Jim Montano is an experienced lawyer who has tried cases to verdict and handled thousands of depositions and motions in more than 26 years of practice. His innate ability to communicate with his clients, coupled with his degree in Business Management and Finance and experience running his own business, enables him to understand the pressures the client is under, as well as the underlying business and legal needs of his client to build his cases on a solid foundation. Jim has significant experience as National Counsel for clients overseeing local counsel throughout the United States and has conducted seminars on making a client a “hard target” for litigation, a feature of his full-service approach to client relationships. 

Jim is an aggressive litigator who won’t go through the motions and settle a case. Even when the facts of a case on first blush seem challenging, Jim dives in with a “think outside the box” creative mentality to find ways to win. Jim has spent a career building productive relationships with his adversaries and leverages that mutual respect to strengthen his client’s positions in matters. Jim’s strategic counsel helps clients make better-informed decisions, resolve complex legal challenges and achieve specific business goals. In the area of commercial litigation, Jim’s pragmatic approach helps his clients strategically maneuver through litigation while simultaneously finding possible advantageous business solutions that may provide a favorable cost-saving off ramp, if in the client’s interests.

Areas of Focus

Mass Tort, Products Liability & Environmental Litigation
Jim has spent a career handling mass torts that involve overseeing, monitoring, litigating and defending massively large numbers of plaintiffs filing suits with “bet the business” levels of potential liability. These suits have ranged from all manner of products, supplements, drugs and chemical exposures, including asbestos, talc, silica, ephedra, benzene and others, and have dealt with both instant and latent injury claims.  Jim develops a comprehensive and organized approach to these matters that efficiently defends these cases aggressively and in the most cost-effective manner focused on extrication from the current cases while positioning the company to limit or avoid future cases.

Jim also handles environmental matters for clients ranging from leaking underground storage tanks all the way up to multiple PRP litigations of Superfund sites that can have an adverse effect on the risk profile of corporations. Jim has a proven track record of pulling together the brightest minds among PRP counsel to work the case from the inside and affect the driving of creative strategy of the joint defense while allowing his clients to avoid becoming a target.

Commercial & Business Litigation
Jim comes to the firm from his position as a founding partner of a hard-hitting litigation firm. With an instinct for business grounded in his education in management and finance and his background in the insurance industry, Jim analyzes the facts against desired outcomes and draws on the firm’s collaborative structure to assist in the areas of product liability, coverage litigation, and commercial, corporate and business law. In addition, Jim has experience in matters dealing with commercial landlord/tenant, tax lien foreclosure, employment and trademark infringement litigation.

Jim sees beyond legal defense to the business effects on risk management, insurance coverage, brand, future corporate transactions and communications to shareholders.  Jim has represented multinational Fortune 500 companies in matters with multibillion-dollar potential liabilities, down to independent small business owners while still making them feel like each is his only client.

    Education

    • Rutgers School of Law - Camden (J.D., 1996)
    • University of Connecticut (B.S. Business Management & Finance, 1993)
      • cum laude

    Bar Admissions

    • New Jersey
    • New York
    • Pennsylvania

    Court Admissions

    • U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey
    • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York
    • U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York

    Professional Affiliations

    • New York State Bar Association, Trial Lawyers Section
    • New York County Lawyers Association
    • New Jersey State Bar Association
    • American Bar Association Litigation Section: Mass Tort Litigation,
    • Products Liability & Trial Practice Committees

    Awards & Honors

    • Elected Bergen County, NJ, Committeeman
    • Former Vice Chairman, Fair Lawn, NJ, Environmental Commission

James S. Montano

Jim Montano is an experienced lawyer who has tried cases to verdict and handled thousands of depositions and motions in more than 26 years of practice. His innate ability to communicate with his clients, coupled with his degree in Business Management and Finance and experience running his own business, enables him to understand the pressures the client is under, as well as the underlying business and legal needs of his client to build his cases on a solid foundation. Jim has significant experience as National Counsel for clients overseeing local counsel throughout the United States and has conducted seminars on making a client a “hard target” for litigation, a feature of his full-service approach to client relationships. 

Jim is an aggressive litigator who won’t go through the motions and settle a case. Even when the facts of a case on first blush seem challenging, Jim dives in with a “think outside the box” creative mentality to find ways to win. Jim has spent a career building productive relationships with his adversaries and leverages that mutual respect to strengthen his client’s positions in matters. Jim’s strategic counsel helps clients make better-informed decisions, resolve complex legal challenges and achieve specific business goals. In the area of commercial litigation, Jim’s pragmatic approach helps his clients strategically maneuver through litigation while simultaneously finding possible advantageous business solutions that may provide a favorable cost-saving off ramp, if in the client’s interests.

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