Attorneys

Since leaving the position of First Assistant Essex County Prosecutor, where he forged strong relationships with several law enforcement officers and agencies, Mr. Toscano has earned the reputation of being a fierce advocate for all of his clients, including all law enforcement officers he represents.

While Mr. Toscano’s accomplishments in his legal career are staggering, the one he is perhaps most proud of is his appointment to the New Jersey Joint Legislative Committee on Ethical Standards, a position that he was appointed to by current New Jersey State Senator Jon Bramnick. The Commission is called upon to investigate alleged violations of statutes, rules and/or regulations that may have been committed by members of the New Jersey State Senate and Assembly, as well as other certain State employees.

While he specializes in four different areas, he has the ability to handle almost any type of contested matter.

AREAS OF PRACTICE:

• Serious Personal Injury
• Criminal Defense (including white collar)
• Civil Rights
• Law Enforcement Defense
• Federal Court Litigation
• Municipal Court Matters (Specializing in DWI Cases)

CERTIFICATION/SPECIALTIES:

• Certified Criminal Trial Attorney, New Jersey Supreme Court
  1997-2007
• Certified Civil Trial Attorney, New Jersey Supreme Court
  1994-2006

BAR ADMISSIONS:

• New Jersey
• New York
• Washington, D.C.
• U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey
• U.S. Court of Appeals, 2^nd Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals, 3^rd Circuit
• U.S. Supreme Court

EDUCATION:

• Seton Hall University School of Law, Newark, New Jersey
  J.D., 1985
• Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey
  B.A. with Honors, 1982
  Major: Criminal Justice

HONORS, AWARDS, APPOINTMENTS, AND MEMBERSHIPS:

• Certificate of Commendation, United States Secret Service
  1999
• Certificate of Recognition, Essex County PBA Local #153
  1998
• Criminal Trial Attorney of the Year (Achievement Award), Essex County Bar Association
  2005
• Joint Legislative Resolution Proclamation Achievement, New Jersey State Senate and General Assembly
  2000-Present
• Member, Governor-Elect Chris Christie’s Transition Team, Law and Public Safety
  2009
• Member, New Jersey State Prisoner Reentry Commission (Appointed by Governor Chris Christie)
  2011
• Commissioner/Vice Chairman, New Jersey State Lottery Commission
  2014-2018
• Member, Finance Committee, State Senator Joe Kyrillos, Joe Kyrillos for U.S. Senate
  2012
• Voted Best Attorney by the Italian-American Police Society
  2012
• Voted Best of New Jersey, Distinguished American of Italian Descent, Italian Tribune Publications
• President/Chairman – Balance for New Jersey Political Action Committee
  2023
• Commissioner, Essex County Utility Authority
  1993-1996
• Member, New Jersey Joint Legislative Commission On Ethical Standards
  2017-Present
• Certified Instructor, New Jersey State Police Training Commission
  1998-1999
• Investigator, Archdiocesan Sexual Assault Response Team, Archdiocese of Newark
  2002
• Hearing Officer, New Jersey Transit Police
  2005
• Vice Chair, District VC Fee Arbitration Committee (Appointed by New Jersey Supreme Court)
  2008-2012
• Instructor, New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education
• Member, New Jersey State Bar Association
• Member, Essex County Bar Association
• Member, New Jersey Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
• Member, Board of Directors – Fairfield Police Department Foundation, 2024-present

REPRESENTATIVE CLIENTS

• Counsel, New Jersey State Troopers Fraternal Association, Legal Defense Plan
• General Counsel, Newark FOP, Lodge 12 2023-Present
• General Counsel, DeMattheis Real Estate Development Company

EDUCATIONAL TEACHING POSITIONS:

• Member, Advisory Committee, Seton Hall University, Pre-Law/Criminal Justice Program
  2015-Present
• Adjunct Professor of Criminal Justice, Seton Hall University

PAST EMPLOYMENT POSITIONS:

• First Assistant Essex County Prosecutor, Essex County Prosecutor’s Office
  1998-1999
• First Assistant Essex County Counsel, Essex County Counsel
  1999-2000
• Law Clerk, New Jersey Superior Court, Honorable Paul T. Murphy, J.S.C.
  1986

Matthew J. Toscano is a Partner at The Toscano Law Firm, LLC, where he represents clients in a broad range of legal matters across New Jersey’s state and federal courts. His practice includes criminal defense, civil litigation (including labor and employment disputes), family law with a focus on domestic violence, and municipal court representation. He also defends law enforcement officers in administrative hearings and offers legal strategy and counsel to both individuals and corporate clients.

