NJBIZ Honors Gibbons Director Michael Griffinger with One of Its First-Ever Icon Awards

News

June 29, 2017

This attorney has been selected for the recognitions mentioned herein, which have been conferred by the corresponding publications and/or organizations noted. An overview of the award selection methodologies for these recognitions can be found at https://www.gibbonslaw.com/awards. Links to certain specific methodologies are embedded in individual entries. Results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstances. No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Michael R. Griffinger, a Director in the Business & Commercial Litigation Department at Gibbons P.C., was one of only 22 business leaders throughout the state to receive a 2017 “Icon Honors” award from NJBIZ, New Jersey’s premier business news publication. This is the first year NJBIZ has held this awards program. Winners will be honored at a ceremony on August 23 at the Palace at Somerset Park in Somerset, and they will be profiled in a special supplement to an upcoming issue of NJBIZ.

NJBIZ launched the Icon Honors program in 2017 to celebrate New Jersey business leaders over the age of 60 who have achieved noteworthy success, demonstrated strong leadership and unique vision, and shown a longstanding commitment to the New Jersey business community. The Icon Honors recognize years of exceptional work in the state and in the winners’ respective industries.

Mr. Griffinger has contributed to the health and growth of the New Jersey business community as an active business and commercial litigator for over 50 years, representing major United States and foreign corporations across numerous industries, including railroad, automobile, food, telecommunications, and several others that are particularly important to the state’s economy, such as manufacturing, finance, and pharmaceuticals. Among his many accomplishments, he was part of the committee that successfully created a special Business Track within the New Jersey court system to handle complex commercial disputes and build a body of written opinions that could serve to guide the business community in its commercial practices. He also litigated precedent-setting cases that led to the establishment or clarification of important commercial rules, such as the Business Judgment Rule.

Mr. Griffinger was selected for this award on the additional basis of his expansive charitable and civic commitments. As a result of the Newark riots in the late 1960s, he began his decades-long work for several legal services organizations, starting with Essex-Newark Legal Services, where he served as Chairman of the Board. He later helped to found two programs with similar objectives – equal access to strong legal representation and fair treatment within the justice system, regardless of position or income: Volunteer Lawyers for Justice (VLJ) and the John J. Gibbons Fellowship in Public Interest & Constitutional Law. Mr. Griffinger has served on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center since 1995, and he founded the Fresh Air Fund Games.

Various organizations have recognized Mr. Griffinger for his professional and volunteer efforts, including the New Jersey Law Journal (2016 Lifetime Achievement Award); Volunteer Lawyers for Justice (Champion of Change); New Jersey State Bar Foundation (Medal of Honor Award); Trial Attorneys of New Jersey (Trial Bar Award); and the Association of the Federal Bar of New Jersey (William J. Brennan, Jr. Award). He has been listed as one of the leading “Bet-the-Company” and business litigators in the state in such publications as Woodward/White Best Lawyers®, Thomson Reuters New Jersey Super Lawyers, and Chambers USA Guide to America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.

A full list of the 2017 NJBIZ Icon Honors winners can be found here.

No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey. 
A description of the selection process methodology for the awards referenced is available at 
gibbonslaw.com/awards/.