Retired New Jersey Superior Court Judge Frank M. Ciuffani Chairs Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer P.A.'s Alternative Dispute Resolution practice. He served as the firm's General Counsel from 2018-2021. He also developed a special curriculum for lawyers aimed at trial preparedness.
Judge Ciuffani draws on over 40 years of experience on the bench and in private practice. Prior to rejoining the firm in April 2017, Judge Ciuffani served as the Presiding Judge of the New Jersey Superior Court, General Equity Division, and Probate Judge of Middlesex County from 2008 to 2017. He also served as New Jersey Superior Court Judge, Civil and Family Divisions of Middlesex County from 2003 to 2008. During his tenure on the bench, Judge Ciuffani presided over numerous decisions of import that included the Archdiocese of Newark entering the tombstone business and health insurer Horizon’s tiered approach method to product billing. In 2008, he launched a pilot mediation program for home-mortgage foreclosures. Praised by New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Rabner, the program became the model for a statewide foreclosure mediation program that has helped thousands of homeowners remain in their homes. In 2012, Judge Ciuffani presided over a complex, multiparty litigation which started with an emergent application that would have halted construction of the World Trade Center Freedom Tower. As a result of several marathon settlement conferences he facilitated, the construction continued and the case was quickly and efficiently resolved to the satisfaction of the litigants.
Prior to his judicial career, Judge Ciuffani was with Wilentz for almost 30 years, focusing on commercial litigation and employment law.
In 2017, the Middlesex Bar Association bestowed their highest honor on Judge Ciuffani with the Arthur H. Miller Lawyer Achievement Award in recognition of his committed and model professionalism. In 2009 and 2012, the New Jersey Law Journal Superior Court Judicial Survey ranked Judge Ciuffani as the top rated civil judge in Middlesex County.
The New Jersey Law Journal Superior Court Judicial Survey (https://www.law.com/njlawjournal/almID/1202572362165&New_Jersey_Superior_Court_Survey_/?slreturn=20210418095610) is published by the ALM Media Properties, LLC. Selection is based on yearly Law Journal surveys of New Jersey state-court litigators.
A description of the selection process may be accessed via the above link. The aforementioned organization is a private peer review organization, not court-specific, public certification vehicles. No aspect of this advertisement has been submitted to or approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.
Judge Ciuffani was appointed to the Supreme Court Committee on Complementary Dispute Resolution for the 2017-2019 term. He is a former Assistant Prosecutor in Middlesex County. A member of the Middlesex County, New Jersey State and American Bar Association, he is also an elected Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, an honor bestowed upon only one percent of the bar whose public and private careers have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the welfare of their communities and to the highest principles of the legal profession.