Category Archives: Featured Post

Gerald R. Salerno

For more than four decades, the name Gerald Salerno has been synonymous with professionalism, integrity, and excellence in the practice of law. Throughout his distinguished career, Jerry has exemplified the finest traditions of the profession—as a skilled advocate, trusted counselor, dedicated public servant, and steadfast member of the Bergen County legal community.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Jerry graduated from Seton Hall University in 1982 and earned his Juris Doctor from Georgetown University in 1985. Following law school, he began his legal career as law clerk to the Honorable Charles R. Di Gisi, Presiding Criminal Judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Bergen County.
For more than three decades, Jerry was a partner at Aronsohn, Weiner, Salerno & Kaufman. Following the firm’s recent merger with Einhorn, Barbarito, Frost, Botwinick, Nunn & Musmanno, P.C., he continues to concentrate his practice in complex civil and commercial litigation, commercial real estate and transactional matters, zoning and land use, and redevelopment.

Over the course of his career, Jerry has represented businesses, developers, redevelopers, financial institutions, municipalities, and local boards in high-stakes litigation, significant development projects, and complex regulatory matters throughout New Jersey. He brings to each matter decades of experience in land use, redevelopment, and municipal law, coupled with a sophisticated understanding of the legal, financial, and practical considerations that shape complex transactions and disputes. He also represents businesses and individuals in sophisticated commercial litigation, drawing upon his extensive courtroom experience and deep knowledge of the law.

Jerry’s commitment to public service is reflected in the many roles he has undertaken on behalf of municipalities and public entities. He currently serves as Borough Attorney for the Borough of East Rutherford, Land Use Board Attorney for the Borough of Wood-Ridge, Planning Board Attorney for the Borough of Rutherford, and Public Defender for the Pascack Joint Municipal Court. His prior public-sector service includes serving as Special Redevelopment Counsel to the Lodi Planning Board, Counsel to the Upper Saddle River Zoning Board of Adjustment, Counsel to the Upper Main Street Business Alliance in Hackensack, and Prosecutor for the Boroughs of Wood-Ridge and Oradell.

A longstanding leader in the Bergen County legal community, Jerry is a Past President of the Bergen County Bar Association. He also served for six years as the Bergen County representative to the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Judicial and Prosecutorial Appointments Committee and as a member of the Bergen County Bar Association Judicial Appointments Committee. In these roles, he devoted considerable time and energy to advancing the profession and supporting the institutions that serve the legal community.

Jerry’s professional accomplishments have been recognized by his peers throughout his career. He has been selected numerous times as a New Jersey Super Lawyer in civil litigation. He also received the Bergen County Legal Services Pro Bono Award for representing an indigent defendant in a constitutional challenge to Megan’s Law.

For more than forty years, Jerry has devoted his talents, judgment, and energy not only to the practice of law, but also to the profession and community of which he has been such an important part. His commitment to advocacy, public service, and the highest ideals of the legal profession has earned him the respect of his colleagues and the lasting gratitude of the Bergen County legal community. His career is distinguished not only by professional accomplishment, but by a sustained commitment to the people and institutions he has served.

The Bergen County Bar Association’s Board of Trustees and Professionalism in the Law Committee are pleased to bestow the 2025 Honorable Peter Ciolino Professional Lawyer of the Year Award to Jessica A. Gomperts, Esq.

Jessica A. Gomperts served as an Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor from September 2000 until retiring on January 1, 2024. During her tenure, she worked in the Appellate, Juvenile, Grand Jury, and Trial Sections of the Office. In January 2011, she was assigned to the Domestic Violence Squad and, in 2013, was appointed its Chief. When Ms. Gomperts retired, she had held that position for 11 years, making her the longest-serving Domestic Violence Chief in the Office’s history.

Ms. Gomperts obtained her law degree from Seton Hall University School of Law and her undergraduate degree from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, with a double major in psychology and philosophy and a minor in ethics and public policy. Before employment at the Office of the Bergen County Prosecutor, she was a law clerk to Justice Virginia Long, first in the Appellate Division in 1998-1999, and then in the Supreme Court in 1999-2000. During her 23+ years at the Office of the Bergen County Prosecutor, Ms. Gomperts handled literally thousands of cases, including attempted murder, aggravated sexual assault, interference with custody, kidnapping, aggravated assault, child sexual abuse and exploitation, etc.

Ms. Gomperts is a frequent lecturer on the topics of domestic violence and dating violence; sexual assault and abuse; elder abuse; intimate partner violence in the LGBTQ community; arrest, search, and seizure; courtroom testimony; and constitutional law. She is both a New Jersey Office of Continuing Legal Education and Police Training Commission-certified instructor and has taught extensively to police officers, attorneys, judges, and students from middle school through college. While at the BCPO, she served as the Domestic Violence Legal Advisor to all 72 municipal police departments in Bergen County. Ms. Gomperts was a lead instructor at the Bergen County Law and Public Safety Institute (Police Academy) for 15 years, teaching both the week-long Arrest, Search, and Seizure class and the Domestic Violence class. Ms. Gomperts has served as a trustee on the Bergen County Bar Association Board of Trustees since 2020.

Ms. Gomperts co-chaired the Bergen County Domestic Violence Working Group and served on the Statewide County Domestic Violence Liaison Working Group. Ms. Gomperts has taught innumerable Continuing Legal Education classes on domestic violence at the Attorney General’s Office Annual Domestic Violence Symposium, the County Prosecutor’s Association Annual College, the New Jersey State Bar Association Annual Meeting, the New Jersey Association for Justice Boardwalk Seminar, the New Jersey Association for Justice Meadowlands Seminar, the Bergen County Bar Association, and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office.

In 2023, Ms. Gomperts received the Gladiator Award from the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, which recognizes an assistant prosecutor or detective who has “demonstrated extraordinary commitment and zeal to ensure that the criminal justice system treats victims with compassion and dignity during the prosecution process.” In 2022, she received the Law Enforcement Hero award from the Center for Hope and Safety, which recognizes a “committed, impassioned and steadfast advocate” for victims and survivors of domestic violence.

Ms. Gomperts will receive the award on Thursday, November 6, 2025, at the Annual Professionalism Dinner at Seasons, in the Township of Washington.

 

In June, the BCBA joined the NJSBA and several other local and affinity bar associations in a Petition for Review of Opinion 745 of the Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics. That opinion addressed the long-standing practices of trial attorneys who are certified pursuant to Court Rule 1:39, et seq. Specifically, Opinion 745 provided that New Jersey-certified attorneys could not pay referral fees to out-of-state attorneys who referred cases for their specific area of expertise.

The Supreme Court of New Jersey agreed with the Petitioners and vacated the Opinion. Thank you to BCBA Past President Michael J. Epstein for representing the BCBA in this matter.

Click below to read the opinion.

OPINION

We are excited to introduce the Quarterly Family Law Committee Newsletter, designed to keep you informed with the latest professional insights and social updates in the Family Law practice.

A heartfelt thank you to our dedicated Family Law Committee Co-Chairs—Aaron Cohen, Jhanice V. Domingo, Mara Dooskin, and Nancy Horta—and to the Committee Members for their tremendous effort and leadership in making this initiative possible. Please click below to read about everything happening in the Family Part.

BCBA FAMILY LAW COMMITTEE FALL NEWSLETTER