Vincent J. Apruzzese - Mr. Apruzzese, founder of the firm and now of counsel to the firm, is a former Chair of the Labor and Employment Law Section of the American Bar Association.  He is a member of the United States Chamber of Commerce Labor Committee and has been a principal witness for the Chamber before committees of Congress.  He is a former President of the New Jersey State Bar Association and past Chair of its Labor Law Section.  He is also a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers and The College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, Inc.

Frank X. McDermott - Mr. McDermott, who is of counsel to the firm, is an active labor/employment law practitioner.  He has held various leadership positions in both the New Jersey General Assembly and the Senate.  He was Chairman of Governor Kean's Select Committee on the Office of Administrative Law Judges and currently acts as legislative advisor to several corporations.

Francis A. Mastro - Mr. Mastro is of counsel to the firm. Prior to joining Apruzzese, McDermott, Mastro & Murphy, Mr. Mastro was a supervising attorney and a litigation specialist with the National Labor Relations Board.  He also served as in-house labor counsel to the Ingersoll-Rand Company.  He is a former Chair of the Labor Law Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association and a member of the American Bar Association's Developing Labor Law Committee.

PRINCIPALS

Frederick T. Danser, III- Mr. Danser represents many public and private employers and is an active practitioner before the National Labor Relations Board and the Public Employment Relations Commission, as well as other State and Federal agencies.  He is a member of the Labor and Employment Law Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association and is a member of the Labor Law Section of the American Bar Association. 

Maurice J. Nelligan, Jr. - Mr. Nelligan served as the first Executive Director of the Public Employment Relations Commission at the time of its founding.  He is a member of the Labor and Employment Law Sections of the American Bar Association and the New Jersey State Bar Association.  As a principal of the firm, Mr. Nelligan has primary responsibility for representing the New Jersey Highway Authority in all aspects of labor relations.

Barry Marell - Mr. Marell specializes in corporate and business law.  He is a Director and past Chair of the Section on Corporate and Business Law of the New Jersey State Bar Association.  His area of practice also includes real estate law, land use and zoning.  Mr. Marell is a former member of and currently counsel to the Morris County Planning Board.  Mr. Marell is a former member and Chair of the Parsippany-Troy Hills Township Board of Adjustment.

Robert T. Clarke – Mr. Clarke, managing principal, is active in both the public and private sectors, representing clients in various industries.  He has negotiated agreements with a number of unions in the healthcare industry, and services clients in that industry in arbitrations, proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board and in other labor and employment matters.  Mr. Clarke also practices extensively before the Public Employment Relations Commission, and represents a large number of public employers in negotiations with teachers, blue and white collar employees and police and fire employees.  Previously, Mr. Clarke served as an attorney with the Public Employment Relations Commission.  He is a member of the Labor and Employment Law Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association.

Mark J. Blunda – Mr. Blunda has specialized in labor, employment law and school law for the past twenty years.  He has been certified by the New Jersey Supreme Court as a civil trial specialist and in 1995 was named a Master of the Bench to the Employment Law Inn of Court.  He is a graduate of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and Seton Hall Law School, where he received the New Jersey Judges’ Award for Excellence in New Jersey Practice and Procedure.  After clerking in the Chancery Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey, he entered private practice representing boards of education and municipalities throughout New Jersey.  He has appeared as a featured lecturer at the New Jersey School Boards Convention, The League of  Municipalities Convention, The New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission and State Bar Association Annual Conference and the California State University Seminar on Employment Law and Litigation.

James L. Plosia, Jr. – Mr. Plosia concentrates his practice on labor and employment law.  He is a graduate of Rutgers University and an honors graduate of Rutgers Law School (1988), where he was a member of the Law Review and served as its Notes and Comments editor.  Mr. Plosia has written extensively on both labor and employment and education law issues, and speaks frequently on both topics.  He is active in several bar-related activities, including work with mock trial competitions and Rutgers Law School clinics.