NJ Senate Judiciary Committee OKs 14 Judicial Nominees

The New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday recommendedapproval of 13 nominations to the state Superior Court and onenomination to the Office of Administrative Law.

Final confirmation votes by the full Senate are expected to beheld Thursday, which is the last day the Senate is scheduled tomeet before it takes its summer recess.

The nomination hearings passed through the Judiciary Committeewith no opposition.

Those nominated to the Superior Court bench are:

Gregory Acquaviva of Neptune has been chief counsel toRepublican Gov. Chris Christie since March.

Acquaviva became Christie's chief counsel in March, after ThomasScrivo, who had held that position since 2014, announced hisdeparture to join a firm headed by Republican state Sen. KevinO'Toole O'Toole Scrivo in Cedar Grove. Scrivo was joined by sixlawyers from his old firm, Morristown's McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney& Carpenter, where Scrivo had once been co-chairman of thefirm's commercial litigation group.

From 2015 to 2017, Acquaviva was vice president of governmentaffairs at United Health Group. From 2014 to 2015, he was chief ofstaff to Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno. Acquaviva was an assistant counselto Christie from 2012 to 2014, and from 2011 to 2012, he was alegislative and regulatory analyst for Guadagno. From 2010 to 2011,he was with what is now Gibbons in Newark.

He is a graduate of Seton Hall University School of Law andMonmouth University.

Ralph Amirata of East Hanover. Amirata has been an assistantEssex County prosecutor since 2008, and currently serves as thedirector of the homicide and major crime units. He served anearlier term in that office, from 1997 to 2002, before beginning asix-year stint as an assistant Morris County prosecutor. He is agraduate of Hofstra University School of Law and Penn State.

John Burke III of Annandale. Burke has been an assistantHunterdon County prosecutor since 2011, and currently is thesupervising prosecutor of the Major Crimes Unit. From 2005 to 2011,he was a detective with the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office,and from 2002 to 2005, he was an assistant Union County prosecutor.Burke is a graduate of the Quinnipiac University School of Law andRutgers University.

Rodney Cunningham of Galloway. Cunningham, since 2005, hasbeen with the Public Defender's Office of Parental Representation,where he counsels indigent parents who have been charged with abuseor neglect and who may lose parental privileges. From 1996 to 2005,he was the supervising attorney for the AIDS Law Project ofPhiladelphia. He is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Centerand Rutgers.

Pamela D'Arcy of Galloway. She is an assistant Atlantic Countyprosecutor assigned to the Special Victims Unit. D'Arcy has beenwith the prosecutor's office since 2003, and currently is theacting first assistant prosecutor. She worked as a solo from 1998to 2002, and from 1988 to 1991 was with Dubbs, DePodwin &Goodstein in Spring Valley, New York. She is a graduate of BaldwinCollege and the Loyola University School of Law.

Deborah Hanlon-Schron of Toms River. She is the executiveassistant Ocean County prosecutor. No further biographicalinformation on Hanlon-Schron was immediately available.

LaToyia Jenkins of Butler. Jenkins has been an assistantPassaic County prosecutor since 2002, and currently handlesdomestic violence cases. In 2002, she was with Sciro & Marottain Paterson, and also was a staff attorney with Essex-Newark LegalServices. She is a graduate of Rutgers Law School-Camden and MorganState University.

Martha Lynes of Kearny. Lynes is with Chasan Lamparello Mallon& Cappuzzo in Secaucus, where she focuses on premises liabilitydefense, products liability defense and automobile negligencedefense.

Valter Must of Toms River. Must has been with Carluccio,Leone, Dimon, Doyle & Sacks in Toms River since 2012, where hefocuses on civil litigation, construction litigation, commerciallitigation, matrimonial law, estate law and criminal law. From 1986to 2012, he was with Rothstein, Mandell, Strohm, Must & Halm inLakewood. At various times, he has been the municipal prosecutor inLakewood, Point Pleasant, Point Pleasant Beach, Manchester andSeaside Park. Must is a graduate of Seton Hall Law School andSyracuse University.

Marlene Sheppard of Ocean City. Sheppard has been a solo inOcean City since 2008, and focuses on real estate law and generallitigation. She also is a surrogate judge for Cape May County. From2003 to 2006, she was an assistant solicitor for Atlantic City.From 1993 to 2003, Sheppard was with McCabe, Weisberg & Conwayin Philadelphia, and from 1991 to 1993, she was with what now isBlank Rome in Philadelphia. She is a graduate of Widener UniversitySchool of Law and Villanova University.

Christine Smith of Upper Township. Smith has been an assistantCape May County prosecutor since 2005 and currently is assigned tothe Major Crimes Unit. From 2004 until 2005, she had her ownpractice in South Seaville, where she focused on family and civillitigation. Smith is a graduate of Widener University School of Lawand Rutgers.

Barbara Stanton of Mendham. Stanton is with Carmagnola &Ritardi in Morristown, where she represents management anddefendants in discrimination and whistleblower cases, and otheremployment litigation. She also was an assistant U.S. attorney inNew Jersey from 1998 to 2001. She received her undergraduate andlaw degrees from Fordham University.

Robert Vinci of Mendham. Vinci has been with the Florham Parkoffice of Drinker, Biddle & Reath since 1995, focusing onlitigation in federal and state courts, insurance coveragedisputes, property liability, professional liability, productliability, and land use law. He is a graduate of Rutgers LawSchool-Camden and Rutgers.

The nominee to become an administrative law judge is PatriciaCaliguire of Skillman. Caliguire since 2014 has been with McCarter& English in Newark, where she focuses on energy law. Shepreviously was chief counsel to the state Board of PublicUtilities. She was the BPU chief of staff from 2012 to 2014. Beforethat, she was an associate at McCarter & English and practicedat the Houston office of Vincent & Elkins. Caliguire is agraduate of the University of Texas School of Law and CornellUniversity.