Bullying, Harassment and The Law 2023

Presenters

Hon. Alberto Rivas, J.S.C.

Middlesex County Courthouse

is a Superior Court Judge, Middlesex County, and sits in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He is assigned to the Civil Division and was formerly Assignment Judge, Middlesex County, and Presiding Judge of the Superior Court, Criminal Division, Middlesex County. Appointed to the bench in 2010, he is a Former Partner in Lite DePalma Greenberg & Rivas, LLC and a former Assistant United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey. He has also served as Law Director for the City of Perth Amboy.
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nJudge Rivas has served on several court committees, including the Lawyers Advisory Committees for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. He was appointed to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals Task Force on Equal Treatment in Courts, Race and Ethnicity Commission, and is Past Chair of the District VA Fee Arbitration Committee. Past President of the Rutgers University School of Law-Newark Alumni Association, Judge Rivas has been an adjunct professor at Rutgers University School of Law. He has frequently appeared as a commentator on Court TV.
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nJudge Rivas received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University and his J.D. from Rutgers University School of Law. He was Judicial Law Clerk to the Honorable Anne E. Thompson, United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Maurice Elias, PhD

Director, Rutgers Social-Emotional and Character Development Lab, Rutgers University

is a psychology professor and Director of the Rutgers Social-Emotional and Character Development Lab at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey. He is also the co-director of the Academy for Social-Emotional Learning in Schools, which offers certificate programs in direct instruction and school leadership relating to SEL and character development for educators and student support professionals in school and out-of-school settings.
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nPast President of the Society for Community Research and Action/Division of Community Psychology (27) of the American Psychological Association (APA), Professor Elias has received the Sanford McDonnell Award for Lifetime Achievement in Character Education and the Joseph E. Zins Memorial Senior Scholar Award for Social-Emotional Learning from the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). He is also on the leadership teams of SEL4US and SEL4NJ. Professor Elias lectures nationally and internationally to educators and parents about students’ emotional intelligence, school success, social-emotional and character development, and youth purpose.
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nProfessor Elias received his undergraduate degree from Queens College, CUNY, and his Ph.D. in Psychology from The University of Connecticut.

Robyn B. Gigl, Esq.

Dilworth Paxson LLP

is a Partner in Dilworth Paxson LLP in the firm’s Freehold, New Jersey, office. She handles complex litigation including employment law, commercial and business litigation, and white-collar criminal defense, and has more than 30 years of experience in representing clients in state and federal courts in New Jersey.
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nMs. Gigl is admitted to practice in the state and federal courts of New Jersey and before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. She is Past Chair of the New Jersey State Bar Association LGBT Rights Section, former Vice Chair of the NJSBA Judicial and Prosecutorial Appointments Committee, and has been a member of the Association’s Women in the Profession Section and Diversity Committee. Appointed to the New Jersey Transgender Equality Task Force, she has served on the Executive Board of Garden State Equality and the Trans Affirming Alliance, and has been a member of the New Jersey Supreme Court’s Committee on Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement.
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nCo-author of the chapter “Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964” in Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation in the Workplace (BNA, 2014), Ms. Gigl has contributed articles to New Jersey Lawyer and the newsletters of the LGBT Rights Section and the Diversity Committee. She has lectured on LGBT employment and discrimination issues for ICLE, the New Jersey Judicial College, the EEOC, the New Jersey State Bar Association, the New Jersey Judicial College, Rutgers University, Kean University and other organizations, and has been interviewed on NPR. Ms. Gigl has been honored by the ACLU-NJ and Pride Network for her work on behalf of the LGBTQ community, and is the recipient of several other honors. Her first novel, By Way of Sorrow, was released in March of 2021 and her second novel, Survivor’s Guilt, in January 2022.
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nMs. Gigl is a graduate of Stonehill College and received her J.D. from Villanova University School of Law, where she was a member and Associate Editor of the Villanova Law Review.

Michael F. Kaelber, Esq.

