Gibbons Managing Director and Chief Diversity Officer Both Elected to the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation

Gibbons P.C. is pleased to announce that Peter J. Torcicollo, Managing Director of the firm, and Robert L. Johnson, Director in the firm’s Corporate Group and the firm’s Chief Diversity Officer, have been elected Fellows of the American Bar Foundation (ABF).

Established in 1955, the ABF Fellows is a global honorary society that recognizes attorneys, judges, law faculty, and legal scholars whose public and private careers have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the highest principles of the legal profession and to the welfare of their communities. ABF Fellows hail from nearly 40 countries and hold a wide variety of influential roles. Through their annual contributions and sponsorship of programming directly relevant to leaders of the legal profession, the Fellows provide integral support to the ABF and particularly to its research projects. Membership is limited to just one percent of lawyers licensed to practice in each jurisdiction. Members are nominated by their peers and selected by the ABF Board.

Mr. Torcicollo and Mr. Johnson join Gibbons attorneys Christine A. Amalfe, Patrick C. Dunican Jr., Lawrence A. Goldman, Jennifer A. Hradil, Lawrence S. Lustberg, Steven H. Sholk, and Kristin D. Sostowski as ABF Fellows.

About Mr. Torcicollo

Mr. Torcicollo has a broad-based commercial litigation practice with substantial trial experience in a variety of forums, including federal courts, the state courts of New York and New Jersey, and both AAA and private party arbitration. He has extensive experience handling construction-related disputes, including contract claims and claims relating to change orders, construction defects, scheduling and delay, construction liens, public bidding, and design. His practice also includes commercial contract disputes, minority shareholder and partnership disputes, restrictive covenant litigation, defense of RICO and class action claims, and labor-related claims in the construction sector.

Mr. Torcicollo is Managing Director of the firm and served as the Chair of the firm’s Professional Development Committee and as the firm’s Director of Recruiting, Associate Retention and Lateral Hiring for more than fifteen years. He is a Trustee of the Association of the Federal Bar of New Jersey, serves on the New Jersey Judicial and Prosecutorial Appointments Committee (JPAC), and is a former Trustee of the Trial Attorneys of New Jersey. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Torcicollo worked in the construction industry.

About Mr. Johnson

Mr. Johnson—a corporate attorney focusing on mergers and acquisitions, and a former Assistant Counsel to the Governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2012—relies on his corporate training and experience to inform his comprehensive corporate practice. Helping business clients expand their markets and establish significant presence throughout the region, Mr. Johnson represents public and private companies, commercial banks, and governmental agencies in connection with mergers and acquisitions, stock and asset purchase transactions, securities regulations, corporate governance matters, credit facilities, public finance, contract drafting, cross-border transactions, and general corporate matters. He also has represented clients in negotiations with the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance for specific exemptions and obtaining certain licenses.

As Chief Diversity Officer of Gibbons P.C., Mr. Johnson is responsible for overseeing the Gibbons Diversity Initiative (GDI), developing and supporting various platforms to promote and achieve a broadly inclusive workforce and workplace through ethnic, gender, and other forms of diversity. As Chief Diversity Officer, Mr. Johnson also focuses on strengthening GDI’s effectiveness, reach, and impact on the legal community by directing strategies to enhance both the internal components of GDI – training, mentoring, retention, and innovative programming – and its external components, encompassing industry-wide thought leadership, pipeline programs for the profession’s future leaders, engagement with like-minded business associations, community outreach, and supplier diversity.

 About the ABF Fellows

The ABF Fellows serve as stewards of the American Bar Foundation, an independent, nonprofit research organization which conducts short- and long-term socio-legal research projects. The ABF’s mission is to serve the legal profession, the public, and the academy through empirical research, publications, and programs that advance justice and the understanding of law. The ABF’s research falls under one of three categories: learning and practicing law; protecting rights and accessing justice; and making and implementing law. The Foundation is committed to broad dissemination of research findings to the organized bar, scholars, and the general public.