Mary Patricia Gallagher, Partner, focuses her practice on federal and state court trial and appellate litigation, with an emphasis on employment and labor law, insurance defense, and complex commercial litigation.

Ms. Gallagher regularly represents management in employment-related litigation before state and federal courts and administrative agencies and has experience in a wide range of matters involving alleged discrimination, hostile environment, retaliation, wrongful termination, payment of wages, contract disputes, and other employment-related claims. Her experience also includes traditional labor matters, such as unfair labor practices proceedings, collective bargaining negotiations, and grievance and arbitration proceedings on behalf of public- and private-sector employers.

In addition to her employment practice, Ms. Gallagher has litigated a broad range of actions in both state and federal court, including unfair competition, trade secret misappropriation, breach of contract, and a wide variety of business torts. Ms. Gallagher is the partner in charge of handling class actions and consumer fraud matters for a large insurance company.  She has also participated in the pre-trial preparation in mass torts and class action litigation.

In addition to litigation, a focus of Ms. Gallagher’s practice is counseling and training for management on a wide range of issues, such as maintaining a union-free environment, privacy in the workplace, leave of absence management, wage and hour issues, prevention of unlawful discrimination and harassment in the workplace, and implementation of substance abuse policies. Ms. Gallagher has extensive experience in developing and implementing company policies on these subjects.

Ms. Gallagher has served as a Barrister of the Reitman Employment Law American Inn of Court, the only Inn of Court in the U.S. dedicated to teaching employment and labor law litigation. She has also served as a member of the Supreme Court of New Jersey District XI Ethics Committee, overseeing complaints against lawyers by members of the public, and as a arbitrator for the Superior Court of New Jersey.

Ms. Gallagher earned her B.A., M.Sc., and J.D. from Rutgers University. She is admitted to practice in New Jersey; the U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey; and the U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit. Ms. Gallagher is a member of the Passaic County, New Jersey (Labor and Employment Section), and American Bar Associations. Ms. Gallagher is a member of DRI (Employment Law and Governmental Liability Committees) and New Jersey Defense Association. EMPLOYMENT, LITIGATION