LEGAL ONE, Woodbridge

is an educational law consultant and the Coordinator for Online Course Development for LEGAL ONE NJPSA/FEA in Monroe Township, New Jersey. He retired as Director of the New Jersey School Board Association (NJSBA) Legal and Labor Relations Services Department in Trenton, New Jersey, in 2017. A member of the NJSBA staff since March 1988, he previously served as an associate with the Woodbridge, New Jersey, law firm of Hutt, Berkow and Jankowski, and was a mathematics teacher in the Woodbridge Township School District from 1973 through 1986.
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nAdmitted to practice in New Jersey, Mr. Kaelber is a member of the New Jersey State Bar Association’s School Law Committee and the New Jersey Association for Gifted Children (NAGC), which named him to its Hall of Fame in 2011. He has served as staff liaison to several New Jersey School Board Association committees, has co-authored numerous NJSBA publications and has lectured on school law issues to the NJSBA and other educational and legal organizations. He is also the recipient of the New Jersey Association of School Attorneys Distinguished Service Award.
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nMr. Kaelber received his A.B., magna cum laude, from Lafayette College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received his M.S. in Statistics from Rutgers University and his J.D. from Rutgers University School of Law

Andrew T. Miltenberg, Esq.

Nesenoff & Miltenberg, LLP, New York

is a Partner in Nesenoff & Miltenberg LLP in New York City, Boston, MA and Palo Alto, CA, where he focuses his practice in campus misconduct, due process and Title IX, and business litigation. He has been representing individuals, closely held businesses, partnerships and a wide range of investors in significant litigation for 30 years. Mr. Miltenberg’s work focuses in equal measure on business litigation, institutional disciplinary matters and due process, and on campus Title IX matters and related issues, an emerging area of law in which he has become a national leader. His cases have generated attention from national news media, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, The Washington Post, USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, CBS Sunday Morning, New York Magazine, The Huffington Post, Fox News, and National Public Radio.
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nAdmitted to practice in New York and before the United States District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, Mr. Miltenberg is a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, has served on several committees of the New York County Lawyers’ Association and is a member of the New York City Bar Association, the New York Women’s Bar Association, the Trial Law Institute and the Diversity Institute. He sits on the Board of Trustees of several organizations.
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nMr. Miltenberg received his B.A. from Emory University and his J.D. from Brooklyn Law School.

Kristen Mohr, Esq.

Nesenoff & Miltenberg, LLP, New York

is Litigation Counsel at Nesenoff & Miltenberg LLP in New York City, where she concentrates her practice in civil rights, Title IX, defamation matters and faculty disputes. She brings experience as an advocate for a wide variety of clients, having represented both complainants and respondents in college disciplinary matters as well as victims of both sexual misconduct and racial discrimination. She also worked at the Federal Defenders Office of Wisconsin, where she advocated for indigent clients on numerous matters ranging from narcotics violations to gang-related violence.
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nMs. Mohr received her J.D. from the University of Wisconsin. During law school, she worked as a member of the criminal defense team for a high-profile matter in Wisconsin, securing a not guilty verdict and thereby regaining the client’s life. Throughout law school, she had a particular focus on the impact of systemic and institutionalized racial discrimination in the criminal justice system and continues to fight for equality and justice.

Michael Paragano, Esq.

Pellettieri, Rabstein, & Altman, Roseland

Diane E. Sammons, Esq.

Nagel Rice, LLP, Roseland

with more than 25 years of experience as a litigator, is a Partner in Nagel Rice LLP in Roseland, New Jersey. She started her career as a criminal prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, then began work at one of the largest commercial firms in the state, focusing on mass complex tort cases (including the DES’ litigation, tobacco litigation and fetal-alcohol syndrome), commercial litigation, insurance and white-collar criminal defense work. She joined Nagel Rice in 1990.
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nMs. Sammons is admitted to practice in New Jersey and New York, and before the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey and the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. She is a member of the American Bar Association, the Ecclesiastical Law Society, the Episcopal Chancellors’ Network and other organizations, and is a former member of the District V-B Ethics Committee. In 2004, Ms. Sammons was installed as Chancellor of the Episcopal Church of Newark, where she serves as special legal advisor to the Bishop and oversees all legal matters for the 113-church Diocese, including employment, real estate, transactional work, clergy discipline, ecclesiastical law and litigation. She has been a frequent guest on radio and talk shows speaking about some of her cases.
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nMs. Sammons received her B.A. from the College of William & Mary and her J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law.