New Jersey Employment Lawyer

A Word From Anders Wenstrand

Before law school I served in the U.S. Army and then worked in finance and in the crypto industry. I studied at the London School of Economics, where I earned a master’s degree, and then at New York Law School.

That background shapes how I practice. I have watched the crypto industry from the inside, so when someone tells me their funds are gone I do not need the technology explained to me before I can start helping. And the Army taught me that a plan is only as good as the person’s ability to execute it when things go wrong.

What I like about this work is that it is almost never really only about the law. A client who wants a will drafted is usually thinking about one particular child or a possible family situation. A client reviewing a purchase agreement is thinking about whether they can afford the roof or whether there are hidden risks. A client facing a first-offense charge is thinking about a professional license or what the consequences may be form having a record. The legal instrument is the tool. The thing being protected is somebody’s life, career, reputation or freedom. I try never to lose track of which is which.

We also do a lot of civil litigation. Often clients come to us feeling that something is deeply unfair: a contract that was violated, a lawsuit filed against them that should never have been filed, an insurance company that ignored the truth, or a government entity that trampled on their freedom of speech. Those cases are about making the other side answer for what they did, and we take them seriously. We also have a dedicated practice helping victims of crypto fraud recover what was taken.

I also try to be reachable, which sounds like a low bar until you have tried to get a lawyer on the phone. If you email me, you will hear back from me. If your matter is not one we should handle, I will tell you that early. If I can’t get to the email, I will text you and ask if I can call you even if after hours.

Working Alongside Dhara A. Patel

Our practice is strengthened considerably by Dhara A. Patel, who handles estate planning, real estate and select matters.

Dhara came to law by an unusual route, and it shows in her work. Before law school she earned a bachelor’s degree and then a master’s in professional accountancy from Bryant University, and she practiced as a tax accountant and consultant at PwC. If you have ever sat through a conversation about basis, valuation discounts, or the tax treatment of an entity conversion with someone who has actually prepared the returns, you understand immediately what that background is worth. She is admitted in New Jersey, New York, and Texas.

As a first-generation attorney, Dhara is unusually attentive to clients who have never worked with a lawyer before and are not sure what they are allowed to ask. She combines efficient virtual service with real personal attention, and her stated aim, turning difficult situations into opportunities for stability, growth, and long-term success, is one we have watched her deliver on repeatedly.

What We Do

Civil litigation. Breach of contract, business disputes, defense of lawsuits that should not have been brought, insurance coverage and bad faith, and constitutional and First Amendment claims against government actors. We litigate in the state courts of New Jersey and New York and in federal court in both states.

Wrongful and unlawful termination. If you were fired for reporting misconduct, for taking medical or family leave, for a disability, your age, your race, your sex, your religion, or your national origin, or in retaliation for complaining about any of those things, you may have a claim even though New Jersey and New York are both at-will employment states. New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination and its Conscientious Employee Protection Act are among the strongest employee protection statutes in the country, and New Jersey also recognizes a common-law claim for discharge in violation of a clear mandate of public policy. New York has no common-law wrongful discharge claim, but its State and City Human Rights Laws and its expanded whistleblower statute cover most of the same ground, and federal law, including Title VII, the ADA, the ADEA, and the FMLA, applies in both states. We evaluate the facts, calculate what the claim is actually worth, handle the administrative filings and deadlines, and litigate in state or federal court when the employer will not resolve it. We also review severance agreements before you sign them, because a release signed in a hurry can end a good claim.

Wills and living trusts. Wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts, pour-over wills, guardianship designations for minor children, beneficiary coordination, and probate administration in the Surrogate’s Courts of both states.

Powers of attorney and advance directives. Durable powers of attorney, New York statutory short form powers of attorney, health care proxies, living wills, and the hard conversations about capacity and successor agents that ought to come with them.

Business contracts. Drafting, review, and negotiation of operating agreements, shareholder agreements, master services agreements, independent contractor agreements, licensing deals, non-disclosure and restrictive covenant provisions, and commercial leases. We dissect clauses before you are bound by them, not after.

First Amendment and defamation. We represent people who have been defamed and people accused of it. Pre-publication review, retraction demands, anti-SLAPP motions, and litigation over libel, slander, false light, and the line between a factual assertion and protected opinion.

Real estate. Residential and commercial purchases and sales, New Jersey attorney review and closings.

Landlord-tenant law. Evictions, non-payment and holdover proceedings, notice compliance, habitability and repair claims, security deposit disputes, illegal lockouts, rent stabilization and overcharge questions, and lease drafting. We represent both property owners and tenants, though never on opposite sides of the same dispute.

Driving while intoxicated and Title 39 violations. New Jersey DWI and refusal defense, motor vehicle summonses, license exposure, and municipal court representation, with attention to the evidentiary foundations most drivers do not know they can challenge.

Criminal matters. Disorderly persons offenses and indictable charges including shoplifting, simple and aggravated assault, and domestic violence, along with the restraining order proceedings that often come with them.

Crypto, digital asset matters, and scam recovery. Unlike most firms, we understand crypto, because we have attorneys who have worked in the crypto field. We partner with some of the best investigators in the business to trace stolen funds and pursue recovery. We also review contracts and token arrangements that involve crypto, and advise on the regulatory questions that come with them.

Insurance coverage disputes and bad faith claims. We sue insurance companies. Denied and underpaid property claims, business interruption, uninsured and underinsured motorist claims, disability and life benefits, and litigation over a carrier’s refusal to defend or to settle within policy limits. We represent policyholders, never insurers.

How an Engagement Actually Works

We start with a real conversation. An initial consultation is a conversation about facts, timing, and exposure, not a sales pitch. You will leave it knowing more than you came in with, whether or not you retain us.

We tell you the shape of the thing. Likely paths, likely costs, likely timeline, and the risks that do not appear in the brochure. If we think your matter is weak, you will hear that from us before you spend money on it.

We stay reachable through the whole matter. Deadlines move, the other side behaves unpredictably, and facts develop. You should not have to wonder what is happening in your own case.

Two States, One Firm

The New Jersey–New York border creates real complications for people who do not live their lives in only one of them. A Cranford resident who works in Manhattan, a family with a shore house and a co-op, a business incorporated in Delaware and operating in both states, an estate with real property on each side of the Hudson: each of these presents choice-of-law, tax, and procedural questions that a single-state practitioner has to refer out. Being admitted in both means we can handle the whole matter rather than half of it.

If Your Matter Is Somewhere Else

Do not assume we cannot help just because your matter is outside New Jersey or New York. Call and ask.

A good deal of what we do is not tied to a state line in the first place. Federal regulatory work on securities, commodities, FinCEN, and digital assets is federal law wherever you sit. Commercial contracts usually name their own governing law, and the analysis follows that choice rather than your address. First Amendment claims turn on federal constitutional doctrine. And because I am admitted in the District of New Jersey and the Southern District of New York, matters that belong in federal court can stay with us rather than being handed off.

Where a matter genuinely requires admission somewhere we are not admitted, there are ordinary ways to handle it: we associate with local counsel, seek admission pro hac vice for the particular case, or refer you to a lawyer we would use ourselves. We have no interest in taking on work we are not positioned to do well. But “are you licensed in my state” is much less often the end of the conversation than people expect.

Talk to Us

If you are weighing a decision, holding an unsigned document, or facing a court date, the most useful thing you can do is stop guessing.

Phone: (201) 431-6199
Email: info@wenstrandlaw.com
New Jersey: 184 North Avenue East, Suite 9, Third Floor, Cranford, NJ 07016
New York: 136 Madison Avenue, 5th and 6th Floors, New York, NY 10016