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Defense Digest

On the Pulse… Mount Laurel Office: A Cornerstone of Defense Litigation in South Jersey for Over 40 Years

Defense Digest, Vol. 32, No. 2, June 2026

Marshall Dennehey established its first office in southern New Jersey in 1984. Since that time, the “South Jersey” office, now located in Mount Laurel, has grown to be the second largest Marshall Dennehey office outside of Philadelphia. With 56 attorneys and approximately 75 support staff, this office fully services our clients across the spectrum of defense litigation in South Jersey. As one of the largest law offices primarily dedicated to South Jersey, we are able to provide our clients an unparalleled depth of experience and knowledge, reinforced by long-standing relationships with the local bar and bench. 

The success of this office is based upon many factors, not the least of which is the depth of talent and experience we offer our clients. Our office is composed of many long-time residents of New Jersey, and we have the benefit of being staffed by individuals who have dedicated their careers to Marshall Dennehey, having worked for the firm for over 20, and in some cases, over 30 years. Our office administrator, Sheila Stanley, has been with the firm for 40 years and is an invaluable leader. Coupled with the broad-based resources and experience of the firm, we are able to provide our clients with the highest level of defense litigation support in areas including professional liability, health care liability, casualty, and workers’ compensation.

The Mount Laurel Casualty Group makes up the largest group of attorneys in our office.  Supervised by Barbara Davis, this group includes accomplished, long-time shareholders and trial attorneys who handle cases across the casualty spectrum. They are supported by a skilled group of associates who routinely sit second chair and otherwise support trial counsel at every level. Jeffrey Rapattoni, Assistant Director of the firm’s Casualty Department, serves as Chair of both the SIU/Fraud Litigation Group and the PIP Litigation Group. Our attorneys offer our clients aggressive and specialized knowledge evidenced by their record of success.

Our professional liability group, the second largest in the firm behind Philadelphia, handles a broad range of matters, from architectural, engineering, and construction defect litigation, to real estate liability, public entity and civil rights litigation, and employment law. Our PL group is supervised by Matthew Behr, and is anchored by seasoned litigators and talented associates.

The Mount Laurel Worker’s Compensation Group is led by Bob Fitzgerald, who has been with the firm for 25 years. He leads a successful team of attorneys who are well known within the worker’s compensation bench and bar in South Jersey, and their longevity and high regard within the community affords our clients the highest level of service. 

Our Health Care Group is led by Lynne Nahmani, who has been with the firm since law school -- over 35 years. The Health Care Group defends and routinely tries cases including medical malpractice, hospital/acute care malpractice, long term care litigation, nursing malpractice, dental malpractice, allied health professionals' malpractice, and professional board matters, among others. 

Collaboration has always been a cornerstone of the culture of Marshall Dennehey, and this is nowhere more evident than in the Mount Laurel office. While our attorneys generally practice within their groups, the benefit of having a broad base of litigators allows us to work as a cross-functional team when needed. This provides our clients with the benefits of diverse expertise and collaboration and provides our attorneys with mutual resources at their fingertips. In addition, it allows for our attorneys to continue to learn from each other and work together to continue to lead the market in South Jersey.  

Firm Highlights

Thought Leadership

Appellate Division Affirms Dismissal of Legal Malpractice Counterclaim Against Martin Law Firm

In Martin v. Loury, 2026 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 1617 (App. Div. July 15, 2026), Martin Law Firm represented Kirk Loury in an employment matter Mr. Loury filed against his former employer, Concord Equity Group Advisors LLC (“Concord”). The allegations included, among other things, that Loury was not fairly compensated for his employment with Concord. After a bench trial finding in Loury’s favor, the Appellate Division remanded this matter in February 2016 for a second trial. During the second trial, Concord CEO, Lee Argush, testified to lower compensation estimate than first trial. On remand, the second trial judge awarded Mr. Loury the same damages as the first judge, finding Mr. Argush not credible. After the findings during the second trial, Martin Law Firm filed an action against Mr. Loury to recover legal fees and costs of representing Mr. Loury in a second bench trial and Mr. Loury filed a counterclaim against Martin Law Firm for legal malpractice, alleging he should have received an even higher award in the second bench trial. In this allegation, Mr. Loury, through his expert, claimed that Martin Law Firm should have recalled Mr. Loury to the stand to rebut Mr. Argush’s testimony to allege an alternative theory of damages. Mr. Loury’s expert admitted that the second judge already rejected Mr. Argush's theory and accepted Loury's damages theory. The trial court barred Mr. Loury’s expert and dismissed Loury's counterclaim with prejudice before convening the collection trial, and the jury ruled in Martin Law Firm’s favor. Mr. Loury appealed the trial court's pretrial rulings barring his liability expert from testifying in support of his legal malpractice counterclaim, denying his motion for summary judgment on that counterclaim, and denying his motion to amend his counterclaim by adding attorney Joseph A. Martin as a codefendant. In affirming the trial court’s decision, the Appellate Division held that the trial court properly excluded Loury’s expert testimony in the counterclaim against Martin Law Firm because the expert could not explain how calling Loury as a rebuttal witness would have increased damages when the second judge already rejected Mr. Argush's testimony and accepted Loury's damages theory, making the expert’s causation opinion speculative. The Appellate Division also held that the trial court properly denied Mr. Loury's summary judgment motion on his malpractice counterclaim because reasonable minds could differ on whether Mr. Martin's alleged failures would have changed the second judge's damages award, given the judge already found Mr. Argush not credible, creating genuine factual disputes precluding summary judgment. Also, the Appellate Division held that the trial court properly denied Loury's May 2023 motion to add Joseph Martin individually because the statute of limitations expired in February 2022, six years after the 2016 appellate remand when Mr. Loury incurred new legal costs, and relation back did not apply because Mr. Loury knew Mr. Martin's identity throughout and strategically chose to sue only Martin Law Firm in his 2019 counterclaim.