Slowinski Atkins LLP – The right Attorneys for your case!

Sally H. Atkins has over twenty-eight years of civil litigation experience in the state and federal courts in New York and New Jersey. Early in her career Sally served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Joseph T. Ryan, J.S.C. and thereafter worked for Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman & Dicker before joining one of the largest regional law firms in New Jersey, Sills, Cummis & Gross, P.C. where she represented major pharmaceutical companies in product liability and toxic tort matters. Sally has extensive experience in the fields of product liability and toxic torts, environmental litigation, insurance defense, appellate practice, automobile litigation and insurance coverage claims and disputes. Sally has been involved in several high profile cases in the areas of workplace exposure and pharmaceuticals and has successfully defended numerous personal injury claims seeking damages for wrongful death, closed head injury, and other serious bodily injuries from automobile collisions, fall downs and workplace accidents. Her broad litigation experience includes the handling of environmental cost recovery actions, mold and lead exposure claims and the successful defense of insurance bad faith claims. She has represented closely held corporations and Fortune 500 companies in a variety of cases including the successful defense of mass tort asbestos claims, product liability actions and toxic tort claims seeking damages for medical monitoring, cancerphobia, various forms of cancer, immunological, blood and pulmonary disorders and other illnesses. Sally has also maintained a diverse litigation practice over the years, representing not only defendants but plaintiffs as well in connection with employment matters, automobile negligence, medical malpractice and personal injury claims.

Education
Sally graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts and Villanova University School of Law. At Villanova she served as a member of the Moot Court Board.

Admissions
Sally is admitted to practice before the Bar of the State of New Jersey Bar, the Bar of the State of New York and the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Angelo A. Cuonzo has concentrated his practice on environmental, toxic tort and commercial litigation for over twenty-eight years. Prior to joining the firm, Angelo was a partner in the law firm of Mattson, Madden & Polito in Newark, New Jersey. A significant part of Angelo’s practice today involves the representation of environmental consultants and Licensed Site Remediation Professionals. He has extensive litigation experience in state and federal courts in New York and New Jersey handling product liability claims, contract disputes and all types of workplace and chemical exposure claims ranging from asbestos, mold and lead to benzene, chlorinated compounds, solvents and other hazardous substances. Over the years Angelo has become one of the leaders in the petro-chemical litigation field, providing representation to Fortune 500 companies in soil and groundwater contamination cases arising out of leaking underground storage tanks, petro-chemical spills and discharges of petroleum hydrocarbons. He has extensive experience representing a wide-range of businesses including major oil companies and other corporate clients in connection with waste disposal practices, chemical exposure claims, workplace injuries and contractual disputes. Angelo has defended personal injury claims seeking damages for medical monitoring, cancerphobia, leukemias and various other forms of cancer. His substantial experience representing petroleum and chemical product manufacturers includes the successful handling of countless cleanup and cost recovery actions brought by federal and state governmental authorities, the successful defense of numerous toxic tort exposure cases, successfully defending oil and chemical company defendants in underground storage tank cases and a multitude of other matters involving environmental property damages caused by the release of hazardous substances from petroleum marketing activities and service station operations. In one such matter Angelo successfully defended a major oil company in litigation involving all the gasoline service station plazas located on the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway.

Education
Angelo graduated from Columbia University in New York City with cum laude honors and Columbia University School of Law.

Admissions
Angelo is admitted to practice before the Bar of the State of New Jersey, the Bar of the State of New York, the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey and the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Kurt E. McCue has been practicing law for over thirty-five years in New York and New Jersey. A substantial part of his practice today is focused on arbitration, mediation, alternative dispute resolution and subrogation of insurance claims. He frequently serves as an arbitrator and mediator for the Superior Court of New Jersey. Upon graduating from law school, Kurt served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Cuddie E. Davidson, Jr., J.S.C., and the Honorable John P. Walsh, J.S.C. He then practiced with the firm of Mattson, Madden & Polito and Clapp & Eisenberg in Newark, New Jersey before joining the firm. Kurt has extensive litigation experience in the areas of civil trial practice, automobile litigation, business disputes, insurance defense, uninsured and underinsured motorist claims, subrogation, insurance coverage and declaratory judgment actions, product liability, toxic torts, and environmental litigation. His broad litigation experience includes the handling of numerous complex matters involving death and serious bodily injury including brain and head trauma cases and closed head injury claims as well as the successful handling of numerous complex insurance coverage and bad faith actions. Kurt has been a member of various organizations including the American Bar Association, the New Jersey State Bar Association, and the Essex County Bar Association. He holds an AV rating from the peer-reviewed Martindale-Hubbell Rating System indicating that he is considered by his peers to be at the highest levels of professional excellence in terms of both legal ability and ethical standards.

Education
Kurt graduated from Seton Hall University, Summa Cum Laude in 1978. He obtained his J.D. degree, cum laude, from Seton Hall University School of Law in 1981. At Seton Hall Law School he was a staff member of the Seton Hall Legislative Bureau.