Mr. Toscano has conducted full trials in criminal, family (domestic violence), and landlord/tenant courts. He handles every stage of litigation, from pleadings through appeals, and has drafted and argued motions to dismiss, discovery and summary judgment motions, and pre-trial and post-trial submissions. His appellate practice includes filings before the New Jersey Appellate Division, the Supreme Court of New Jersey, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Toscano worked at McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter, LLP, where he was part of the firm’s nationally recognized Construction, Surety & Fidelity group. There, he worked on high-stakes litigation involving complex construction and bankruptcy disputes valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Mr. Toscano served as a Judicial Law Clerk to the Honorable John Zunic, J.S.C., in the New Jersey Superior Court, Essex County, where he supported the Domestic Violence Unit. His work involved drafting court opinions, bench memoranda, and assisting with courtroom operations. Judge Zunic was named Lead Domestic Violence Judge shortly after joining the Unit, a transition supported by the efficiency of chambers operations during Mr. Toscano’s tenure.

While earning his J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law, Mr. Toscano interned for the Honorable Justice Walter Timpone of the Supreme Court of New Jersey and the Honorable Madeline Cox-Arleo of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. He also served as a Student Attorney at the Seton Hall Law Center for Social Justice, where he represented indigent clients in criminal cases before the New Jersey Superior Court – Special Remand Part. He was awarded Best Brief and Best Oral Argument for his work in Appellate Advocacy while a law student.

Mr. Toscano holds a B.A. in Criminal Justice from the University of Delaware. He is admitted to practice in New Jersey, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He is a member of the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Criminal Law Section and the Essex County Bar Association.

Areas of Practice:

• Criminal Defense
• Civil Litigation (Labor & Employment, Civil Rights)
• Family Law (Domestic Violence)
• Municipal Court Matters
• Law Enforcement Administrative Actions
• Appellate Practice

Bar Admissions:

• New Jersey, 2019
• U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, 2020
• U.S. Court of Appeals, 3^rd Circuit, 2022

Education:

• Seton Hall University School of Law, Newark, New Jersey
  J.D., 2019
• University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware
  B.A., 2016
  Major: Criminal Justice

Past Employment Positions:

• Associate, McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter, LLP
  2020-2021
• Law Clerk, New Jersey Superior Court, Honorable John Zunic, J.S.C.
  2019-2020
• Student Attorney, Seton Hall University School of Law, Center for Social Justice, Criminal Justice Clinic
  2018
• Summer Associate, McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter, LLP
  2018
• Judicial Intern, Supreme Court of New Jersey, Honorable Justice Walter Timpone
  2018
• Judicial Intern, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, Honorable Madeline Cox-Arleo
  2017

Michael A. Petrolle is a Judge, Superior Court of New Jersey, retired after 27 years of trial court tenured and recall service.   Having presided over myriad cases in the Criminal and Family Divisions of the Superior Court, Essex Vicinage, Judge Petrolle conducted hundreds of criminal jury and bench trials as well as numerous juvenile trials and civil jury and bench trials.

During his tenure on the court, Judge Petrolle has taught criminal law orientation classes to judges as well as other classes to probation officers and various judicial administrative personnel and has presented instruction to visiting judges from China, Japan and South Korea .and visiting police officers from Italy and Sweden.

Before his appointment to the Superior Court in 1995, the judge was engaged in the general practice of law over the period of more than 24 years – most recently as senior partner in his former law firm, McCormack, Petrolle & Matthews, P.C. which then had offices in Roseland, New Jersey,

Earlier in his career, the judge served as an Assistant Essex County Prosecutor – first part-time while also conducting a private practice in the law firm, Altman & Petrolle, Esqs., and then full time in 1970, upon cessation of his private practice, when the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office converted to a full time office – eventually as Senior Trial Assistant in charge of several courts and ultimately as Director of the Special Prosecutions Section.

From 1990 through 1995, the judge, also having been a funeral director licensed in New Jersey in 1969, and previously having been attorney for various funeral businesses, served as President of the New Jersey State Board of Mortuary Science.

Recognized, in 2017, by the Essex County Bar Association with its Lifetime Achievement Award; and in 2001, by Seton Hall University Law School’s Peter W. Rodino, Jr. Law Society with its Distinguished Service Award, Judge Petrolle has genuinely earned over more than five decades an impeccable reputation as an outstanding professional with a record first as a savvy trial attorney who achieved excellent results for his clients and later as a fine trial judge who assured all who appeared before him due process with fairness and justice.

