Allyn Z. Lite

ALLYN Z. LITE, the firm's senior partner, specializes in complex commercial and class action litigation. He was appointed by the Judges of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey as Clerk of that Court from 1982 to 1986. While in that position, Mr. Lite served on and was Reporter for the committee that drafted the current Local Rules of the United States District Court for New Jersey. He also created the Court's alternative dispute resolution program.

Mr. Lite is the author of New Jersey Federal Practice Rules (Gann Law Books), the foremost commentary and annotations to the Local Rules, published annually, and cited frequently by judges and attorneys. He was also appointed as one of ten original members of the United States District Court Lawyer's Advisory Committee, on which he served for 11 years.

Mr. Lite's class action litigation experience includes serving in an active role as counsel in hundreds of cases both in New Jersey and elsewhere that have recovered billions of dollars for Class Members. Those cases range from suits to recover compensation for survivors of the Holocaust who had endured forced labor at the hands of German companies during the Nazi era (including most recently, Gross v. German Foundation Industrial Initiative, 456 F.3d 363 (3d Cir. 2006) to seeking relief for policyholders of major insurance companies for improper sales practices in the sale of life insurance, to representing the State of New Jersey's Division of Investment in securities fraud suits to recover losses on investments from companies engaged in corporate wrongdoing. These and many of Mr. Lite's other cases have resulted in reported opinions.

Mr. Lite has also worked for many years alongside some of the nation's top intellectual property firms. He serves as New Jersey counsel in major patent and trademark litigations, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry.

Mr. Lite has been designated as a mediator for the United States District Court. He has mediated environmental litigation involving the nation's largest Superfund site, and a multi-plaintiff public sector discrimination lawsuit, among other cases. Mr. Lite was also appointed by the Superior Court of New Jersey to be the administrator of a class action settlement of employment discrimination claims.

Mr. Lite is a member of numerous court and bar committees, and a frequent writer and lecturer on legal subjects.