Ken Javerbaum

A LEGAL FORCE IN UNION COUNTY FOR 35 YEARS

BY KIM ANN ZIMMERMANN

Ken Javerbaum entered private practice more than 35 years ago and has spent his entire legal career practicing in Union County. Since establishing his own firm in Springfield, he has developed a statewide practice with satellite offices in Essex, Hudson, Bergen and Monmouth counties.

While Javerbaum has spent his professional career in Union County, he received his legal training in New Jersey as well. He attended Rutgers University where he obtained a B.A. degree in 1963, and LL.B. in 1966 and a J.S.D. in 1968. He was admitted to the New Jersey State Bar in 1966 and the United States Supreme Court Bar in 1971. Subsequent to graduation, Javerbaum served a judicial clerkship with the Hon. Samuel Larner, Judge of the Superior Court of the State of New Jersey. In 1978, he joined forces with his college classmate, Jack Wurgaft to form the original firm that became Javerbaum, Wurgaft, Hicks & Zarin.

As other firms have diversified, Javerbaum, Wurgaft, Hicks & Zarin has chosen to focus and limit its practice to personal injury and malpractice. “It is an area of law that I still find exciting,” Javerbaum says.

His record of success and adherence to the highest ethical standards and involvement in bar activities have made Javerbaum one of the state’s most prominent attorneys.

Javerbaum and six other members of his firm have been designated as Certified Civil Trial attorneys by the New Jersey Supreme Court. A large percentage of the firm’s cases come from referrals from other attorneys who recognize their resourcefulness, legal ability and high rate of success. A major source of pride is that Javerbaum
and his firm have achieved highly favorable results in matters that other attorneys have declined.

Javerbaum is the only attorney to have received both a settlement and verdict in excess of $10,000,000.00 in Union County. He has had multiple cases resolved in
excess of seven figures and is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum. The Million Dollar Advocates Forum is the most prestigious group of trial lawyers in the United States. Membership is limited to attorneys who have won million and multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements. Less than one percent of U.S. lawyers are members.

Javerbaum and other principals of the firm are active in shaping progressive development and advances in personal injury law through its arguments and appearances at the highest level of the New Jersey Courts.

Javerbaum is proud of being an attorney and has taken a leadership role in bar activities. In addition to being a frequent lecturer for the Institute for Continuing Legal Education, he has also been asked to speak at both Rutgers and Seton Hall Law Schools.

He is currently the sole Union County representative to the New Jersey State Bar Association Board of Trustees. He was recently appointed to the Executive Committee of the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Civil Trial Bar Section.

Javerbaum was chair of the Union County Judicial and Prosecutorial Appointments Committee, which examines the qualifications of judicial and prosecutor nominees. He has also served for many years as co-chair of the Joint Committee of the Union County Medical Society and Bar Association. In this capacity, he drafted the First Code of Cooperation between the medical and the legal professions. He is also chair of the Professionalism Committee of the Essex County Bar Association.

“It is important not only to serve our clients, but to be involved in the legal community as a whole,” he says.

He was selected as a founding member of the Richard J. Hughes Inn of Court by former Union County Assignment Judge Edward Beglin and has also served a two-year
term as president.

Javerbaum has also participated at the request of the Union County Prosecutor’s Office in a training video shown to all county police recruits dealing with how to avoid claims of police abuse and malpractice. “Many police officers recognize me from this video,” he jokes.

Javerbaum also serves on the Professionalism Committee of the New Jersey State Bar Association as well as the General Counsel of the State Bar Association and the New Jersey Supreme Court Civil Practice Committee, which is largely composed of members of the judiciary.

In 2003 Javerbaum was honored by the Essex County Bar Association with the Outstanding Civil Trial Bar Achievement Award.

His national reputation has led to his being included in the “Best Lawyers in America” and his firm is included in the prestigious publication, “Preeminent Lawyers in the United States.” The firm has received the highest rating both in terms of legal knowledge and expertise and ethical standards. Javerbaum’s colleagues in New Jersey have rated him as one of the Top 10 “Super Lawyers,” as featured in New Jersey Monthly Magazine.

Javerbaum and the members of his firm have a strong commitment to the community. Bob Hicks, a partner in the firm, serves as attorney for the Springfield Public Library Board. Paul E. Newell, a member of the firm’s office in Freehold, has done pro bono work for “Trial Lawyers Care”, a project of the Association of Trial Lawyers of
America, which included representation of the husband and infant daughter of a woman who died in the World Trade Center.

Javerbaum lives in Watchung with his wife, Tema, a former Deputy Attorney General. He has two grown children, David 35 and Alison, 32, and four grandchildren.