Education:

• Seton Hall University School of Law, J.D., 1967
• American Academy McAllister Institute, Certificate, 1969
• National Institute of Trial Advocacy, University of Colorado, Certificate, 1972
• University of Pennsylvania, A.B., 1964
• Suffield Academy, Suffield Connecticut, 1960

Professional History:

• 1967 – Admitted to Practice of Law before Courts of the State of New Jersey
• 1967 – Admitted to Practice of Law before United States District Court, District of New Jersey
• 1967 – 1968 – Served as judicial law secretary (law clerk) to six Essex County District Court Judges
• 1968 – Commenced general practice of law by founding with M. Richard Altman, Esq. the law firm, Altman & Petrolle, Esqs.
• 1969 – Began part time service as an Assistant Essex County Prosecutor simultaneously with general private practice
• 1970 – Began full time service as an Assistant County Essex County Prosecutor upon conversion of the Office of the Essex County Prosecutor to a full time office – preparing and trying to jury verdict scores of criminal cases ranging from narcotics and assault, beyond sexual assault and arson, to homicide, organized crime and white collar crime
• 1971 – Became Senior Assistant Essex County Prosecutor responsible for supervision of junior assistant prosecutors and investigators servicing several criminal courts in the preparation and trial of many and various criminal cases
• 1972 – Became contemporaneously Director of the Essex County Prosecutor’s Special Prosecutions Section directly handling and overseeing the processes of cases of special public interest from initiation and investigation (including grand jury presentation), through preparation, to prosecution at trial
• 1973 – Resumed and grew, until appointment to the Superior Court, in 1995, his general private law practice to a staff of ten professionals and paraprofessionals – responsible for conduct, from initial client interview to final disposition, of civil, criminal, matrimonial and administrative litigation and complex business transactions as well as counsel and representation of a publicly held corporation and various municipalities
• 1986 – 1995 –Served as labor counsel to Township of Irvington and 1994 – 1995 – served as labor counsel to City of East Orange – in public sector administration and negotiation of collective bargaining and other employee agreements, as well as representation in contract grievance, unfair labor practice, interest arbitration ad related proceedings
• 1995 – Nominated and confirmed as Judge, Superior Court of New Jersey
• 2001 – Executive Judge designated by the Essex Vicinage Assignment Judge to mentor and guide less experienced Judges
• 2011 – Intensive Supervision Program Judge designated by the Chief Justice to serve on a panel of Judges to consider whether or not to grant early release from prison onto probation of certain New Jersey State prisoners who seek to conform to specific criteria in order to participate in re-entry into society guided and overseen by specially trained and qualified probation officers
• 2012 – Recalled immediately upon retirement as Judge, Superior Court of New Jersey
• From time to time, participated in seminar panels for the New Jersey Judicial College and New Jersey State Bar Association
• 1990 – 1995 – President of the New Jersey State Board of Mortuary Science – conducted public hearings upon charges of violation of New Jersey statutes and/ or regulations governing the practice of mortuary science and conducted meetings of the Board upon regulatory, policy and other administrative matters

Anthony R. Mautone was a graduate of Villanova University and Seton Hall University School of Law. He was a practicing attorney in this State since 1969. He was employed by the office of Essex County Prosecutor from 1968 to 1978. He was Chief of the Homicide Division from 1972 to 1978. As such, he successfully tried most of Essex County’s major murder cases against many formidable adversaries. From 1976 to 1978 he also served as the First Assistant Prosecutor of Essex County.

Mr. Mautone served on the Supreme Court Criminal Practice Committee which is largely comprised of Judges from various Counties throughout the State. He lectured at Seton Hall University School of Law.

From 1978 Mr. Mautone was engaged predominantly in insurance defense trial work, although he handled criminal cases of significant and public interest. He was selected to be an arbitrator by the Assignment Judges of Essex and Hudson Counties.

In September 1978 Mr. Mautone formed a partnership with the late Frank P. Minichino (Minichino & Mautone from 1978 to 1996), predominantly engaged in insurance defense trial work. The firm then became known as Mautone & Horan, P.A. until December 1, 2015 when he became Of Counsel to The Toscano Law Firm, LLC.

Mr. Mautone represented both plaintiffs and defendants in complex civil cases from 1978 to December 2015. In addition to his cases and trials as a Prosecutor he tried many criminal cases of local and national significance as a defense attorney.

Mr. Mautone served as a District Court appointed part-time United States Magistrate Judge. This position enabled continued practice of law in the State courts and civil practice in the Federal courts because the magistrate responsibilities involve the disposition of Federal criminal and quasi-criminal cases.

