Janesa Urbano

JANESA URBANO has more than twenty years’ experience as an outside counsel, advocate and in-house counsel in both the private industry and the public sector. Ms. Urbano advises and assists members of the business community with complex commercial litigation, commercial and corporate transactions, real estate development and financing, commercial real estate transactions and leasing, franchise law, and construction issues and litigation. Ms. Urbano is admitted to practice in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington.

As in-house counsel, Ms. Urbano has worked with a leading hospitality management company, a construction management/general contracting firm, and served as Vice President and Chief Counsel for the New Jersey Schools Development Authority (“NJSDA”). As in-house counsel, Ms. Urbano was a member of the executive team and an active daily participant in management of the organizations. In 2015, Ms. Urbano was recognized as a Top Corporate Counsel by the Philadelphia Business Journal.

In private practice, Ms. Urbano has experience in a broad range of practice areas and has tried several cases before federal and state juries and judges and arbitrated and mediated hundreds of disputes. Among other areas, she has advised and assisted clients with contract drafting and negotiation, including leases, confidentiality agreements, design and construction agreements, and design-build contracts. She has advised and assisted clients with risk management strategies and litigation management. Ms. Urbano specializes in complex commercial litigation for corporations and individuals, including the representation of construction and varied business professionals. For this work, Ms. Urbano has been named a NJ Super Lawyer* each year since 2020. 

*The Super Lawyers list is issued by Thomson Reuters. No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey. A description of the methodology can be found at http://www.superlawyers.com/about/selection_process_detail.

Super Lawyers® is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The selection process for Super Lawyers has many steps and includes independent research, peer nominations and peer evaluations. Each candidate is evaluated on 12 indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement. Selections are made on an annual, state-by-state basis. The Super Lawyer’s Rising Stars™ program recognizes top, up-and-coming attorneys in New Jersey who are 40 years old or younger, or who have been practicing for 10 years or less. The Super Lawyers’ recognition is earned only by the top 5% of attorneys in the state and the Super Lawyer’s Rising Stars’ recognition is earned by only the top 2.5% of attorneys in the state.

Highlighted Matters:

• Secured defense verdict for property management company in matter where tenant was seeking $4 million in damages for alleged breach of a lease.
• Secured summary judgment in favor of contractor where public agency alleged that contractor failed to meet self-performance goals.
• Won ability for public contractor to pursue its additional payment claim against DRPA on appeal.
• Successfully defended several bid protests for lowest responsible and responsive bidder with respect to NJ public projects.
• Assisted client in successful purchase of land and associated construction financing of student housing project in excess of $100 million.
• Assisted a 19-club Planet Fitness franchisee in the sale of its interests to United PF Partners, the largest Planet Fitness franchisee.

Ms. Urbano is an adjunct professor at Temple University Beasley School of Law where she teaches Trial Advocacy and a visiting professor with Emory University School of Law’s Kessler-Eidson Program for Trial Techniques. She holds a Bachelor in Business Administration (cum laude), a Master in Business Administration (summa cum laude) and a Juris Doctor degree from Temple University.