Business & Employment Law Information

The bustling commerce of Northern New Jersey is aptly illustrated by this Newark Bay Bridge view of the Newark skyline behind an artificial plateau of countless intermodal shipping containers. Brian O’Neill is at home in this environment, having practiced corporate, business and employment law in New Jersey for over twenty-five years.

Complementing his immigration practice, O’Neill provides clients with representation in corporate, business and employment matters.

Corporate and Business Law

General Counsel and Corporate Secretarial Services: O’Neill provides day-to-day counseling in business transactions and employee matters for selected corporate clients and individuals with start-up businesses. Services include assistance in forming businesses -- corporations, and LLCs -- preparation of By-Laws and Operating Agreements, maintenance of corporate books, reviews of books and records to assure compliance with corporate and business formalities, preparation of employment contracts and review of employee manuals.

Business Law Services: Contract Drafting, Counseling and Negotiation Across a Wide Spectrum of Business Law. O’Neill has years of experience drafting, reviewing and assisting clients in negotiating: sale of goods contracts; distributor, sales rep. and franchise agreements; confidential disclosure agreements; proprietary rights and trade secret agreements; computer hardware acquisition and software license agreements; software development contracts; business real estate leases and many other kinds of business transactions.

Dispute Resolution Services: Trust and performance are the glue that holds business transactions together. Even with even the best drafted contract, there can be problems with interpretation, performance and breach. To minimize downstream litigation costs, O’Neill assists clients at the earliest stages of contract problems. He employs all means of dispute resolution, starting from informal party negotiations, to mediation and formal arbitration. If litigation is inevitable, O’Neill has substantial experience as a civil litigator in state and federal courts.

Employment Law

O’Neill has years of experience dealing with the full range of claims available to workers under New Jersey and Federal law, including the New Jersey’s “Law Against Discrimination” (LAD), its “whistleblower statute,” the “Conscientious Employee Protection Act” (CEPA), union worker grievances and even contested claims to unemployment compensation.

For Employers: Years of defending against employee claims as corporate in-house counsel has armed O’Neill not only with experience in defending against such claims in court, but also with the preventative law experience necessary to minimize the risk of such claims arising to begin with. Employers owe it to themselves to consult with knowledgeable employment counsel to assure that their business’s policies and practices are not creating substantial employment law exposures that can be prevented by in-house education, minor changes in procedures, and employee manuals that minimize rather than create liabilities for the business.

For Employees: O’Neill’s experience also provides employee clients with just claims with a unique insider perspective on the ways in which corporate employers consider claims as candidates for settlement or suit. His knowledge of employer pressure points has enabled him to negotiate a number of favorable settlements against employers on behalf of aggrieved employees and those wrongfully discharged. If an appropriate settlement cannot be reached, litigation is always an option in a proper case.

Brian O’Neill has been an active litigator in commercial and employment matters in venues such as Morris County Superior Court (pictured left). He has successfully tried commercial landlord tenant disputes, and has settled countless other claims in court. He has actively participated in many employment suits as well, both as former in house counsel and in direct representation of employee plaintiffs.