Education:

• Seton Hall University School of Law, Newark, New Jersey
  L.L.B., (now J.D.), 1967
• Villanova University, Villanova, Pennsylvania
  B.S., 1964
  Major: Psychology
• Benedict’s Preparatory School, 520 High Street, Newark, New Jersey
  1960

Professional History:

• Admitted to the New Jersey Bar
• Admitted to the New York Bar
• Admitted to practice in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey and Southern District New York
• Admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
• Admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court
• 1967-1968 – Legal Secretary (Law Clerk) to Judge Joseph G. Lyons – Superior Court – Law Divison (Criminal)
• 1968 – Investigator – Essex County Prosecutor’s Office
• 1969 – Assistant Essex County Prosecutor
• 1970-1971 – Senior Trial Assistant in charge of several courts
• 1972-1978 – Chief of Homicide Squad – Arson
• In charge of homicide from investigatory stages through judicial processes (included Grand Jury) to trial and ultimate disposition.
• Responsible for the investigation, presentations, and trial of arson cases in Essex County and for the investigation and disposition of all cases involving traffic fatalities.
• 1977-1978 – First Assistant Prosecutor
• Responsible for the operation of the 275 members (75 lawyers, 125 detectives, 75 clerical) Essex County Prosecutors’ Office.
• Mautone has both investigated and tried cases of significance in the areas of fraud, police corruption, organized crime, common law felonies, murder, and every area of the criminal law. In these capacities, have been involved with every police department in Essex County (as well as many others) in a supervisory and advisory role. He has maintained a working relation with many law enforcement agents including the F.B.I., State Police, Division of Criminal Justice, and Division of Gaming Enforcement.
  1978-December 2015
• General practice of law with Minichino & Mautone (1978 to 1996), and then Mautone & Horan, P.A., (1996 to December 2015), 500 Prospect Avenue, West Orange, New Jersey 07052
• Appointed as a District Court part-time United States Magistrate Judge. This position enables the continued practice of law in the State courts and civil practice in the Federal courts because the magistrate responsibilities involve the disposition of Federal and quasi-criminal cases.

Other Areas of Specific Professional Involvement:

• For several years conducted monthly moot court sessions as part of the New Jersey State Police Organized Crime Seminar at Sea Girt.
• Lectured in all of the Prosecutor conducted seminars since their inception, both within and without the office and for police and law enforcement agencies as well as for other prosecutors.
• Lectured periodically at the Essex County Police Academy as a member of its faculty in areas such as arson, homicide investigation, presentation and handling of evidence and methods of testifying, etc.
• Represented the Prosecutor’s Office on various occasions before civil and professional groups on a wide range of topics – groups such as law schools – Chiefs of Police meetings – Probation and Correctional Seminars – Municipal Police Department.
• Guest lecturer in child abuse, homicide, evidence and criminal law and procedure at Seton Hall University School of Law and served several years as a judge at both the Appellate and trial moot court programs at Seton Hall Law School.
• Taught at the Juvenile Justice Clinic at Seton Hall Law School.
• Taught as a member of the faculty of the Criminal Investigation Development Program of the State Attorney General’s Office which was coordinated by the Supervisory Section of the Division of Criminal Justice.
• Faculty member and lecturer at the Arson and Fire Investigation Development Program of the State Attorney General’s Office which was coordinated by the Supervisory Section of the Division of Criminal Justice.
• Testified before Senate committees investigating such areas as organized crime, capital punishment, and penal reform.
• Periodically lectured to both the Newark Police Department (on various topics) and the Newark Fire Department Arson Squad on legal aspects of arson.
• Lectured the Society of Investigators of Greater Newark (S.I.G.N.) on organization of investigators employed by corporate and private industry.
• Lectured at Rutgers’s Law School to members of the Peter W. Rodino Criminal Justice Program (now nationally funded and headquarters at Jersey City State College).
• Participant in California District Attorneys Assoc. National Symposium on Homicide.
• Represented the Prosecutor’s Office in addressing numerous civic groups, the Kiwanis, Elks, Knights of Columbus, High Twelve Club, National Council of Jewish Women, B’nai Brith, Holy Name Societies, Rosary Societies, senior citizen groups, and various schools and colleges throughout this area.
• Lectured (at the request of New Jersey State Police) the Harvard Associates in Police Science on the topic of investigation and presentation of homicide cases.
• Participated in the supervision and assignment of personal to the various Municipal Courts and Police Departments throughout the county and serviced in an advisory and supervisory capacity.
• Former Member of Supreme Court Criminal Practice Committee.
• Arbitrator selected by Assignment Judges of Essex and Hudson Counties.
• Mediator appointed by various federal District Court and Magistrate Judges.