SOUTH JERSEY COUNSEL - Key Persons
Barbara R. Lapham, Esq. is a shareholder and the President of the firm. Ms. Lapham graduated from Upsala College, summa cum laude, and Rutgers University School of Law, Camden with high honors. She was admitted to the New Jersey Bar and the U.S. District Court of New Jersey in 1985. While in law school she served as a staff member and Managing Editor of the Rutgers Camden Law Journal and spent a summer clerkship with the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, Division of Gaming Enforcement. Upon graduation, Ms. Lapham served as a Judicial Law Clerk to the Honorable Edward S. Miller, J.S.C. in the Chancery Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey for Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem Counties.
Ms. Lapham has practiced with the firm since September 1985. Her primary areas of practice are banking, business, commercial and residential real estate, collections, creditor bankruptcy, foreclosures and school law. She is also active in the management of the firm. Ms. Lapham served as the Solicitor for the Buena Regional School District, Atlantic County, New Jersey for 10 years. She has been representing residential and commercial lenders and banking institutions throughout her career. She is a Member of the Cumberland County Bar Association and the New Jersey State Bar Association. While serving as the Solicitor for the Buena Regional School Board, she also served as a Trustee of AMPSA, the Attorney affiliate of the New Jersey School Boards Association and previously served as the Chair and Member of the District 1 Fee Arbitration Committee.
Michael D. Capizola is the senior partner of the firm. He was born in Atlantic City and is a native of the Vineland area. He was admitted to the bar in New Jersey in 1965 and also admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and before the U.S. District Court, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court. A graduate of Vineland High School, he attended Georgetown University (AB magna cum laude 1960) and Harvard Law School, (LLB cum laude 1963). He was an editor of the Harvard Law Review from 1961 to 1963 and was elected Treasurer from 1962-1963. He was an instructor in Law Office Management at the Cumberland County College from 1971 to 1975, and Solicitor of the Buena Regional Board of Education from 1965 through 2003.
Mr. Capizola is a commercial arbitrator with the Cumberland County Courts and was Solicitor and Director of Minotola National Bank from 1965 to 2006, after he which was a director of Susquehanna Bank until his retirement in 2010. He is a member of the Cumberland County and New Jersey State Bar Associations. He was a member of the District Ethics Committee from 1976 to 1980 and of the Ad Hoc Committee on Real Estate Certification from 1996 to 1998. He has experience in litigation, business, corporate law, real estate, zoning, development and financial planning. He consults and advises other members of the firm. He has been rated AV by Martindale Hubbel.
Robert Pancari is a native of the Vineland area and practices in the firm's litigation department. Mr. Pancari specializes in personal injury and worker's compensation matters, including automobile accidents, construction accidents, slip and fall accidents, workplace accidents, wrongful death and product liability. Mr. Pancari also maintains an extensive Municipal Court practice, handling a plethora of automobile related offenses, from speeding tickets to driving while intoxicated matters. Associated with Mr. Pancari's Municipal Court practice, he also handles administrative matters before the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, including license suspensions and revocations.
Before the joining the firm in 2009, Mr. Pancari was a partner in the Vineland based law firm of Kavesh, Pancari, Tedesco & Pancari where he practiced for more than 25 years handling a wide variety cases including hundreds of automobile accident and personal injury matters, and developed his significant Municipal Court practice. Mr. Pancari also served as the Conflict Prosecutor for the Atlantic City Municipal Court for approximately 10 years.
Mr. Pancari is a magna cum laude graduate of Rowan University, f/k/a Glassboro State College, and the Widener University School of Law where he was a member of the Delaware Moot Court Honor Society. He was admitted to the New Jersey Bar, the United States District Court for the District of New jersey and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Bar in 1982.
Vincent J. Pancari has more than 45 years of trial experience, Mr. Pancari leads the firm's litigation department. Mr. Pancari handles all types of civil litigation and criminal matters, in both State and Federal Courts, including automobile accidents, construction accidents, slip and fall accidents, workplace accidents, wrongful death, product liability, medical malpractice, contract and construction disputes, wrongful termination, business litigation, wills and estate litigation, and indictable criminal offenses. Mr. Pancari also maintains an extensive Municipal Court practice, handling all types of Municipal Court matters from traffic tickets to driving while intoxicated matters to disorderly persons offenses.
Immediately prior to joining the firm, Mr. Pancari was a Senior Partner with the Vineland based firm of Kavesh, Pancari, Tedesco & Pancari. Mr. Pancari is a native of Vineland, New Jersey. He was admitted to the New Jersey Bar and the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey in 1967. He is a graduate of LaSalle College, having completed a year abroad at The University of Fribourg in Fribourg, Switzerland, and a graduate of The University of Maryland School of Law. Mr. Pancari is a member of various legal associations, including the American Board of Trial Advocates and the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. From 1969 to 1984, Mr. Pancari served as the Deputy Public Defender for Cape May, Cumberland and Salem Counties. He is a past president of the Cumberland County Bar Association and has held many positions in both the Cumberland County and New Jersey state Bar Associations.