Mr. Shah is a distinguished trial attorney who excels at finding outside-the- box solutions to complex problems. Mr. Shah regularly represents clients in an array of matters, including commercial contract disputes, employment litigation, construction defect cases, consumer fraud actions, shareholder derivative suits, bid protests, RICO, land use challenges, catastrophic personal injury, and constitutional torts.

Mr. Shah has successfully tried cases involving a range of matters, including employment disputes, contract breach, excessive force, cruel and unusual punishment, land use challenges, and shareholder actions. Just recently, Mr. Shah successfully represented a physician sued for abandoning her employment before the end of her employment contract. After a two-week jury trial in the Southern District of New York before the Hon. Jed S. Rakoff, U.S.D.J., Mr. Shah not only obtained dismissal of all claims against his client, but also secured a verdict on her counterclaim under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, just the sixth civil verdict under that statute in the United States. He is routinely called upon by clients, including insurance carriers, to take over matters from other law firms as trial dates approach.

Mr. Shah also has extensive appellate experience, having handled more than 30 federal and state appellate matters in just the last decade. His experience involves successfully moving for leave to appeal interlocutory orders, an extremely rare feat but one which Mr. Shah will not hesitate to counsel in favor of if the circumstances warrant it.

Representative Cases (Lead Counsel Only)

• Monmouth Mall Litigation I and II: successfully represented the Kushner Companies and Brookfield Properties in successive, high- profile bench trials and defeated challenges to their plans to renovate and convert the Monmouth Mall into a world class mixed-use site.
• Hemant Patel, M.D., P.C. v. Bandikatla: successfully represented defendant physician, an H-1B Visa holder, in the Southern District of New York against claims that she breached her employment contract by terminating her employment. In addition, we asserted counterclaims for unpaid wages (during training) and for coerced labor under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. After a two-week jury trial, all claims against the physician were dismissed by the court, and the jury awarded economic and emotional distress damages to Mr. Shah’s client.
• In re: United Support Services, LLC: successfully represented client in a bid protest before the GAO, resulting in client retaining U.S. Department of Defense contract valued at more $500+ million.
• Bou v. Hurley: obtained no-cause verdict after successfully representing two New Jersey state troopers in the District of New Jersey (Camden) against constitutional claims that they used excessive force against a disabled student in a school.
• Alford v. Hayman, et al.: successfully represented seven prison administrators in a high-profile case involving one of the first constitutional challenges to solitary confinement. After a three-week jury trial in Union County Superior Court, Mr. Shah deftly obtained dismissal of all claims.
• E.C. v. Inglima-Donaldson, 470 N.J. Super. 41 (App. Div. 2021): in a case of first impression, successfully represented a school district on an interlocutory appeal and persuaded the Appellate Division that the New Jersey Tort Claims Act’s verbal threshold applied in cases where plaintiff alleged sexual assault. On remand, the trial court dismissed plaintiff’s suit.
• Velastegui v. Jersey City Bd. of Ed.: obtained summary judgment on former payroll specialist’s claims of national origin discrimination. Germinario v. Westwood Regional Bd. of Ed.: obtained summary judgment on former teacher aide’s claim of age discrimination.
• Sabino v. West New York Bd. of Ed.: obtained summary judgment on three plaintiffs’ claims for breach of contract, disability discrimination, political retaliation, and violation of RICO. The trial court’s decision was affirmed on appeal.
• Tallapragada v. Uppalapati: successfully represented owners of IT staffing company at trial against a derivative action brought by an employee claiming to be an equity holder. The matter settled after three days, when the employee dropped his demand by more than half and agreed to relinquish any claim of ownership and resign his employment.