TEL: 201-525-6222
FAX: 201-489-7055
mmeisel@coleschotz.com
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Legal Secretary: Pat Boyko
TEL: 201-489-3000, ext. 5005
pboyko@coleschotz.com

Selected by his peers as one of the Best Lawyers in America for his trial abilities, Mr. 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 arbitration cases, 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 has over 20 years of experience in surety and construction, including performance and payment bond litigation; surety claims, negotiation of takeover, completion and workout agreements, bid protests, as well as construction litigation and arbitration.  Mr. Meisel has served as Chairman of the New Jersey State Bar Association Surety Law Committee and the Bankruptcy Law Section.

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 speaks on litigation topics 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, Commercial Litigation
• Best Lawyers in America, Appellate Law
• Best Lawyers in America, “Bet the Company” Litigation
• Top 100 New Jersey Lawyers
• The New York Area's Best Lawyers, Commercial Litigation and Appellate Law
• Executive Board, Law Firm Alliance
• President, Passaic County Bar Association
• Chairman, New Jersey State Bar Association, 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.]; national distributorship/convenience stores [Century Distributors, et. al. v. Quality Distribution Network, Inc.], corporate financing/private equity [Cornell Capital Partners, L.P., v. Bad Toys, Inc., et al.]; performance bond claims [Geodis USA v. Travelers Insurance Co.]; real estate financing [Cargill Global v. Applied Development], products liability/specialty manufacture [SPL Performance Parts, Inc. v. Sturm, Ruger & Co., 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)].

• 28 Cole Schotz attorneys named to New Jersey Super Lawyers list; 13 named as Rising Stars

• Ask A Lawyer: Nasty Surprise For a New Landlord, The Record
• Complex Litigation -- Attorney-Client Privilege, New Jersey Law Journal