee Arbitration Committees and charitable boards

Mr. Meisel has been awarded an AV rating for his professionalism and the quality of his legal work from Martindale-Hubbell, the premier directory of legal professionals.

His mediation and arbitration experience includes a broad array of disputes, examples of which are: surety, insurance and construction law [Safeco Insurance Companies of America; Kemper Insurance Group]; trade secret and unfair competition [AEP Industries v. Intertape Polymer Group]; termination of distributorship [Pittra v. Ybbstaler]; commercial real estate/development [Lehigh Housing v. Cofi Hopewell]; estate administration and accountings [Estate of Julius Kropf; Estate of William Boschen]; employment [Velleman v. L-3 Communications; West v. IDT]; franchises [Dunkin Donuts Incorporated v. Double D., LLC]; will contests [Estate of Piccolo]; vendor/retailer disputes [Land N Sea v. United Retail Group]; transportation and tariffs [Canadian National Railway v. Vulcan Materials Corp.]; securities fraud [Washington Group v. Bear Stearns]; private capital/joint venture [iPoint Ventures, LLC v. Pequot Capital Management, Inc.]; gasoline distributorship/supply contracts [Newport Mobil Service, Inc. et. al. v. Conocophillips Co., et al.]; and national distributorship/convenience stores [Century Distributors, et. al. v. Quality Distribution Network, Inc.]

Mr. Meisel's reported cases span a wide range of commercial law, including: insurer reorganization [Mutual Benefit Life Ins. Co., 609 A.2d 768 (1992)]; attorney's liens [Mandlebaum, Salsburg v. General Ins. Company of America, 799 A.2d 672 (2002)]; commercial bribery/trade slander [Printing Mart v. Sharp Electronics, 563 A.2d 31 (1989)]; business brokerage [Kazmer-Standish Consultants, Inc. v. Schoeffel Instruments Corp., 445 A.2d 1149 (1982)]; real estate commissions [Snyder Realty v. BMW of North America, 558 A.2d 28 (1989)]; suretyship [V. Petrillo & Sons, Inc. v. American Const. Co., 371 A.2d 799 (1977)]; trade secret [Bay State Lighting Co. v. Voight Lighting Industries, Inc., 1984 W.L. 1450]; local government [Miller v. Municipal Council of Wayne Township, 354 A.2d 658 (1976)]; attorney fraud/recovery fund [Matter of Kampelman, 398 A.2d 152 (1979)]; equitable liens [UFJ Bank Ltd. v. J & A Intern. Corp., 808 A.2d. 173 (2002)].

• 26 Cole Schotz attorneys designated Super Lawyers
• Michael Meisel named by peers as a Top 100 New Jersey Lawyer

• Complex Litigation -- Attorney-Client Privilege, New Jersey Law Journal