Paul Szypiotko is an experienced litigator who also has substantial in-house experience with a large government transportation agency and experience representing various public entities.
Most recently, Paul was a New Jersey Deputy Attorney General (DAG) representing the Division of Child Protection and Permanency in various contested litigated matters, including permanency hearings, fact-findings and Kinship Legal Guardianship trials.
Previously, he was a DAG for the New Jersey Transit (NJT) corporation where he was assisting in the build-out of the General Counsel Office. This role required him to advise or represent NJT in connection with enabling statutes, regulations, by-laws, public procurement laws, arbitration regulations, collective bargaining agreements, commercial real estate law, Federal Railroad Safety Act (FRSA) law and transactional strategies and methods for moderately complex real estate transactions. He won 80% of his labor arbitration cases while at NJT. He also won a motion to dismiss an Employee Retirement Income Safety Act (ERISA) pension dispute in the U.S. District Court based upon lack of subject matter jurisdiction, and the dismissal was affirmed by the 3rd Circuit. In addition, he won a motion to dismiss a FRSA case that was before a U.S. Administrative Law Judge and then also successfully got the appeal to the Administrative Review Board dismissed.
Paul was also a Deputy Attorney General (DAG) in the Tort Unit, where he defended the State of New Jersey (and affiliated agencies and entities) against various civil claims for money damages. The claims Paul defended against included injuries from slip-and-fall accidents on public property, injuries from automobile accidents, economic loss from contractual violations and injuries alleged to have resulted from Department of Transportation projects.
Before public service Paul did insurance defense, municipal law, public contracting law, real estate tax appeals and special civil litigation at two New Jersey law firms.
Paul was a law clerk for the Hon. Robert J. Brennan, J.S.C., a clerk for the Bergen County District IV Attorney Ethics Committee and a Securities & Exchange Commission honors intern.
Paul is a Licensed Social Worker in New Jersey. Before attending law school, he served as a Community Support Associate assisting in the daily operations of a group home for developmentally disabled adults.
Practice Areas
Education
- Rutgers School of Law, J.D.
- Rutgers University, MSW
- Rutgers University, B.A.
Admissions
- New Jersey
- New York
- New Jersey State Court
- New York State Court
- United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
- United States District Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Associations & Memberships
- New Jersey State Bar Association
- National Association of Social Workers
- Rockaway Township Athletics Volunteer Coach
