Katz melds experience plus knowledge of Sussex County into new law practice

Newton - One of the area’s most prominent public defenders has retired from the public sector. But his work in Sussex County has just begun. Jeffrey S. Katz of Stillwater, the immediate past-president of the Sussex County Bar Association and current chair of the criminal practice and nominating committees for the Bar Association, just opened the doors to his own private practice in Sussex County. Because of his diverse experience in the public sector, Katz feels his new firm is ideally suited to investigate and manage major and minor civil and criminal litigation cases as well as appellate matters. His goals for private practice include “providing help and services to a wider range of clientele.” Katz graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1970. While taking a course on the judiciary, he said, “ I had had the chance to observe a trial where William Kunstler was defending some political cause and I became interested in the law.” While attending Boston University, Katz landed a job as a legal assistant with Siben and Siben, a large law firm in Long Island. He worked there for two summers, gaining experience on his way to graduating Magna Cum Laude in the Honors Writing Program from Boston University in 1974 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. Katz went on to Rutgers Law School in Camden. In his first semester, he received the American Jurisprudence Award for Excellence in Contracts. Then, he said he was “very fortunate” to land a legal internship at the Office of the New Jersey Attorney General, Division of Criminal Justice, Antitrust Division. Katz earned his law degree in 1977 and quickly was hired as a deputy attorney general for the State of New Jersey and assigned to the state enforcement bureau, thereafter to the elite trial section handling state grand jury indictments, organized crime cases, and super-session matters that led him to courtrooms throughout the state. “One of the first cases assigned to me was here in Sussex County,” he recalled. “When I finally reached Newton from Trenton, I could not believe how beautiful it was up here, and how much it reminded me of New England where I had moved from. Right then I hoped to someday have a chance to practice law in this community.” That chance arose through Gerald B. Hanifan, then deputy public defender of Morris and Sussex counties and now retired judge of the N.J. Superior Court, who, in March of 1982, persuaded Katz to become an assistant deputy public defender assigned to Sussex and Warren Counties handling all juvenile cases and half of the cases involving adult defendants. “My dream had come true,“ Katz said. Five years later, when Hanifan was in line to become a superior court judge, Katz was given the job of deputy public defender for Sussex County. He served in that capacity until 1998, when he was transferred to Warren County where he remained until Sept. 1 of this year, when he finally moved to the private sector. Katz’ career in Sussex County included the trial of Anis Eisely for the murder of his wife. “It is my understanding that it remains the only case in Sussex County history where a jury found a defendant charged with murder not guilty by reason of insanity,” he said. Katz was also the lead counsel in most of the death penalty cases that proceeded in Sussex County after the death penalty was reinstated in 1981-82. “On a personal note, Sussex County is so rich in hills, forests, and little rivers that I knew the quality of my life would be so much improved given my fondness of running, hiking, canoeing, kayaking, skiing, and pretty much every outdoor activity I had opportunity and time to tackle,” he said. For three years, he volunteered as assistant cross country coach at Newton High School. “I also had the opportunity to spin the discs at a local radio station for a couple of years and went under the moniker Katman, hosting the Litter Box on the Monday morning drive into work,” he confided. He participated as a coach for Kittatinny High School’s first mock trial teams. He also served two separate terms on the board of directors of Peters Valley, helping the arts center at a time when it appeared that its very existence was in jeopardy. Over the years, he’s served on a number of boards serving the Sussex County Communtiy Youth Services Commission and others. When the Family Court was being created in each county throughout the state, Judge Kingfielf assigned Katz the task of creating and writing the preamble to the Warren County Family Court. The Law Office of Jeffrey S. Katz represents all clients. After years in the public sector, Katz plans to take the experience and skill he’s gleamed over the years and extrapolate it into the private sector. In just a month of private practice, he said, he’s made personal attention to clients his hallmark. Katz’ law office is located at 52 Trinity Street in the home of Meltzer, Masel and Mattia, in downtown Newton.. He can be reached at 973-383-5001or via e-mail at Katzman53@yahoo.com.