James B. Ventantonio is a founding partner of the firm and concentrates his practice in the fields of commercial law, litigation, and municipal law.

Mr. Ventantonio’s legal career has crossed the public, private, and academic sectors. Immediately prior to founding the firm, he served as General Attorney and Assistant Vice President for New Jersey Bell, where he headed the General Law Department and was responsible for litigation, risk management and claims, real estate, purchasing and environmental matters. He was also Environmental Counsel for Bell Atlantic, where he directed a multi-discipline staff of investigators, engineers, environmental and occupational safety experts, attorneys and line operations staff.

As a tenured associate professor at Seton Hall University School of Law, Mr. Ventantonio directed the Legal Services Clinic and the Juvenile Justice Clinic. He established a Family Law Clinic, the Woman’s Law Forum, the Hispanic Clinic and a Legal Skills Clinic.

Mr. Ventantonio served in the International Affairs Division of the Office of the Judge Advocate General in the Pentagon, and also spent two years in Taiwan as a commissioned JAG officer in the office of the United States Taiwan Defense Command. After leaving the military, he directed several Legal Services offices, where he appeared before the New Jersey Supreme Court and successfully argued Tibbs v. Board of Education of Franklin Township,  114 N.J. Super, 287 (App. Div. 1971), upholding it upon appeal aff’d. 59 N.J. 506 (1971).

Mr. Ventantonio has been a municipal judge, a municipal prosecutor, and a municipal solicitor. He frequently testifies as an expert witness in legal malpractice and professional ethics matters.

An active member of the civic, business, and professional communities, Mr. Ventantonio is Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees of Raritan Valley Community College. He is a member of the Seton Hall University School of Law Board of Visitors. He has chaired and participated on numerous professional committees for the American Bar Association and the New Jersey State Bar Association.

Mr. Ventantonio holds a B.A. from Seton Hall University School of Law, where he was a Centennial Scholar and a Designated Distinguished Military Graduate. He holds a J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law. He attended the U.S. Army JAGC School at the University of Virginia, where he received the Award for Distinguished Accomplishment in international law.

He is admitted to practice in New Jersey, New York, Federal District Court, Third Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Military Appeals. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the New Jersey State Bar Association, the New Jersey Institute for Local Government Attorneys, and the Somerset County Bar Association.