On Tuesday, May 10, 2011, Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis LLP will host a two hour CLE seminar for in house counsels at the Woodbridge Hilton. The seminar, “Strategies to Reduce Litigation Costs and Improve Results,” will be moderated by Joseph M. Aronds, Assistant General Counsel at Hartz Mountain Industries, Inc. The seminar speakers were GRS&D litigation partners, John D. North and William D. Grand. This seminar is part of a continuing series of CLE programs for in house counsels.

Joseph M. Aronds is an Assistant Vice President and Assistant General Counsel of Hartz Mountain Industries, Inc., where his job includes litigating and trying cases. He graduated in 1985 from Rutgers University and received his J.D. in 1988 from Georgetown University Law Center, where, among other things, he received the International Academy of Trial Lawyers Student Advocacy Award. Mr. Aronds is the incoming President of the New Jersey Corporate Counsel Association (NJCCA), the New Jersey Chapter of the national Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), having previously served on the NJCCA’s Executive Committee and Board of Directors. Mr. Aronds also writes and illustrates a cartoon entitled “Overruled!” for the NJCCA’s monthly on-line newsletter. Mr. Aronds has been a Trustee of the Hudson County Bar Association since 2007 and has served on the Board of Directors of the Georgetown University Law Center Corporate Counsel Institute for the past several years. In recent years, Mr. Aronds has participated on numerous continuing legal education panels involving a diverse range of topics, including, for the past five years, presenting an Annual Case Law Update to the New Jersey Defense Association, and has substantial practical, hands-on experience with such matters in his role as a litigation and trial attorney for Hartz. In 2010, the Hartz legal department was named the first ever Legal Department of the Year in the category of In-House Legal Management by the New Jersey Law Journal.

William D. Grand is a partner in GRSD’s Litigation Department. He concentrates in all phases of complex commercial litigation, including trials. He has experience litigating a broad range of commercial disputes and has tried many cases, including suits alleging the theft of trade secrets, violation of non-competition clauses, environmental contamination, and breach of real estate and other contracts. He has been involved in numerous complex condemnation proceedings. Mr. Grand has successfully litigated cases in the Chancery and Law Divisions of the state courts, as well as in the federal courts of the New Jersey District and Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America in the Commercial Litigation, Litigation - Real Estate, Eminent Domain and Condemnation Law, and Litigation - Environmental practice areas (2009, 2010, 2011). Mr. Grand is a Master of the John J. Gibbons Inn of Court for Federal Trial Practice and Intellectual Property; he is a judge at the Yale Invitational Annual Mock Trial Tournament. He is a member of the American and New Jersey Bar Associations.

John D. North focuses his practice in commercial litigation, construction litigation and in professional liability and negligence matters. He has tried numerous jury and non-jury cases in state and federal courts. He has tried over 75 jury cases to verdict, including significant cases in the fields of banking, insurance, legal malpractice, medical malpractice, products liability, and construction. While he primarily handles defensive litigation, Mr. North also maintains a personal injury practice limited to significant injuries and complex liability issues. He obtained the largest personal injury verdict in New Jersey in 2006, a $26.2 million verdict in a products liability “crashworthiness” case. Mr. North is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and of the Litigation Counsel of America and serves as Vice President of the Trial Attorneys of New Jersey. As well, he is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates and the Million Dollar Advocates’ Forum. Mr. North is listed in The Best Lawyers in America 2010 edition in the Commercial Litigation and Personal Injury Litigation practice areas and selected as one of the Top 100 Attorneys in New Jersey in Super Lawyers - New Jersey (2010-11). He is a member of the American and New Jersey Bar Associations