Admissions
Kurt is admitted to the Bar of the State of New York State, the Bar of the State of New Jersey, the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, the Bar of the District of Columbia, the United States District Courts for the Southern District of New York, the Eastern District of New York, the Western District of New York, and the Northern District of New York, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the United States Tax Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

James Sherman concentrates his practice in all aspects of environmental law including transactional matters, redevelopment projects, site remediation, regulatory compliance counseling, permitting, private environmental cost recovery actions, and insurance coverage litigation. His clients include manufacturers, chemical companies, real estate developers, owners and investors.
James has practiced environmental law in New Jersey since 1998 and has worked on many notable redevelopment projects including Westmont Station, the mixed-use transit-oriented redevelopment of the former Curtiss-Wright manufacturing plant in Wood-Ridge, NJ. He has also been involved in the defense of several high-profile environmental cases including Ciba-Geigy in Toms River and Heterene Chemical in Paterson against concurrent USEPA, USDOJ, and NJDEP civil, criminal, and administrative enforcement proceedings. James has extensive experience in perchloroethylene (PCE) remediations at dry cleaner sites, environmental forensics, and the use of scientific evidence to prove causation in Spill Act cost recovery actions.
In addition to environmental law, James is a thought-leader and has practiced in the field of renewable energy for over a decade. He works with leading renewable energy and Cleantech entrepreneurs, start-ups and multinationals on advanced energy storage systems and microgrids, bio-refineries that convert municipal solid waste to green gasoline, and battery electric trucks and vehicles. He has extensive experience in applying for NYSERDA, USDOE, USDOT, NJEDA and other sources of public funding for renewable energy manufacturing plants and projects. He also works with corporations and universities on climate change and sustainability issues. James has advised clients on solar photovoltaic projects and related power purchase agreements and the sale of renewable energy credits (RECs). He originated and co-moderates the New Jersey State Bar Association’s annual Renewable Energy, Clean Tech & Climate Change Conference.
James served as Assistant Counsel of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYC DEP) from 1994-1998, where he advised the Commissioners, General Counsel, and senior staff of the operating units on compliance with the federal Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. While at NYC DEP, James drafted several sewer use regulations, the New York City Dry Cleaner air regulation, and served as one of NYC DEP’s representatives on the New York State Department of Conservation’s (NYSDEC) industrial process source / air toxics rulemaking advisory panel.
Following law school, James was the Law Clerk to the Hon. James E. Yacos, United States Bankruptcy Judge for the District of New Hampshire.
James is a Commissioner and former Chairperson of the Montclair Environmental Commission, a former trustee of the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions (ANJEC), and is a member of the New Jersey Clean Cities Coalition’s Electric Vehicle Working Group. He is the author of the Sustainable Montclair Planning Guide, the Township of Montclair Tree Preservation ordinance, and is a coach with the Montclair Lacrosse Club.

Education
James graduated from Queens College and the New York University Real Estate Institute. He obtained his Juris Doctor degree from Brooklyn Law School where he was the Recipient of the Penzick Memorial Prize in Administrative Law.

Admissions
James is admitted to practice before the Bar of the State of New Jersey, the Bar of the State of New York, the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, the United States District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the Bar of the State of Massachusetts.

Matthew S. Slowinski has been handling complex civil cases in state and federal courts for nearly 30 years. Matt is an experienced trial lawyer certified by the New Jersey Supreme Court as a Civil Trial Attorney. He has been re-certified several times since his initial certification more than fifteen years ago. Matt has been inducted as a Senior Fellow in the Litigation Counsel of America, a highly selective peer-selected trial lawyer honorary society by invitation only that consists of less than one-half of one percent of American lawyers, or about 3,500 of the best trial lawyers in the country. He has wide-ranging litigation and trial experience having tried environmental and toxic tort cases, medical malpractice cases, commercial contract cases, personal injury claims, underground storage tank cases, automobile accident cases, workplace injury claims and other cases to verdict. He also counsels clients with respect to environmental impact in commercial and residential real estate transactions. Matt has published articles in leading journals in the area of environmental and toxic tort law and is the author of the New Jersey Practice Series volume on Environmental Controls on Real Estate published by West Group, the nation’s definitive publisher of legal textbooks and treatises. In 2005, he was recognized by New Jersey Monthly magazine as one of New Jersey’s foremost attorneys in the field of civil defense and environmental litigation. Over the years his cases have been published or reported in various journals including Toxics Law Reporter, the New Jersey Journal of Environmental Litigation and the New Jersey Law Journal. His substantial experience includes handling all aspects of litigation through trial and verdict of numerous environmental and toxic tort matters including claims by hundreds of consolidated plaintiffs seeking personal injury from consumption of contaminated groundwater, the successful defense and appeal to the Third Circuit of numerous mass tort claims of exposure to asbestos, the successful defense of insurance bad faith claims, death claims, head and brain injury claims, and other serious bodily injury claims from automobile accidents, workplace injuries, fall downs, and other general liability accidents. He has handled cases on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants. Matt is a member of the Diversity Law Institute and the Trial Law Institute. He has received the AV-Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings, demonstrating the highest level of professional excellence.

Education
Matt graduated from the University of Richmond in three years with honors and was awarded Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated from Seton Hall University School of Law in 1986. During his first two years at Richmond he was on the varsity swimming and water polo teams.

Admissions
Matt is admitted to practice before the Bar of the State of New Jersey, the District of Columbia Bar, the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court.