| TRENTON
– Attorney General Stuart Rabner today
announced the appointment of Robert J. Gilson
as Director of the Division of Law in the
Department of Law and Public Safety. He
will begin in his new position on November
13.
In announcing the Division of Law appointment
today, Attorney General Rabner also announced
the appointment of John Michael Vazquez
as an Assistant Attorney General and Special
Assistant to the Attorney General who will
work on criminal justice matters.
Gilson, 48, of Sparta, is a partner in the
litigation group of the law firm Riker,
Danzig, Scherer, Hyland and Perretti. He
serves as chairman of the firm’s Appellate
Practice Group, as well as its Pro Bono
Committee. Gilson has extensive courtroom
experience at both the federal and state
level, including appellate work. He is a
member of the New Jersey Supreme Court Advisory
Committee on Professional Ethics, is a former
chairman and trustee of the Supreme Court’s
New Jersey Lawyer’s Fund for Client
Protection Committee, and served as a member
of its District X Ethics Committee.
“Bob
Gilson has a well-deserved reputation as
an outstanding attorney of the highest ethical
standards. As Director of the Division of
Law, I am confident he will serve this department
and the citizens of New Jersey well,”
said Attorney General Rabner.
“I
look forward to joining the Office of the
Attorney General and to having the chance
to work with the dedicated women and men
of the Division of Law,” said Gilson.
“I will strive to serve the people
of New Jersey with integrity, energy and
a devotion to the fair and impartial administration
of the law.”
The
Division of Law provides legal representation
and counsel to departments, boards, offices,
commissions and other entities of state
government, as well as its officers and
employees. As part of its mission, the Division
of Law represents the state in all legal
matters including actions to enforce the
law, defend state statutes and protect state
interests in contractual matters.
After
graduating from law school, Gilson served
as law clerk to Judge John J. Gibbons of
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third
Circuit from September 1985 through August
1986. Gilson joined Riker, Danzig, Scherer,
Hyland and Perretti in September 1986. His
recent work for the firm has concentrated
primarily in the area of commercial litigation,
including corporate acquisitions, contract
disputes, and product liability matters.
He has also handled many employment-related
cases, matters involving corporate governance,
and construction cases.
Gilson earned a B.A. degree from Hamilton
College in Clinton, N.Y., in 1980, graduating
cum laude with honors in history. He received
his J.D. with magna cum laude honors from
the Boston College Law School in Newton,
Mass. in 1985. That same year he was admitted
to the New Jersey bar, as well as the U.S.
District Court-New Jersey bar.
Gilson
is a member of the American Bar Association
and the New Jersey Federal Bar Association.
In addition to his private practice work,
he has been involved with a broad array
of pro bono matters, including serving as
pro bono legal counsel to such non-profit
organizations as Children on the Green,
Inc. and the former Morristown School of
the Arts. He has also served on the New
Jersey Supreme Court Task Force on Drugs
and the Courts.
Married and the father of four children,
Gilson remains active in a number of community
endeavors. He is a Lector and Catechist
of the Blessed Kateri Roman Catholic Parish,
and a current trustee of the Morris Area
YMCA.
Vazquez,
a former federal prosecutor, will assist
the Attorney General and Division of Criminal
Justice Director Gregory Paw in investigations
into public corruption and white collar
fraud.
Vazquez, 36, served for the past five years
as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S.
Attorney’s Office, District of New
Jersey. For the past two years, he was Health
Care Fraud Coordinator for the U.S. Attorney,
overseeing all criminal investigations and
prosecutions in that area, while also handling
securities fraud matters. Prior to that,
he handled various prosecutions for the
office’s Criminal Division, Major
Narcotics Unit and Terrorism Unit.
Vazquez
received a bachelor’s degree in political
science and history from Rutgers College
in 1992 and graduated summa cum laude from
Seton Hall University School of Law in 1996.
He was an associate in the law offices of
Michael Critchley & Associates in West
Orange from September 1997 until September
2001. He clerked for Judge Herman D. Michaels,
the presiding judge of the New Jersey Superior
Court Appellate Division. Vazquez lives
in Boonton with his wife and two children.
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