-
Thomas J. Cotton is a commercial litigator. He practices exclusively in the realm of human conflict, representing businesses and individuals in high-stakes litigations. Whether the anticipated lawsuit is expedited or protracted, whether the dispute is plagued with personal grudges or “strictly business,” Tom works nonstop with his clients to satisfy their goals. Tom represents clients in industries that include construction, real estate, marketing, insurance and entertainment. He guides those clients through every imaginable dispute, including preliminary injunctions, class actions, government enforcement, fraud claims, whistleblower allegations, malpractice lawsuits and bankruptcy.
Tom is a recognized authority on cutting-edge litigation techniques within state-of-the-art industries. He authors articles and leads conferences on utilizing cost-efficient methods to effectively litigate commercial disputes. Tom regularly puts his skill set at the service of his clients, dedicating himself absolutely to each stage of every representation: from preliminary investigation and discovery, to final judgment and appeal. Tom works side-by-side with his clients to craft innovative, bespoke solutions that can be implemented in any setting—from courtrooms to boardrooms, from construction sites to websites.
Tom has been included on the “Rising Stars” list, published by Thomson Reuters, in business litigation since 2016— receiving this distinction after just one calendar year of practice.
*Results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstances.
*No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the New Jersey Supreme Court. Click here for awards information and methodology.- November 19, 2024Cristian Rivera Foundation Celebrity Gala
- March 8, 2023Thomas Cotton Speaks at Rutgers Law School's Employer Table Talk Event
- August 15, 2024Seventeen Schenck Price Attorneys Named to The Best Lawyers in America® and Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch
- August 17, 2023Nineteen Schenck Price Attorneys Named to The Best Lawyers in America® and Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch
- July 26, 2023Thomas J. Cotton and Marla Buitrago Rincon Obtain Favorable Judgment for International Client in Attorney Malpractice Suit
- May 11, 20232023 Edition of New Jersey Super Lawyers and Rising Stars Lists Include 30 Schenck Price Attorneys
- Aug 22, 2022Cotton Named to Law Journal's "New Leaders of the Bar"
- Aug 18, 202110 Schenck Price Attorneys Named to Best Lawyers List; 4 to the List of "Ones to Watch"
- Mar 17, 20222022 Edition of New Jersey Super Lawyers Includes 34 Schenck Price Attorneys
- Feb 1, 2022Schenck Price Welcomes New Partner Thomas Cotton
- Aug 19, 20219 Schenck Price Attorneys Named to Best Lawyers List; 5 to the List of "Ones to Watch"
- March 23, 20212021 Edition of New Jersey Super Lawyers Includes 32 Schenck Price Attorneys
- Aug 20, 2020The Best Lawyers in America 2021
- Jun 17, 2020Schenck Price Wins at New Jersey Supreme Court
- Mar 13, 20202020 Edition of New Jersey Super Lawyers
- Jan 23, 2019Protecting Commercial Landowners from Speculative Claims
- Nov 8, 2018Schenck Price Wins Injunction and $11M Judgment in Trade Secrets Lawsuit Against Client's Competitor in Solar Energy Industry
-
- Selected as a "New Leaders of the Bar," The New Jersey Law Journal, 2022*
- Listed among the "Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch" by The Best Lawyers in America® in the fields of Commercial Litigation and Professional Malpractice Law (2021-2025)*
- Selected to the 2016-2023 New Jersey Rising Stars®* lists, published by Thomson Reuters
*No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey. Click here for awards information and methodology.Thomas J. CottonRated by Super Lawyers
loading ... -
- Speaker, "Employer Table Talk," Rutgers Law School, March 8, 2023
- Co-author, "Federal Government Signals Intention to Limit Enforcement of Restrictive Covenants," The New Jersey Law Journal, August 18, 2021
- Author, "Asking Why: Taking Expert Depositions with the Goal of Striking Expert Evidence," Community Net, a publication of the New Jersey State Bar Association's Construction Law Section
- Presenter, "Filing, Preparing and Litigating the Order to Show Cause," County Bar Association: Bench-Bar Conference, June 14, 2019
- Author, “Both Sides’ Playbooks: Knowing Offense Is Important When Defending Whistleblower Suits in the Construction Industry,” New Jersey State Bar Association Construction Law Section Newsletter, December 2018
- Author, "Wave or Ripple? Assessing the Impact of ‘Brugaletta v. Garcia’," New Jersey Law Journal, Sep 17, 2018
- Author, "Using Modern Techniques for an Age-Old Battle: The Scope of E-Discovery," New Jersey Law Journal, April 5, 2018
- Presenter, “Electronic Discovery: In the Construction Industry and Beyond,” New Jersey State Bar Association: Construction Law Section, October 11, 2017
-
-
Member, New Jersey State Bar Association
-
Member, New York State Bar Association
-
-
- Obtained complete dismissal of claims brought against insurance agency, alleging that the agency had improperly maintained unnecessary coverage for a public entity’s employees
- Effectively barred a prospective class representative, after extensive discovery and multiple motions, from seeking class certification in a Telephone Consumer Protection Act lawsuit
- Earned dismissal for insurance agency, at lawsuit’s earliest stages, in litigation brought by healthcare provider involving complex re-pricing for medical bills
- Won significant victory at New Jersey Supreme Court on behalf of international real-estate and property-management firms, which dismissed invasion-of-privacy claims brought by dozens of plaintiffs in connection with a janitorial contractor’s use of surreptitious surveillance cameras
- Defeated putative class action brought under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act via summary-judgment motion, after winning an application at the case’s earliest stage to prevent plaintiff from taking class discovery
- Won $11,000,000 summary-judgment award on behalf of a solar company by proving a competitor’s trade-secret theft
- Defended insurance agency accused of failing to maintain coverage for a go-go bar in connection with loss arising from a patron-on-patron knife fight
- Pursued claims on behalf of electrical subcontractor against hiring contractor for work performed in a complex public project
- Prosecuted adversary proceeding on behalf of health-and-wellness company within a former partner’s personal bankruptcy
- Negotiated favorable settlement on behalf of individual guarantors to a California company’s equipment leases, which had been subject of default judgment in New Jersey state court several years prior
- During the course of mediation, negotiated with-prejudice dismissal in New Jersey state court on behalf of a property-management company accused of negligently winterizing a property
- Secured settlement on behalf of founder and minority shareholders in a craft brewery within litigation against majority shareholder
- Obtained summary judgment on behalf of the purchaser of large land tract to rescind tenant and first-refusal rights claimed by holdover hunting club, and successfully defended against hunting club’s efforts to appeal from that judgment
- Succeeded in quashing multiple subpoenas served upon owner of small business, arising from various litigations between business’s former employee and the former employee’s spouse
- Resolved, through multiple rounds of mediation, complex claims against insurance agency that was alleged to have fraudulently procured unnecessary insurance policies for a construction firm
- Litigated, to settlement, fraud claims by limited partners in multiple, elaborate New York City real-estate holdings against general partners
- Defended medical-transport company against claims that it negligently injured a wheelchair-bound client during transit
*Results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstances.
