Gibbons Promotes Four New Directors in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware

Gibbons P.C. is pleased to announce that four attorneys, across three of the firm’s offices, have been named Directors, effective January 1, 2015.

“We are extremely proud of this year’s class of new Directors,” stated Patrick C. Dunican Jr., Chairman and Managing Director of Gibbons. “We look forward to watching them continue to grow and advance in the legal profession.”

Scott J. Etish
Business & Commercial Litigation Department – Philadelphia Office
Mr. Etish has a diverse litigation practice focused primarily on commercial and construction disputes, insurance coverage, partnership and shareholder disputes, antitrust, real estate, breach of fiduciary duties, and restrictive covenants. Mr. Etish primarily represents and counsels clients in the construction, real estate, insurance, pharmaceutical, food, manufacturing, and financial services industries. He regularly appears before state and federal courts in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and he manages all phases of litigation.

Mr. Etish served as a law clerk to Justice John E. Wallace, Jr., Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, and earned his JD from Rutgers University School of Law – Camden and his BA from Wesleyan University. He is admitted to practice in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Natasha Songonuga
Financial Restructuring & Creditors’ Rights Department – Wilmington Office
Ms. Songonuga has extensive experience in business reorganization and restructuring matters, working across the full spectrum of chapter 11 cases, as well as counseling creditors in assignments for the benefit of creditors state court insolvency proceedings. She also handles a wide range of other matters, including managing the claims objection and reconciliation process for thousands of claims; drafting, negotiating, and objecting to plans of reorganization and liquidation; section 363 sales; stay relief motions; and handling related litigation. In addition to her bankruptcy practice, Ms. Songonuga handles matters locally for the firm’s Products Liability clients involved in asbestos litigation and has represented landlords in FDIC receiverships of banks arising from the recent subprime debacle.

Ms. Songonuga earned her JD from Seton Hall University School of Law and her BS from Rutgers University. She is admitted to practice in Delaware, New Jersey, and New York.

Christopher H. Strate
Intellectual Property Department – Newark Office
Mr. Strate has extensive experience representing clients in numerous fields, and in connection with various technologies, in patent litigation and prosecution matters. He analyzes clients’ products for patentability and assists them in drafting patent applications and prosecuting the application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. He also advises clients on matters of patent validity and infringement. In addition, Mr. Strate has negotiated and drafted patent licenses, development agreements, supply agreements, litigation settlement agreements, and non-disclosure agreements.

Mr. Strate earned his JD from George Mason University School of Law and his BS from University of Pennsylvania – School of Engineering and Applied Science. He is admitted to practice in New Jersey and Connecticut, as well as in the United States Patent & Trademark Office.

Jennifer Marino Thibodaux
Business & Commercial Litigation Department – Newark Office
Ms. Thibodaux represents companies in a broad range of complex commercial matters and consumer class action lawsuits. She has extensive experience defending class action lawsuits involving consumer fraud and consumer product claims arising under the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act (NJCFA), Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA), Truth In Consumer Contract, Warranty and Notice Act (TCCWNA), Product Liability Act (NJPLA), California consumer protection statutes, and the U.S. Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA).

Ms. Thibodaux served as a law clerk to the Honorable Edwin R. Alley, New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, and earned her JD from Seton Hall University School of Law and her BA from Bucknell University. She is admitted to practice in New Jersey and New York.

Pictured from left to right: Scott J. Etish, Natasha Songonuga, Christopher H. Strate, and Jennifer Marino Thibodaux