Essex County Bar Association Pays Tribute to Gibbons Group Chair Ricardo Solano and Firm Associate Bria Beaufort

Gibbons congratulates Ricardo Solano Jr., Co-Chair of the Gibbons White Collar & Investigations Group, and Bria S. Beaufort, an associate in the firm’s Employment & Labor Law Group, on being honored by the Essex County Bar Association (ECBA) at its Annual Installation and Awards Reception, held May 6 at Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell, New Jersey. Mr. Solano received the ECBA’s 2024 Criminal Practice Achievement Award in recognition of his professional accomplishments, and Ms. Beaufort received the ECBA’s Outstanding Young Lawyer Award, which celebrates the contributions of young lawyers who exemplify excellence, innovation, and leadership. She also was installed as the ECBA’s Young Lawyers Section (YLS) Trustee, as part of the Association’s Board of Officers & Trustees.

Mr. Solano is a well-known, highly regarded leader in the white collar defense space in New Jersey, with extensive trial and appellate experience in white collar criminal and complex commercial litigation matters that often concern allegations of fraud, bribery, False Claims Act violations, public corruption, tax evasion, and money laundering and involve federal, state, and local law enforcement authorities, as well as civil and regulatory proceedings. He is a former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, who served in the National Security Unit, Special Prosecutions Division, and Appeals Division, and in 2008 was appointed as New Jersey’s First Assistant Attorney General, overseeing the Divisions of Criminal Justice, Law, Consumer Affairs, and Gaming Enforcement.

Ms. Beaufort focuses her practice on management-side employment litigation and counseling. Over the years, she has held several positions on the ECBA’s YLS Executive Board. In addition to being an active member of the ECBA, she is also a member of the Garden State Bar Association, Association of Black Women Lawyers of New Jersey, National Association of Women Lawyers, New Jersey State Bar Association, New Jersey Women Lawyers Association, and National Bar Association. She has been included on the New Jersey Super Lawyers “Rising Stars” list for Employment Litigation: Defense, as well as the Best Lawyers^® “Ones to Watch” and the National Black Lawyers “Top 40 Under 40” lists.

“We congratulate Ricardo and Bria on their well-deserved recognitions,” said Peter J. Torcicollo, Gibbons’s Managing Director. “They both are dedicated to their respective areas of the law and the legal field in general, and we are thrilled they are being acknowledged for their stellar work.”

About the Essex County Bar Association   

Founded in 1899, the Essex County Bar Association has since grown to be the largest county bar association in all of New Jersey, currently boasting over 3,000 members. The Essex County Bar Association seeks to improve the relationship between lawyers and the general public primarily by making better lawyers, through training and continuing legal education. The Essex County Bar Association also serves to assist both lawyers and the general public with a lawyer referral service. This allows attorneys to find clients faster, and gives the public a readily accessible pool of attorneys to choose from.